File Hunting

                            "Do all you can to make your dreams come true."  Joel Osteen

A couple of Fall's ago my friend Mike Houge, mikehouge.typepad.com , and myself made a trip to the Arrowhead region of Northeastern Minnesota to photograph around the Gooseberry Falls and Lake Superior regions.  I remember spending a lot of time at the site of the blog image trying to get a particular capture of this scene of which the hardest part was straddling this small portion of the Gooseberry River, which is downstream of the falls area. I can't even imagine what Mike was thinking as I tried to execute several "rubber legged" approaches to the situation.

When I got home it was one of the first files I looked for after downloading the results of this particular session, but was disappointed by the results and left the file as unworthy of consideration.  It seemed that the HDR exposure range was not good enough to render a final execution that I could appreciate.  It's not a new story, but a learning curve about the importance of not being too hasty when one is onsite and needing to fulfill the personal assignment.

The other day, as I was file hopping, I happened to realize that, judging by the file arrangement for the session, I had apparently walked away to do some other captures at the scene, and then returned for some final attemps.  As "luck" would have it I did made several other exposures which were indeed had appropiate outcomes for a final image.

This scene was taken with my ol' trusty Canon 50D, processed in Photomatix HDR software and finished with applications in Photoshop CS5, NIK Color Efex Pro and NIK Viveza.  The results are above and once again a reminder to myself that shooting sessions are never over and that file reviewing is a necessary part of digital photography just as it was with traditional film photography.  As artist, we are evolving in our approaches to our work as well as are the tools we use.  The more learning and research we do the more our approaches and tastes change, which will be reflected in our work.

Life is learning and change....and yes, about the journey.

Thank you for visiting...post a comment...it doesn't take courage to do so and will be appreciated.

Go Baylor...Sic 'Em Bears. 

For more views of my work visit;

"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa  http://www.apieceofworkinc.com

Lanesboro Art Center, Lanesboro, Minnesota   www.lanesboroarts.org

BetterPhoto.com   http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V

http://500px.com/pigs4u

Comments

[Journeyman]

I'm really glad you made it back to those images-letting it sleep for a while isn't all bad sometimes. Thanks for the plug and for sharing.

[Daniel Ruf]

I think you're so right about letting things "sleep" a while. It's always exciting to get home after a photo trip and plunge right into processing work, but sometimes the passage of time is a good thing. I surely appreciate your input.

[Darin]

Nice shot Dan. I have a shot from s similar point only a different point of view (higher camera angle). I really like the low vantage point of this image.

[Daniel Ruf]

Thanks, Darin. I really like to take advantage of low angle shots whenever I get the chance. I get some funny stares from people, but it works.