On the Road

One of the joys of photography is when inspiration hits you unexpectedly. And when it hits, it comes at you with fierce passion. I was on the road when this landscape just made me hold my breath and stop everything for a brief moment. I felt an incredible sense of peace, and I wanted to capture that feeling, relive it, and share it with others.

But of course, I was on my way somewhere and tried to stay the course. I kept driving. But the image in my mind and in my heart tugged at my soul. I finally gave in and turned the car around. 

[Note: These are low-res images, so there is some pixelation. However, the full-size images are silky smooth.]

[Solitude]

So I drove back. I stopped the car. I got out of the car. I put a prime lens on my camera. I found a composition I liked. Found one I liked even better. I checked the sun. I adjusted my settings. Finally looked to see if I was far enough off the road not to get hit by passing cars. Click. Click. Click.

I had to do some post-processing work to bring out the image that I felt in my heart. I'm a bit torn when it comes to cleaning up images in Photoshop and Lightroom, because I do like to leave things as natural as possible. David DuChemin writes eloquently on this topic and has a great Lightroom tutorial in one of his newer books. Travel photography in particular requires a bit of post-processing work, because you can't have your entourage sit there while you wait for optimal conditions and lighting all the time. You can try, but it will most likely end with heightened levels of annoyance and unhappy travel companions. Staying on the road means moving with it.

[Untitled]

I have been studying the work of master landscape photographers past, and this was a little homage to that old era. There is also a little bit of me in this photograph. As an exercise, I have been trying to express my feelings through photography, but if this blog is any indication, I am still much more adept at using words to tell a story. I won't go into what I felt in my heart when I took the second photo, but perhaps you can manage a few guesses on your own. You might not be right, but that is probably a secondary concern.

I may head back to this location at dawn or dusk, because I have a few ideas in my head for a more dramatic look and composition. I hope I make it back someday.

---

500+ hits on my fledging photography blog last week. 99% of that traffic coming to check out my Baltimore Ravens pictures. You shoot it, they will come.