Nov 14
As we find ourselves on the cusp of winter’s edge, it’s nice to harken back just a few months and remember the powerful warmth of summer’s magnificent sun. This fiery image, taken while cruising along the southeastern tip of Mexico, was truly a beauty to behold. Feel free to conjure it up anytime the chill of the season upon us takes its toll! Hope you enjoy…
I generally am not a huge fan of heavy post processing, but I am definitely a believer in doing whatever it takes to reveal the artistic vision within an image. That is not to say lemonade can be made out of any lemon, and I ruthlessly delete any photograph that exhibits obvious flaws from the get-go. However, I rarely ever delete in camera (memory space notwithstanding) and I at least give every image one go viewing on my computer before I toss it in the trash bin. The above shot is a perfect example of why I like to give every photograph a fighting chance before I give up on it.
This scenic view appeared to me recently as our cruise ship entered the coastal waters of Honduras, early one morning, as the fog was heavy and the mist obscured most of the coastal detail from view. However, my naked eye could discern a shadowy lighthouse and the architecture of the Spanish style structure within the mist. I took several shots as we cruised by, though I was not entirely hopeful they’d turn out clearly enough to publish. Once I began to post-process, I began to feel there was hope, as I gently tweaked my contrast, urged some level of detail and clarity, and finally added a slight warming tone to the final product. The result is an impressionistic scene, which is exactly what I felt as we traveled past peering into the dusky morning light–the small boat adding a human touch to the otherwise lonely waters. I am glad I gave it life, as it’s a special moment and memory to me. Hope you enjoy as well…
May 4
You never really get a sense of how vast the earth is until you are in the middle of a body of water that has no visible bounds. No landmarks, no sights, not even a distinct horizon. My family and I recently took our first cruise, so it was the first time I had experienced the phenomenon of feeling like I was a tiny dot in the middle of an enormous, boundless sea. The first couple of days we set sail in pea soup–gray, misty, and damp; hour after hour of nothingness. Initially, I was disappointed at not experiencing the beautiful tropics touted in the travel brochures, but slowly, this gave way to a feeling that was just as strangely exhilarating–the feeling of being utterly alone in the middle of “nowhere.” Of course, it wasn’t actually “nowhere”… we were sailing across the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea on our way to Honduras, but emotionally, it felt like nowhere. It was existential and spiritual at the same time–looking out over a sea such as this certainly makes you reflect on the courage of the world’s early explorers or of anyone who was ever lost at sea, and even more so, how your own, singular life fits into this huge, vast world. Eventually, I began to use this time to relax, let down, and simply breathe in the moment, which is one of the best rewards of any vacation. Hope you enjoy…
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