Where You Live ~ Exploration Thursday

"The Departure" Panorama

When life permits, I'll one day be able to really travel. I spent some time yesterday looking at travel photography and I know it's a challenge I want to face one day. But for now the timing is wrong, and I'm okay with that. I need to be here for my kids, both starting new journeys in school this fall, and for my hubby as he takes on extra work, and you'll see a new section soon to the blog for portraits.... something I need to work desperately for the next while.

But when I DO have that hankering (sometimes daily, let's be real here!) to shoot interesting vistas, wonderful scenery, or curious subjects, I have everything right here. Where I live. If I time it right, if I look hard enough, if I'm patient and open to possibilities, I can fill that need and get images that still test my skills.

The panoramic shot above was taken at a local marina, one of my go-to places for landscape hankerings. To see it enlarged just click on the image above. I have never tried pano's before, and thought I'd give this scene a try. The last golden light of the day was quickly departing (hence the title) and I liked the cloud cover over the entrance to the boat launch, with equipment standing at attention, ready for the next day's boats to launch out of dry dock. I badly wanted all that sky contoured in the last light. And suddenly I heard the voice of a good friend and mentor, saying, "For heaven's sake CD, make a multiple image panoramic already".... so I did. He's been trying to get me to do this for the last year or so, so Bob - this is for you! This scene has four images stitched together and processed to tweak the light in the photo, allowing me to get from one end of the launch to the other within a single frame. And get all the sky over the whole scene. I was so excited to see this done, that it felt just like coming back from an adventure elsewhere. Now four shots combined isn't genius or anything, but I feel good for my first attempt. That's one for the bucket list!

My point? I will never stop photographing where I live. It is training me now for the places and sights I'll photograph later... that's just too invaluable to ignore, or to sit around wishing I was somewhere else all the time. I hope the scenes I post through the blog inspire my readers to explore where they live, with or without a camera.

Drop me a line and let me know where you live! My stats say that some of you are away across the pond, some away across the world... would love to actually hear from you!

Thanks for the ramble... hope you're rambling about where you live too.

In The Corners of Your City ~Mono Monday

"Ornate Mausoleum"

I was actually on the hunt for magnolias in the rain. That was the goal. Can I help it that some of the biggest and oldest magnolias are in the massive Hamilton Cemetery? Can I help it that beside some of these ancient trees stood equally ancient columns decorating family grave sites? Can I help that I had to point my camera up at all the details, and instead of mauves and rich pinks of flowering trees, I saw things in B&W?

Can I stop posing everything in the form of a question now? Never mind.

It was funny though. I kept my eye on another person walking through the cemetery with their own camera. I love observing others when they're photographing a location. What makes them stop at certain things, while I keep moving and notice something else, and vice versa. They were only there for the spring flowers popping out here and there on the grounds. Never once pausing to look at the ornate or decaying graves, stones, moss, statues. Where as I couldn't get my fill of all of that. It always amazes me how individual our perspectives can be.

That's why I'm forever telling my fellow photographers, no matter how often a location has been photographed before, only YOU have your perspective, only YOU have your timing, only YOU have your vision for the final edits. I could go on and on. You will always find me roaming my own city. Frequenting the historical AND the mundane And the beautiful AND the busy locations. It's all there to be explored the way only you know how.

What'cha waiting for?

Thanks for the ramble, and have a super Monday.