2014 Goal

Double Arch Composite

Much of learning about the craft of photography is placing one’s work and artistic impressions in front of others to view and for those who choose to view the photos and/or artistic impressions to, hopefully, provide comment. During the next year, I have a goal of posting a new photo, commentary, or something that I find or have learned that may be useful, each week on Sunday. This goal has two has two components: one, it forces me to provide a new photo or post at least once a week, which means taking, reviewing and editing more photographs, and continuing to learn and provide better visual content (you’ll just have to accept the level of text and writing as it is). On occasion, I may have a specific task to find and record a specific type of photograph or editing process for posting.

The above photo is a composite. I seem to have an interest, or at least be captivated by the creation of composites by various photographers/graphic artists. This is, I believe, in keeping with the idea that “photograph are not taken, they are made” (paraphrase Ansel Adams). Photographers, I believe, envision a certain scene or outcome for their work. Each person sees and remembers scenes and circumstances differently, which contributes to the rich output and vision of photographers. Consequently, even though the initial photograph was fairly plain, this composite is how I envisioned the scene and as it developed in my mind. This took a few months. The initial photograph provided a bland sky, no stars, no moon, and no clouds. A battery-powered torch was used to light the rocks, but in doing so, provided a stark light that was uncomfortable, slightly visible, and did not contribute to the overall scene.

The composite was made up of:

• The original Double Arch photograph, (Arches National Park)
• Moon: taken with a Nikon D50 mounted on a telescope
• Fire: from flame and fire files found on the internet
• The Sky & Clouds: taken during the early stages of a storm in Mexico City
• The Stars: created with a custom brush made in Photoshop (this is one of the things I am learning to do and just happens to be my first attempt at creating stars in this manner)
• All other components and editing were done in Lightroom and Photoshop.

I look forward to the year and being better in the end than I was in at the beginning….. Happy New Year.