Tag Archives: Photography

Time and Commitment

Sunset at Cowee Mountains Overlook, Blue Ridge Parkway MP 430
Sunset at Cowee Mountains Overlook, Blue Ridge Parkway MP 430

I’ve written lately about how I feel like I am in a bit of a slump, photographically.  Many readers have made comments along the lines of “gee, I’d love to have a slump like that.”  But I’ve recently come to realize what I mean by what I’ve written.  What I’ve pretty much decided is that doing the kind of photography I like to do requires an investment of time, energy and dedication that, for a number of reasons, I just haven’t been committing to this year.  And this applies not just to the shooting, but to the processing and printing parts of the process as well.

As much as I’d like to think I can, I can’t just show up at a place and take meaningful photographs.  I can take photographs for sure, and many of them may be good technically.  But to create photographs with meaning requires more time.  I need to get to a place, get my mind and my heart tuned in to what is happening, and sometimes just sit for a while until I start hearing the voices.  “Being open to the gifts” is what my friend Les Saucier likes to say.  I can’t just pull the magic out of my camera bag, toss it out there and expect to take meaningful photographs.

Sunset at Caney Fork Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway MP 428
Sunset at Caney Fork Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway MP 428

Mostly what this requires is an investment of time.  Time partly to allow things to happen, but also time to get to a place in plenty of time for whatever is happening.  Sunsets are a good example.  I can’t just show up at a spot 10 minutes before sunset, pull out the camera and start taking amazing photos.  Sometimes the best photos come well before the actual setting of the sun, sometimes as much as an hour before, such as when the sun is moving behind a low-lying layer of clouds and casting sunbeams, or highlighting ridgelines as they recede into the distance.  Often by the time the sun sets all the magic is gone.  Occasionally, the magic is just beginning at sunset, as the real color begins to appear after the sun has gone below the horizon.  But I need time to “tune in,” to see what is happening, and to figure out what to shoot and how to shoot it.

Fall color along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Waterrock Knob
Fall color along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Waterrock Knob

The other way that my photography requires an investment of time is in having plenty of time to enjoy myself.  Kathy & I enjoy good meals at nice restaurants, both at home and when we travel.  That generally doesn’t involve sitting at an overlook with cold chicken and potato salad.  Sometimes it does, but not usually.  So in order to do a little bit of both, it’s often necessary to have more than just 24 hours in a place in order to really do it justice and to find that balance between sunset on the Parkway and dinner in Waynesville (or wherever).  One of the ways that this year has differed from previous years is that we have been taking more 2-day weekends and fewer 3 or 4-day weekends.  This results in less time in a specific place, and I find that this takes time away from everything.  I don’t like to feel like the clock is ticking while I am photographing.  And the smaller window of opportunity that is dictated by a shorter weekend makes that clock tick like a parade of Harleys going by!  With less time, success is more dependent on luck than creativity, and I don’t work so well when I am depending on luck.

Fall color along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Lone Bald Overlook, MP 432
Fall color along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Lone Bald Overlook, MP 432

So what does this all mean?  Well, it means several things.  First and foremost, I think it means that I need to do a better job of managing my time so that I have the freedom and flexibility I need to do the kind of photographic work I find most inspiring while also finding time to do the other things I love.  Photography and fine dining aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive.  Some times of the year they are, so I’ll need to work that out.  Sometimes it will mean a nice but late dinner, and sometimes it will mean cold chicken on the Parkway.  The other thing it means is possibly traveling less frequently but for longer periods of time.  And perhaps staying longer in one place instead of trying to see multiple locations and moving around constantly.  I generally shy away from what I refer to as the photographic “death march” and don’t do a lot of good photography while I’m driving down the road.  Give me a place to sit and chill for a while and I’m more likely to get inspired.

I’ve done some good work this past year and hope to do some more before it’s done.  This year has been a little weird for a lot of reasons, and I’m looking forward to settling back into my usual routine next year.  We’ll see where that leads, but I’m hoping it will lead to more fulfilling photography for me, and less of my whining about it to Kathy!

Sunset at Cowee Mountains Overlook, Blue Ridge Parkway MP 430
Sunset at Cowee Mountains Overlook, Blue Ridge Parkway MP 430

Hall’s Harbour, Nova Scotia

Low Tide at Hall's Harbour, Nova Scotia
Low Tide at Hall’s Harbour, Nova Scotia

Home of the largest tidal change of anyplace on the planet, the Bay of Fundy was probably the Number One Must-See location for all of us on our recent visit to Nova Scotia.

High Tide, Hall's Harbour, Nova Scotia
High Tide, Hall’s Harbour, Nova Scotia

There are many places to experience the tidal change, depending on what you want to see. Most people want to see the highest vertical change, there are places where the horizontal change is very large, and there are a few places where you can experience a tidal “bore,” where a river actually reverses direction as the tide comes in and heads into a narrow inlet such as the mouth of a river.

Waiting for The Tide, Hall's Harbour, Nova Scotia
Waiting for The Tide, Hall’s Harbour, Nova Scotia

The so-called tidal bore can be pretty exciting in the right place at the right times, but generally requires the right astronomical conditions, such as a full moon, to really experience anything more than a ripple.

Low Tide at Hall's Harbour, Nova Scotia
Low Tide at Hall’s Harbour, Nova Scotia

We experience pretty large horizontal tidal changes along the east coast at places like Hilton Head, where the beach “disappears” at high tide but is enormously wide at low tide.  Been there, done that!  We decided that the way we wanted to see the tidal change was to experience the vertical change, since this is what the Bay of Fundy is really known for.  In my opinion the tidal bore is more of a tourist thing.  Others will undoubtedly have their own opinion, and that’s dandy.

Tide coming in, boats starting to float.  Hall's Harbour, Nova Scotia
Tide coming in, boats starting to float. Hall’s Harbour, Nova Scotia

The highest tides on planet Earth occur at a place called Burncoat Head.  The water level at high tide can be as much as 52 feet higher than at low tide.  We stopped there and spent some time, but we were enroute that day and got there at just about high tide.  As a result, there wasn’t a lot to see and we didn’t have time to wait for the tide to recede.  Even with the amount of change, it can sometimes take a couple of hours to really notice the difference.  So we moved on, and the next day visited our planned destination to watch the tides, Hall’s Harbour.

Tide coming in, boats starting to float.  Hall's Harbour, Nova Scotia
Tide coming in, boats starting to float. Hall’s Harbour, Nova Scotia

About an hour’s drive from our lodging in Wolfville, we arrived at Hall’s Harbour around mid-morning – the time on my first photo says 10:27.  That was right around low tide, so we had a chance to “walk on the ocean floor” as they say, for an hour or more, looking at the fishing boats that literally sit on the ground while the tide is out.  Very fascinating!  Hall’s Harbour is an actual fishing village, with a small restaurant that serves lobster.  LOTS of lobster!  They had lobster dinner, lobster salad and lobster sandwiches, and a great place to sit and enjoy the day.  Our day was picture perfect, as far as weather goes.  We talked to a couple who had been there the day before who said that it was so foggy that they couldn’t see a thing.  So we were just a bit lucky!

High Tide, Hall's Harbour, Nova Scotia
High Tide, Hall’s Harbour, Nova Scotia

Within a few hours, all of the places we had been walking were covered by about 40 feet of water!  It was quite an amazing experience, and a wonderful way to spend the day.

High Tide, Hall's Harbour, Nova Scotia
High Tide, Hall’s Harbour, Nova Scotia

 

 

 

More From The Beach

Sunset on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Sunset on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

It’s hard to believe it was just a month ago that we spent the Labor Day weekend at the beach in Hilton Head.  I wish I was still there.

Kathy spent a nice quiet weekend at home this weekend, so I had a chance to process a few more of my selects from our weekend.

Sunrise on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Sunrise on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

I upgraded part of my computer setup this past week.  My aging iMac was starting to show it’s impending obsolescence, and I had a newer MacBook Pro sitting here being used for little more than running our banking program and the occasional web surfing session.  So I picked up a new monitor, keyboard and mouse and decided to give the laptop a try.  I’m not seeing quite the performance improvement I was hoping for, but it is noticeably faster in most things.

Sunrise on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Sunrise on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

The biggest improvement is with the monitor!  While the screen on the iMac was quite nice when it was new, there has been a pretty big leap in monitor quality over the past few years, as evidenced by the improvement in the new one, a 24″ ASUS ProArt PA249.  Pretty nice stuff, no yellow bars like I was seeing on the old monitor.  And no more high-gloss mirror-like Apple screen.  Yay! 🙂

Sunrise on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Sunrise on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

As soon as I save a few more pennies I’m planning to build a new machine, so the purchase of a few peripherals gets me an interim performance bump until I can go the rest of the way.  I was just about there until a fire at one of the factories that makes memory added about $300 to the price of the items on my NewEgg wish list.  Hopefully in another month or two those prices will recover and I’ll be ready to forge ahead, just in time to outfit the office in our new place.  We hope to be in by the end of November.  Hopefully November 2013.  It’s been a long process!

Sunrise on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Sunrise on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

I’m still working on Nova Scotia photos too, so there will be more of those coming as well.

Sunrise on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Sunrise on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Sunset on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Sunset on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

 

Fun With Snapseed

Kevin's car,  processed with Snapseed
Kevin’s car, processed with Snapseed

I’ve never been much about taking photos with my phone, other than the random snaps at times when I didn’t have a “real” camera with me. But I’ve been playing around with Snapseed, and this is a photo I took with my phone and processed on my tablet. It may not be my new style, but it’s a lot of fun!

Car is courtesy of my son Kevin.

Signs and Such

This Guy Needs More Bumper Stickers, Baddeck, Nova Scotia
This Guy Needs More Bumper Stickers, Baddeck, Nova Scotia

I like to photograph interesting signs and weird stuff.  Here are a few more from Nova Scotia.

I would change "golfing" to photographing, but that's just me.
I would change “golfing” to photographing, but that’s just me.
Facilities. Burncoat Head Park on the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia
Facilities. Burncoat Head Park on the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia
Hall's Harbour, Nova Scotia
Hall’s Harbour, Nova Scotia
Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Make An Offer - Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Make An Offer – Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Closed 7:30-ish, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Closed 7:30-ish, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
$10 Charge, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
$10 Charge, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Retired trawler "Cape Sable" on display at the Fisheries Museum
Retired trawler “Cape Sable” on display at the Fisheries Museum
Knock, Knock....  Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia
Knock, Knock…. Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia
Canada...BEER.  Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia
Canada…BEER. Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia
Dr. Weirdbeard, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia
Dr. Weirdbeard, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia
Not one, but TWO, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia
Not one, but TWO, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia
Ice Cream, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia
Ice Cream, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia
Savour The Sea From A Distance, Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia
Savour The Sea From A Distance, Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia
Pedestrians, Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia
Pedestrians, Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia
Seafoam Lavender Farm in Seafoam, Nova Scotia
Seafoam Lavender Farm in Seafoam, Nova Scotia
Bagpiper, Pictou, Nova Scotia
Bagpiper, Pictou, Nova Scotia

People At Work

Moving a very heavy mill stone made somewhat easier with the use of a crane.  Balmoral Grist Mill Museum in Balmoral Mills, Nova Scotia
Moving a very heavy mill stone made somewhat easier with the use of a crane. Balmoral Grist Mill Museum in Balmoral Mills, Nova Scotia

More photos from Nova Scotia….

I sort of half inadvertently developed a series of photographs of people working.  Some more interesting than others, but all with a story or two to tell.

Moving a very heavy mill stone made somewhat easier with the use of a crane.  Balmoral Grist Mill Museum in Balmoral Mills, Nova Scotia
Moving a very heavy mill stone made somewhat easier with the use of a crane. Balmoral Grist Mill Museum in Balmoral Mills, Nova Scotia
Worker repairing a scallop drag, or net, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Worker repairing a scallop drag, or net, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Pouring samples for a tasting. The Glenora Inn and Distillery, Glenville, Nova Scotia
Cassie & Maggie, Celtic duo performing in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Cassie & Maggie, Celtic duo performing in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Retired Captain Hanlon aboard the retired trawler "Cape Sable" on display at the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Retired Captain Hanlon aboard the retired trawler “Cape Sable” on display at the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Horse-drawn carriage tours were a popular form of sightseeing in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Horse-drawn carriage tours were a popular form of sightseeing in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Captain John Bryson from our sailing cruise aboard the Amoeba on Bras d'Or Lake, Baddeck, Nova Scotia
Captain John Bryson from our sailing cruise aboard the Amoeba on Bras d’Or Lake, Baddeck, Nova Scotia
In this family, everyone does their part.  Neil's Harbour, Nova Scotia
In this family, everyone does their part. Neil’s Harbour, Nova Scotia
Fresh prosciotto at Luckett Vineyard near Grand Pre Nova Scotia
Fresh prosciotto at Luckett Vineyard near Grand Pre Nova Scotia
Our captain watches for whales and other boats, aboard our whale watching cruise with Pirate's Cove Whale Cruises
Our captain watches for whales and other boats, aboard our whale watching cruise with Pirate’s Cove Whale Cruises
Tour guide at the Glenora Inn and Distillery, Glenville, Nova Scotia
Tour guide at the Glenora Inn and Distillery, Glenville, Nova Scotia

 

Good As New

Shelton Vineyards, Dobson, North Carolina
Shelton Vineyards, Dobson, North Carolina

I got my camera back from the shop last week and had a chance to test it out over the weekend.  Kathy & I visited Shelton Vineyards with some of our nature photography buddies.  As far as I can tell it looks like the machine is functioning properly.  The operator felt a little rusty but I got the hang of it pretty quickly.

More photos than words today, so enjoy!

Shelton Vineyards, Dobson, North Carolina
Shelton Vineyards, Dobson, North Carolina
Shelton Vineyards, Dobson, North Carolina
Shelton Vineyards, Dobson, North Carolina
Shelton Vineyards, Dobson, North Carolina
Shelton Vineyards, Dobson, North Carolina

More About Balance

Hall's Harbour, Nova Scotia
Hall’s Harbour, Nova Scotia

There were a number of good and thoughtful comments to my previous post about balance.  Some of them related to the visual balance of photography, but mostly the comments seemed to revolve around the time balance involved in making time for photography, and to a lesser extent about time balance in our lives in general.  I find myself more and more preferring to photograph as a part of traveling or doing other things, as opposed to making photography the central purpose of my activity.  There is a subtle but important distinction between the two.  Mostly it just means a change in subject matter, but because I’m photographing things that attract me or grab my attention as I go, I’m more likely to photograph things that have more interest or meaning to me, rather than just going down a checklist or conforming to some predetermined agenda or formula.

(Kathy's Photo) Cunard House in Pictou, Nova Scotia
(Kathy’s Photo) Cunard House in Pictou, Nova Scotia

Cedric’s comment was perhaps the most interesting to me, because he read my words in the context of the accompanying photographs, which were more of a “centered” type of composition.  Relating it to his personal preference for photos that are “grossly one sided across the vertical” he said that he rarely shares that type of photograph, “because generally they are not popular and sometimes rattle people too much.”

My reaction when reading those words was “why does “balanced” have to be “centered?””  If your vision (or your preference) results in a photograph that has the subject off to one side and it pleases you and suits your intention, isn’t that OK?  Balance should be dictated by what works for us in a particular situation and what feels right to us.  In most cases that might mean a result that is closer to the center than to the edge, but it doesn’t have to.

The Glenora Inn and Distillery, Glenville, Nova Scotia
The Glenora Inn and Distillery, Glenville, Nova Scotia

Mark’s comments focused on the parallels between visual and time balance, and the fact that he feels that he has more control over the photographic part than the time part.  I agree, as there are more outside demands on our time than there are on our photographic vision.  I probably would have been perfectly willing to get up at 4am for sunrise a few days, were it not for the fact that our days didn’t leave room for catching up on lost sleep, that daylight went until sunset at 9:00 and that I didn’t want to go home from vacation needing a vacation!  It was a lot easier to convince my traveling companions to head out for sunset than to get up for sunrise, so it was an accommodation I was more than willing to make, even if it meant completely forgoing sunrise.

"Adopt a Lobster" Pictou, Nova Scotia
“Adopt a Lobster” Pictou, Nova Scotia

Paul’s comment referenced my decision to leave the laptop at home, stating that he often does the same when I he travels.  He said that he sometimes goes so far as to leave the camera at home, preferring to remove the “self-pressure to get out and photograph and carve out that time to do it.”  I’ve found that, too.  Sometimes I just want to go and watch, to experience whatever it is I’m doing for what it is.  I don’t need to capture it with a camera if I see it, experience it and remember it.  There is a time and place for the camera, and there is a time and place to just watch.

Hooked - Hall's Harbour, Nova Scotia
Hooked – Hall’s Harbour, Nova Scotia

As it relates to photographic composition, I’m convinced that “balance” doesn’t have to mean “middle.”  I’d love to see some of Cedric’s “unbalanced-balanced” photographs.  I’ll bet we would love them, mostly because they would reflect his vision and are made from his heart.  On the subject of time, some of us choose and are able to spend all of our waking hours doing photography.  That’s great.  If others of us are only able to carve out a few hours a day or a week for our photography, that’s just the other end of the continuum and is OK, too.  When I’m faced with a choice between a nice dinner with my sweetie and a possible sunset opportunity, more often than not I’m going to choose the nice dinner.  Except for those rare times of the year when I can do both!  Several of us have given up television in exchange for more time doing other things.  If that’s a decision that works for us, then that’s OK.  If I post dozens of photos a day to my blog or Facebook while Paul leaves the computer at home and each choice works for us, that’s cool.

Waiting for The Tide, Hall's Harbour, Nova Scotia
Waiting for The Tide, Hall’s Harbour, Nova Scotia

I think the main lesson in all of this discussion and conversation is that balance means different things to each of us.  What is balanced to me may be nothing but tension for someone else.  And what someone else finds comfortable might be like chaos for me.  And you know what?  That’s part of what makes this life so wonderful!  Each of us has our own take on what works, for the most part we have the ability and the means to express it, and in the end what matters is that what we do makes us happy.  If we are able to share our work and make a few other people smile in the process, that is just gravy!

The Glenora Inn and Distillery, Glenville, Nova Scotia
The Glenora Inn and Distillery, Glenville, Nova Scotia

A Matter of Balance

Balancing Rock, on Long Island near Tiverton, Nova Scotia
Balancing Rock, on Long Island near Tiverton, Nova Scotia

My barber always talks about shape and balance when it comes to a good haircut.  Three of my photos hang on the wall of his shop, and he always refers to those photos when he is talking to a customer about balance.  I’m also aware that he says this partly for my benefit when I’m there, but it also illustrates his point.  He also happens to be one of the biggest fans of my photography. 🙂

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about balance, mostly in terms of managing competing priorities, but also how it relates to my photography.  Visual balance is relatively easy, I think, partly because it is subjective, but also because there is a pretty wide range for success.  Time balance is somewhat more difficult, and is really what I have been spending my time thinking about.

Balmoral Grist Mill Museum in Balmoral Mills, Nova Scotia
Balmoral Grist Mill Museum in Balmoral Mills, Nova Scotia

Whether at work, spending a weekend at home or on vacation, I struggle at balance.  It’s mostly because of the classic “only 24 hours in a day,” but is also because there are so many interesting things competing for my time!  I have to spend a certain amount of my day at work, because they pay me to be there.  And I have to spend most of my time there doing the things they want me to do, because that’s what they pay me to do.  Other than that, my time is mine, but within certain constraints, and subject to multiple distractions.  Those of us who work for a living and have interests outside of work – which I think includes just about everyone I know – constantly face the dilemma of competing priorities.

When we sold our house and moved to our apartment in May, I was looking forward to all kinds of time to work on some projects I had been trying to get to for a long time.  I promised myself time to write more on my blog, process more photos, update my website, make some prints and build a new computer.  I haven’t done any of those things – yet.  But the reason for that is that I have been doing other things that have had a higher priority.  A lot of it has been Kathy & me taking a collective sigh of relief from the drama of selling our house and moving.   And our new place is still mud and dirt, so there’s going to be a lot more time, I think.  Now that we’ve had a nice vacation and I have several thousand more photos to process, I had better stay glued to my chair for a while!

The 'Atlantic Guardian' scallop trawler, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
The ‘Atlantic Guardian’ scallop trawler, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

On our recent vacation, I faced a dilemma regarding the balance of time for photography and time to enjoy the other aspects of being in Nova Scotia.  With sunrise before 6:00am and sunset after 9:00pm, trying to photograph sunrise and sunset, especially sunrise, was going to be problematic.  I love sunrise, but it comes way too early for me most of the year, so I was satisfied to rise with the rest of the world at 7:00, have a nice breakfast and be on my way at a reasonable hour.  And I managed to sneak in a little sunset activity after dinner in a few locations.  It was enough to satisfy my photographic needs while enjoying the tourist side of things by having a nice dinner every night.  Did I miss some photographic “opportunities?”  Perhaps, but this wasn’t a photography trip, and there is way more to do in Nova Scotia than take pictures.  They have food and wine there!  This was a vacation with Kathy and friends.  So I accepted that, adjusted my mindset accordingly and we all came away happy and satisfied.  Good balance.

Either, Or
Either, Or

I chose to not take a computer with me on this vacation.  Besides the obvious weight and bulk, my opinion is that having a computer along provides a huge potential for distraction.  If it was just a matter of backing up my photos every night and putting it way that would be fine, but then comes the temptation to process a few “just to see what I got,” then there is some kind of software update, while you wait you open Facebook and before you know it you have wasted 2 hours while everyone else is waiting to go to dinner.  No thanks.  The people I care most about are with me, and those who aren’t can wait until I get home.

Boar’s Head Lighthouse, near Tiverton, Nova Scotia
Boar’s Head Lighthouse, near Tiverton, Nova Scotia

We deal with visual balance in photography, and I think that dealing with visual balance helps to deal with time balance, because it forces us to evaluate all of the possibilities and come up with the one (or the few) ways to achieve the balance we are looking for.  Just like I feel that visual balance is essential to good composition, I’m convinced that time balance is essential to a happy life.  How a photograph is balanced visually is a huge influence on how successful a composition is.  And that doesn’t necessarily mean that every photograph has to be IN balance, just that HOW it is balanced influences the success of the composition.  And the same principal applies to how we manage our time.  I’m working at finding that balance in my daily life, so I can find that right mix of time for work, time for me, and time for those who love me and who I love.  I hope to continue to work on that balance for a long time!

Latched But Not Locked, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia
Latched But Not Locked, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia

Hidden Treasures

Bearded Beggarticks (Bidens aristosa) along the Torrence Creek Greenway in Huntersville, North Carolina
Bearded Beggarticks (Bidens aristosa) along the Torrence Creek Greenway in Huntersville, North Carolina

I recently sold a couple of prints to a repeat customer, and before I made the prints I went back over the files, as I often do, and made a few tweaks to take advantage of a more recent version of Lightroom than I used when I originally processed the photos a few years ago.  As I was going through my library, specifically the folder where one of those prints resides, I went back and looked at some of the other photos in that folder.  As often happens, a number of my “picks” for that day hadn’t been processed, and I was playing around to see what some of them might look like processed.  I came across this version that I think I like even better than the first.  It is a different flower, but the composition and the lighting make it a bit more dramatic than my original favorite.  I made a small print of this one, but think I may have to go a little larger and make one to hang on the wall.

My “former favorite” is below.  I’ll be interested in thoughts on how the two compare.

Bearded Beggarticks (Bidens aristosa) along the Torrence Creek Greenway in Huntersville, North Carolina
Bearded Beggarticks (Bidens aristosa) along the Torrence Creek Greenway in Huntersville, North Carolina