Try Planeteering…

Reflections

©Joe Bridwell

Near sundown, the Pecos River becomes magical country… majestic clouds, rushing river, fish ponds, even daisies on small islands at Cowles.

All The World’s A Stage

And all men and women merely players:

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts…

As You Like It, Shakespeare

This morning I played an enchanting part ~ a digital Muse sat on my shoulder while scanning beautiful photographs from around our planet. Springtime is a time of renewed vigor, dedication to fresh new green leaves, delightful breezes which softly stir our hair, and photos which inspire re-entrance into our planet’s delight. These beautiful photos spoke to me of such fresh insights.

Planeteers

Planeteering, a process of looking at newly revealed photos, arose because I could quickly surf our beautiful planet, see images from the view of other excellent photographers, then find photographs which catch my breath – even occasionally stir my creative fancy. This morning was just such an example...

Pathways of Light contains an ever changing roll of imaginative photographers who post daily delights. Whenever I’ve time, I try to take a look at other’s photos, go to exotic places I may not be able to pronounce, and see the many challenges good photography still has for digital growth.

This morning there were two photos – one of a wave splashed shore under a golden sunset, the other a sand spit silhouetted at sunset in a still, small natural lake. The photographer called this image “Something from Nothing”! The title seemed to say ‘When feeling lazy, you never know what you might get out there _so JUST DO IT.’ Just being there alone - witnessing hundreds of wild geese stopping to rest at sunset - was his inspiration.

Digital Motivation

With such incentives and Planeteering, I’ve been reviewing sky images taken over several years. I asked, “What can I do with this series of soft, near sunset hand-held images from the Pecos?”

Shortly (well not really), I had used several new LR2 and CS4 features – Gradient Filters, Auto-Align and Auto-Blend Layers, Content Aware Scaling, Color Range Masking, and HSL Adjustments to composite, then subtly refine Reflections…

May I recommend you set up your own Planeteering system; when seemingly at a standstill, reach out, examine other work, see what such endeavors do for your chemistry, your shooting, and your zest. You might even look through your captues, apply new tools, and play ‘your own parts’ – then, JUST DO IT…

Enjoy…