Alone Again, Naturally

Thanks for sticking with me despite my infrequent posts. This one is a short one, but hopefully I'll be posting a little more frequently this year. I'm going to cheat a bit today and mix in some photos from previous posts along with a few new images, mostly because I haven't had much time for editing lately (photos from Egypt, India, and Italy to come soon though, hopefully!), but also because there's a theme that's been nagging at me for a little while now: solitude in nature.

There's something about solitude in nature that's always been very alluring to me. Perhaps it's because I tend to think of nature as bustling with life, busy, active, and solitude seems to contrast with that perception. Or, perhaps it's because it gives me a sense of quiet stillness, which can at times be difficult to get in a city (small as the city I live in may be). Of course, I recognize that there's something to be said for busy scenes as well, like this field of poppies on a sunny day near Stonehenge:

Salisbury, England

But I do think solitude in nature can be quite striking--sometimes peaceful, sometimes eerie, sometimes lonely, but always interesting.

Cambridge, England

Kenai Peninsula, Alaska

Palmer, Alaska

The Netherlands

Anchorage, Alaska

Anchorage, Alaska

Malham, England

Cambridge, England

Seward, Alaska

Long Time Gone

For those of you still out there who have been wondering, I haven't become Amish or signed on for a one-way ticket to Mars. I'm afraid I have a far less interesting explanation for my hiatus from the wonderful world of blogging. I simply haven't had much time to devote to photography lately. At any rate, thanks to those who are still following! I'm just settling in from my big move from Alaska to England, so hopefully my posts will be a little less sporadic.

I'm afraid my time for editing has been minimal, but I did manage to get a few submissions into the Guardian newspaper's monthly Been There travel photo competition, and placed among the finalists for the month of March with a photo of Northwestern Glacier in Alaska. Beyond that, I'm still just trying to make it through the mountain of photos from my trips this last year! Below are a few photos from Berlin, but stay tuned for more from Heidelberg, Dresden, Bruges, Paris, Cologne, Vienna, Istanbul, Florence, Venice, Seward, and Anchorage...

One fun Lightroom tool I've been fiddling with lately is the sliding Clarity bar, which is under Presence on the Develop tab. Cranking it all the way to 100 creates a stark contrast which sharply defines the lines in the photo, while pushing it down to the opposite extreme (-100) creates a soft, fuzzy glow, much like a close-up filter. I don't usually use the extreme setting for most tools, but every once in awhile, approaching the extreme setting can create interesting results. I have a few examples below--do you have a preference? The first photo in the High and Low Clarity groups is the same--just with a different treatment.



High Clarity (+85 to +100)

Berliner Dom

Anchorage, Alaska

Exit Glacier, Alaska

Anchorage, Alaska

Anchorage, Alaska

Low Clarity (-85 to -100)

Berliner Dom

Berliner Dom

Seward, Alaska

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

Berliner Dom

(In)decisions

Most of my time lately has been devoted to shooting portraits (see my previous post) and some new travel photos in Germany, France, and Belgium (below), but I also have some exciting news to share. In early March, I decided to enter the Guardian newspaper "Been There" travel photo competition. Much to my surprise and pleasure, I was selected as a finalist for the March competition, and my photo was published online (click here to view my photo, entitled Solitude on Stanley Lake). Needless to say, I'm feeling pretty motivated to enter the April competition, so I need to make some decisions.


Unfortunately, as usual, I'm having a hard time deciding which photo to enter, and the photo is due tomorrow (the 23rd). The theme for April is "Street Life"--anything which captures daily life in an urban setting. I think I have a few shots which capture urban life from my recent trip to Paris. While I'm drawn to the photos of the performer climbing the lamppost with a soccer ball, perhaps the Parisians lounging on the banks of the Seine does a better job of capturing daily life? I also feel that the film grain on the performer pictures is a little distracting--it was a very dreary day, and the ISO settings combined with the high humidity mean there's a lot of noise in those photos.

Suffice it to say I'd be grateful for some external opinions. Is there one that strikes you as fitting the theme particularly well (or badly)? One with more striking composition as compared to the others? I'd love to hear your thoughts!