Determination & Perseverance

View fullsize

Determination

We’re quickly approaching the end of the year so I thought I’d take today to share a couple quick thoughts to close it out. To succeed in just about anything requires determination and perseverance. You have to want to succeed. You have to be determined to do what it takes. And it requires perseverance. Times may get tough. You may go through long periods of hardships and failures. But you have to persevere through it all. Keep your goals in mind. Stay focused. You may sometimes go off the tracks. No problem. Pause, reorient yourself. Then keep working. And growing. And learning. Have determination and perseverance. Just like this little mushroom that managed to break its way through the asphalt road.

View fullsize

Perseverance

---

Do you enjoy these posts?

Sign up to receive periodic emails with updates and thoughts. Don’t worry, I won’t spam you. And please consider purchasing artwork or products from my online store, and using my affiliate links in the sidebar to the right when shopping online.

I appreciate your support!

---

Variations on a Theme: October on Aquia Creek

To set the stage, the weather forecast in late October had called for somewhat overcast skies which I’d thought might work for photographing autumn color reflections along the shoreline of Aquia Creek as seen from Widewater State Park in Virginia. So my father and I set out that morning to find hardly a cloud in the sky. Such is life. 😀

While walking along the shoreline I noticed a pier in the distance and for whatever reason was attracted to it. The sun was up, there was this single long cloud or perhaps a large contrail in the sky, and cormorants were fishing in the creek. I thought the scene might work as a black and white image since there wasn’t a lot of color, mostly the blues of the sky reflecting off the water. I honestly figured any images this day would be sketches of the scene and I’d try returning another day with different weather. As we walked along the shoreline trail I kept photographing this same scene from slightly different perspectives.

At some point either the wind or perhaps a boat created a wake in the water that seemed to reflect the angled line of the cloud. I liked that symmetry so created another set of photos, the results of which can be seen in this post.

View fullsize

October on Aquia Creek (black & white version)

As I’d mentioned, I was thinking black and white while photographing so that’s how I first processed the image, making various tweaks to the underlying colors which lightened and darkened those areas in the black and white version to create what I hoped would be an interesting final image. I lightened up the little bit of water around a cormorant to the right to draw some attention to it if your eyes happen to follow the angled funnel of the cloud and water to that area.

After I’d thought I’d finished the black and white version I decided to see how it might look if fully processed in color, so I went back in and created a new version. I made different adjustments in the color version than I had in the black & white which resulted in both the pier and part of the far shoreline standing out a bit more.

View fullsize

October on Aquia Creek (color version)

I thought I was done. But I remembered there’d been a flock of geese that flew through the scene at one point, which I’d created a few images of, so I went back through all the photos I’d created of this scene and found those. They didn’t have the nice pattern symmetry of cloud and water, which is why I’d overlooked them when looking for the one image I’d work on. And yet I liked what they added to the scene. So I decided to do something I rarely do, pulling the flying geese from one image and copying them onto another. Because of inconsistencies in how I processed the color and black & white versions the geese appear in a slightly different location in each image.

So what do you think? Does either version work? Do you prefer one over the other? Do you think the geese were a good addition or an unneeded one. Let me know in the comments below.

---

Do you enjoy these posts?

Sign up to receive periodic emails with updates and thoughts. Don’t worry, I won’t spam you. And please consider purchasing artwork or products from my online store, and using my affiliate links in the sidebar to the right when shopping online.

I appreciate your support!

---

Appreciating the Boardwalk

Most often I photograph nature and wildlife in natural settings without any evidence of humankind or our creations. This means I most often walk over boardwalks as a means to an end. And yet, boardwalks can be beautiful in their own right, as I hope to show.

Early one morning I was photographing into the sun on the Neabsco Creek Boardwalk in Woodbridge, Virginia, when a jogger ran into my frame. Instead of waiting for them to pass out of view I decided to create some images with them in the frame. I liked the idea of including a person on the boardwalk. Looking back I do wish I’d captured a moment when they were more separated from the tree in the background, but this was the best pose of those I captured.

View fullsize

An early morning jog on the boardwalk

A couple years later I was once again on the Neabsco Creek Boardwalk, this time before sunrise during blue hour. It was a quiet, contemplative moment, one I’m happy to have experienced. This is actually almost the same view as that above, but with a very different look. For those of you who’ve been with me for a while you may recognize this photo from my post, Overcast Twilight on Neabsco Creek Boardwalk.

View fullsize

Boardwalk blues

This year I visited Government Island in Stafford County, Virginia, for the first time. One day I’ll have to write a post about it but for now I share this view of the boardwalk that leads to the island. As with the first image, I loved being able to include some people in this view. I enjoyed how the darker trees in the foreground create a window of sorts, leading us deeper into the scene where you can see some very early autumnal colors appearing on the trees.

View fullsize

To Government Island

Most recently, my father and I returned to Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria, Virginia. It was once my favorite park, and I still very much enjoy it. But it’s gotten more and more crowded so I don’t travel there quite as often. On this day we happened to visit when some of the colors of autumn were present and I loved how the yellow leaves created this golden gateway at the end of the boardwalk. It just felt magical and I hope I’ve been able to convey even a little of what I felt on seeing it that day.

View fullsize

Enter the golden gateway

Next time you find yourself on one, take a few moments to appreciate the boardwalks we traverse.

---

Do you enjoy these posts?

Sign up to receive periodic emails with updates and thoughts. Don’t worry, I won’t spam you. And please consider purchasing artwork or products from my online store, and using my affiliate links in the sidebar to the right when shopping online.

I appreciate your support!

---