Smell the Roses

While no posts were forthcoming in July, I had been busy going through my 3000+ images from the Hawaii shoot. Admittedly, while I did reach the 1% keeper goal of about 30-40 photos, this process in itself created challenges within me to see things I had not considered or even forgot when I was actually taking the said photo “keepers.”  In other words, so much time and so many different scenes have come in between the actual shots and then the processing of these shots that I had forgotten many of the details. Note: the major ones I remembered, but the nuances to many shots were lost to memory. Even while I was taking these many shots in Hawaii I wish I had a way to record along with the photos themselves (a tag, if you will) what I was actually thinking or trying to do at the time.

That being said, I was forced in hindsight to find another way to accomplish the above. What I decided to do was allow myself to “Be” with the shot (I know this sounds corny and hackneyed); in other words to stop and “smell the roses.” If there was a shot to begin with, then I should be able to recover it within perceptual memory.

Honestly, this is not an easy process, but it does work.

The current photo to this post is of the USS Arizona Memorial looking upward. I’ve always felt a reverence for Pearl Harbor and the lives that were lost. I felt privileged to be able to visit this site, but upon arriving I found that the sheer number of visitors actually detracted from the solemnity of the site. This is not to cast aspersions on anyone about the actual memorial but it was difficult to find peace and reflection with so many visitors coming and going. The positive is that Americans still care and feel deeply about this event.

There was definitely a solemnity to the Harbor and I tried to capture it photographically. One way I did this is to look skyward from where the bombs fell, and I found a unique ceiling to the Memorial, intended or not in it design, I do not know. Nonetheless, it was beautiful and reflected the simplicity of the sacrifice that many men gave for their country.

The posted photo was taken with a Canon 5 DS,  EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM @ 70mm, f/10, 1/500, ISO 400, -1/3 stop compensation, processed  with DxO Optics Pro 11, using a Gradient map, and Color Efex Pro.