Taking a Second Look

Thanks everyone for your support about my Etsy situation from my previous post.  I'll keep you posted as to how it all turns out, but for now I'm just waiting in the wings to see what happens.

Instead of dwelling on not so nice people, I thought I would reminisce a little.  It was this time last year that we were preparing for our trip to Germany and France.  Oh how I wish we were in the midst of making preparations to go to Europe right now, but we bought a new mattress instead!  Who knew that a good night's sleep could cost as much as flying 2 people to Europe?!!  I better sleep like a baby when it is delivered in a little over a week, otherwise it's going back to the store from whence it came, and I'm booking 2 tickets to Paris!!!

I thought I might have some fun by re-working a few of the images I took in Germany and France last fall, and I have to say that I much prefer the way they look the second time around.  I know so much more about photo editing than I did back then, and I'm truly finding post processing to be like a little form of meditation for me.  I think it's the creative part that gives me such joy and relaxes me somehow.

I also love that you can do the same thing over and over again, or you can switch it up, and because I'm easily bored, this is a godsend for me!

Sorry for the obnoxious watermark in most of these pics, but it's there because some of these images will be for sale on an online gallery in the very near future...woohoo!  I will have ready to hang high quality wrapped canvases for sale and I can't wait to spill the beans on the whole deal but for now it's still hush hush.  It's been in the works for a LONG time, but it's moving forward a little more slowly than anticipated and I'm chomping at the bit to get it going.  I'll be sure to let you know just as soon as it's up and running.  There will also be a few giveaways, so stay tuned!

The image above is a great example as to why you never throw out those pics that might have the slightest amount of potential.  It's an HDR image of a cafe in Strasbourg, France taken late one night as we wandered home from a lovely meal.  I had never combined the images to create the HDR because it just never appealed to me, but after trying out some of the new software I've been testing, I decided to give it a go figuring I had nothing to lose.

I was not wowed by the original HDR after combining the individual images to create it, but as I began trying different things and playing with the shadows and light I fell in love with it.  I don't love it because it's the best image in the world, but I do love that it transports me right back to that evening and makes me long to stroll those streets and visit those cafes again...it makes me long for Europe.  To me, that is the magic of photography, it gives you the chance to take a second look at someplace you consider to be special!!!