Back in 2010 I took a small trip to the Badlands of South Dakota. It was the first 'big' trip I had taken, I was 21 years old, I wanted to pay the area respect because of my Dad (he was born in South Dakota). My Dad is fine, so don't worry. It was just an idea I had, the area looked like another planet in the few 'nice' photographs I had seen.
My technique was poor, my knowledge was lacking, my composition was shit, but my drive was unstoppable. Looking back at 99% of the photographs I captured makes me a bit upset, but once in a while a gem can be hidden in the rough. I recently went through all of the photographs hoping for a few laughs, when, to my surprise, I found a few sprawling panoramas. I stitched them together in PS and was quite happy with what I saw.
Like I said before, my composition was not the best, but now I had two different massive panoramas in front of my eyes. I knew I had a great opportunity to sample a 3:2 ratio sized slice out of the panorama, as large as would allow. I played around with several 'compositions' sampled from the panoramas and finally settled on compositions that I would have executed if I were there now.
What is today's lesson? Do not cross off old trips or old photographs. I can't suggest trying to save poor photographs, if it's terrible, then it's terrible, that's all there is to it. But there might be a hidden gem somewhere in that folder full of garbage. It's worth a quick look, but spend most of your effort focused at photographic progression, family and friends. Cheers.
Spire Stretch - Canon 7D, Canon 24-105L (@35mm), ISO 100, F/16, 1/40th of a second. Seven Images all together, about three Images in final sample.
The Badlands - Canon 7D, Canon 24-105L (@40mm), ISO 100, F/16, 1/50th of a second. Eight Images all together, about three Images in final sample.
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