Friday, January 02, 2009

New Year's Day 2009, Forrest, Illinois

Took a New Year's Day trip to Urbana, Illinois to visit my two college kids. On the way, I watched the constantly shifting clouds swirl and twist overhead (while keeping one eye on the road). At one point, I told my wife we had to pull over so I could get a shot of the sky. Since we were on a busy state highway, I waited until we came to a cross road and turned off to park.

At the corner sat some debris - old tires, cable, bottles. I quickly framed a couple of shots and made several exposures for the sky and foreground and hopped back into the car. It was freezing cold and very windy - very miserable weather despite the sunshine.

Later in the warmth and comfort of home, I looked at what I had shot. One composition appealed to me so I combined two shots, one of the sky and one of the foreground into a single image. I played with shadow and highlight levels, color saturation and contrast until I arrived at the image you see above.

Order and disorder side by side on the first day of the new year.

Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph © 2009 James Jordan.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Happy New Year Jim. I'm glad to have come to your blog with lovely photos and text.

Looking forward to seeing Edna tomorrow.
Sue

Wanda said...

Well James, you came up with a brilliant picture. I love the colors the textures and just the way it pulls me into the scene.

LOL:Wanda