It’s no secret that photographers take a lot of images. In fact, looking at my camera shutter count, it looks like I have taken 9,952 photos this year! Of those images, I have only uploaded 15 images to the website. That’s a .15% survival rate. While the majority of the images get deleted, some fall into limbo, resting in the crevices on my hard drive, hoping that one day they will be brought back to life. Sadly, most of those files will never be finished.
For whatever reason, these files are just left uncompleted on my computer. I think this is the equivalent of forgetting to start the dryer when doing laundry. The soaked clothes just kind of sit there and fester as I go about my life doing other things. Now, when I open the dryer, I realize my mistake and must rewash those clothes again (if my wife is reading this, I apologize for you finding out this way). Some of these unfinished photos were overshadowed by other images from the same trip. Some photos just didn’t work out once I got them back home on the computer. And some of the photos are just a desperate attempt to make something happen for a lost cause. It is worth noting that my editing workflow is extensive. I enjoy the process of “building” the images up layer by layer. (layers image).
An expanded view of my image “building” process.
So, let’s go ahead and bring out this soiled laundry and see just why I stopped working on these images.
I. BDJ_8292 (25% completed.)
This image is a good example of trying to make something out of nothing. While the sky is nice and the colors are good, I did not have an interesting composition. I was hoping for the sunset colors to expand across the sky, but unfortunately, we were left with just a glint of color on a few clouds. It’s easy to see why I stopped working on this one.
II. BDJ_8411 (37.5% completed.)
I like this photo as a concept. The backlit foliage really pops out against the dark granite, and the rim lighting on the foreground rocks is nice, but my subject (the waterfall) is just too dark and has no light on it. At the time, I didn’t really have any other images to work on, but as I went on more trips, this photo was just left abandoned.
III. BDJ_8959 (62.5% completed.)
Photos can be abandoned for all kinds of reasons, but this one was because of an incident that occurred shortly after this photo was captured. What’s wrong with a low-precipitation supercell at sunset just a few miles from your home? Nothing really, but the lack of foreground makes the photo boring, and it was the inflow from this storm that knocked my tripod over, destroying my D810 DSLR camera. So, yeah, that photo can just stay on the hard drive!
IV. BDJ_1417 (12.5% completed.)
This image was taken during the super bloom that occurred in May this year. All around the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, there were spectacular wildflower blooms. We went on a day that was supposed to be “partly sunny” but ended up being socked in with heavy cloud cover most of the morning. I do like the composition, and the wildflowers do add some nice drama to the image, but with no light on the foreground, middleground, or background, the photo is just blah. I did capture a photo from earlier that morning that I feel better tells the story of the event, and I guess that photo overshadowed this one.
V. BDJ_3152 (25% completed.)
I am actually really excited for this photo. I love the composition; the light is great and shows lots of depth. I also really like the black-and-white conversion. This image was just placed on the backburner, with other photos from this shoot taking priority. I will for sure come back and finish this one.
VI. BDJ_3557 (25% completed.)
This is one of those photos that I enjoy looking at. Am I going to print it? Probably not. Does it tell a story? Somewhat. But mostly, I have so many other images from this shoot that I want to work on. So while I could spend the time to edit this image, it will instead remain in my heart—and on my hard drive.
Thanks for reading and delving into the twisted mind of the nature photographer. Maybe I’ll end up editing all these images in the coming year. Truthfully, I hope that I remain distracted with even more interesting and exciting photos this coming year. We have lots of big plans and I can’t wait to see where 2024 takes us.
