Where's the Picture?

Sometimes I struggle with finding the picture in a situation. There are people that I know that are amazing at this. They can walk up to nearly anything and get the most amazing shot of it that makes you just say, "Wow!" And then there's me. I can be at the same place and take the shot. Later when I'm looking at it, I wonder what in the world I was thinking.

So my family was up in farm country visiting grandma. We were outside and having some fun with the kids when I noticed across the street this farmer in his field. It got me to thinking, "Where is the picture here?" Instead of just shooting away and hoping for something good like I usually do, I stopped to consider what I wanted as my end goal. Thinking about this ahead of time shaped the pictures I was taking to help me reach that end goal.

Now, don't get me wrong. I took a lot of pictures. This is the one I wanted to work with. When I first showed it to the wife, she just looked at me, smiled, and said, "That's great, dear!" Ok. She didn't say that. She just looked at me with a quizzical look and left it at that.



But I knew what my end goal was and it never left my mind. After some work in Lightroom 2.0 (no PhotoShop on this one), this is what I came up with. This is the picture I had in my head - a hot, dry day with a farmer working his field, the dust billowing up as he brings his season to an end.



So when you're out and about and you see that something sitting there and you think to yourself, "There's gotta be a picture there somewhere," think about the end. See it hanging on a wall or on a computer screen. Imagine what you want the viewer to think and feel. Then click that!

-Chris