It is worth going through your rejects
Opposites. Canon EOS 5D, 28-75mm/2.8 Tamron. Please click to view larger.
Once a shoot is complete there is a routine I follow. I upload all the files from the shoot, try to create or use existing tags, then create a collection where all the files go. A couple of days later I scan the folder and the first cut is always technically perfect files. Then I go through the duplicates etc and finally end up with about 10% as final selects for edits. I typically end up editing about 5-10 images from an outing. And if I’ve one winner I count the outing as a success. Now, of course, if I take my film camera out then the process involves more steps and the final % of acceptable more or less remains the same.
I often have images which, although spoken to me at the time of making them in the field, don’t during the editing phase. I flag these aside to visit later. Sometimes I forget some and sometimes it takes years to really resonate.
This is one such image. I was attracted to the opposites in this image. The lush green leaves from early spring on the left side beech tree caught early morning light through the opening. However, the right side was still dark and moody. The fog and god beams only added to the atmosphere. I could visualize that this will work really well if done properly. I capture as much information as possible in the field with two horizontal frames possible from the camera system I owned in the early 2000s. I had just managed to buy my first full frame digital camera. A second hand Canon EOS 5D with excellent Tamron 28-75/2.8 lens. However, for various reasons this just did not speak to me during the editing stage.
Fast forward a decade and I stumbled upon the images during my ritualistic “stroll through the raw files”. New Mac M1 mini could handle this with a breeze and my improved and refined editing made the concept I started with a realization.