I'm completely out of practise

Take a look at this image.  It’s one I’m really proud of and been told by many that my pride is justified.

But it’s only one of many I used to take.  I used to be a prolific landscape photographer.  Even though I couldn’t hike anywhere I’d make the absolute most of scenes I could find, usually at the roadside.

And then I kind of stopped and started taking more and more nature and macro images.

One balmy evening earlier this month I found myself with a real need to take a landscape photo.  It might have been the heat, or just looking at my wide-angle lens sitting there unused and sad on its shelf.

So, off I trotted over to the field opposite my home at sunset and took this image you see below.

It’s utter rubbish; something I’d never even think of publishing.

But I have posted it to remind me that landscape photographer is more than just pointing your camera at some nice light.  I mean, I even forgot to focus this picture properly!

And I’ve posted it because it represents a low point for me.  One to which I’ll never hopefully return.  I’m planning a trip to waterfall country in the Brecon Beacons in the next few weeks, and it’ll be something of an undertaking for me.  I’ll need to dose up on painkillers and pick a day when I’m feeling good to start with.  Making a mistake is therefore genuinely unthinkable.  If I get back with nothing but rubbish, I’ll be genuinely upset.

To avoid that I’ll need to practise my once ingrained workflow to ensure zero mistakes, and I’ll make a commitment right now to publish the images I do come away with.

If they’re anything like the disappointing “effort” above, you have the right to shout at me!!

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In an attempt at further motivation, I took the image you see at the top of this post and re-processed it using any skills I may have learned along with employing new software functionalities introduced since I first took the picture way back in December 2020.  Of course, I filmed the whole process...