Stuck in Seville

Every picture...  I went down a rabbit hole today, back to Seville, 2010. While rooting around for the pictures of street artists that I posted yesterday, I opened the folder containing all the shots I'd taken that winter, or all the ones I thought were worth keeping. As often happens when viewing old photos, I found myself thinking about some of them, 'What were you thinking?' 

In 2010, I was still learning how to use Photoshop to process pictures taken in the RAW format, and I had yet to acquire some of the add-on tools that I rely on now to get the most out of the images I capture. But the beauty of digital photography and Photoshop in particular is that it's possible to go back, even years later, and completely re-do a photograph. Which is what I spent a good chunk of time doing today.

Mostly what you do with RAW files is fix - or if you like, enhance - the colour and contrast. But I inevitably also adjust the cropping. Photoshop even lets you eliminate or at least mitigate the kind of lens distortion that gives you, for example, walls that lean in on each other - what you get when you shoot up at a building. So here's one example of a picture I renovated today. The first image is the version I considered to be a final edit in 2010. The second is the edit I did today.

The image as I'd left it in 2010 was crooked and distorted, the contrast was wrong - among other things, it looked over-exposed, which it was, slightly, but not unsalvageably - and the colour was wrong, way too yellow.

The picture was taken at the Palace of the Countess of Lebrija, a 16th century city mansion with architecture strongly influenced by Moorish styles. It features a fabulous central courtyard with an ancient Roman mosaic floor. Caitlin had just started her PhD at the University of York - we had dropped her off in York on our way to Spain - but such is the life of a graduate student that she had no problem getting away for a week-long visit in March. 

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I got out for a walk in the late morning, not a long one, with no real agenda. The photographic results are disappointing: a bunch of pictures that don't quite work.

88 York St. rear

Harris Park

Under the Stanley St. bridge

Under the CN rail bridge

I keep trying to get pictures of weeds against snow - inspired by one of my favourite photographers, the American Harry Callahan. Here's what Callahan makes of the subject, one of many he famously took. Mine from today follows. I'm not quite getting the magic.

To get what Callahan is doing, it needs more abstraction, much more contrast, and simpler compositions. I'll keep trying.