Memory Lane

Every Tree is a trip down memory lane, isn’t it. I’ve posted about this before. And knowing that nostalgia was the theme of the challenge, you’d have thought it was a no-brainer. However, I believe I found myself with a surfeit of nostalgia. I couldn’t make a decision what to focus on. Then I started taking shots for the Bokeh challenge. The shot that inspired me was the darkest of these three. Something in it reached out and touched my heart.

Starting point – this was the photo that inspired this week’s challenge picture.

Would have – This photo was almost my challenge photo, but its light isn’t right. It’s too real.

Almost – I love the way the focus on the red decoration pulls you into th picture, but I wasn’t happy with the overall shot from a ‘nostalgia’ point of view.

I took dozens of photos for this, playing with white balance and angle, realism or fantasy. Then I remembered this was meant to be an art shot, so I began looking for ways of creating art with them. Milkweed Pods danced and twinkled as I moved around placing them. Finally I turned up the ISO to allow a ridiculous amount of light in and used the mid-morning light for backlighting. There was my artistic nostalgia.

I started working with setting white balance this week. I learned a lot about how important it can be in the end product. The only thing that kept these two from making my decision that much more difficult was the white balance. This is more blue, clear daylight. Nostalgia needs warmth. When I look at these, I see really lovely pictures.

When I look at this week’s photo challenge, the warmth touches me along with the magic.