I had my photo editing class this morning, and I learned how to use some of the back doors of Lightroom. I wanted to learn how to capture the incredible big skies I see here all the time but have only rarely been able to capture. Landscapes and portraits seem to be what I am most drawn to.

I spent several hours roaming around Lightroom (under supervision) and tried a dozen things. I found several I truly liked.

I took the tripod out a few days ago and went up to a nearby hill next to a valley where there was a significant and troubled sky. I want to capture the emotion and feeling of the big skies here; there is so much a part of what I love to see when I look out the window or go out.

What I am learning from my two classes – photo editing and the Leica class – is beginning to fuse. One informs and shapes the other.

The photo above is my re-imagined photo painting of a farmhouse on a hill; I posted this one below, the original black and white,  over the weekend. I spent an hour or so working on the photo, and I was excited by what I was able to do.

It was already a beautiful photo, but I could bring it to life in somewhat the same way I saw it in my mind. I wanted to call attention to the red barn and house and the white farmhouse above.

I am experimenting with aperture and shutter speed and found two ways to capture the beautiful landscapes here. I primarily work on the sky and the clouds to give them definition and capture their drama and feeling. I am beginning to be able to do this work on my own; it is liberating and exciting.

I think I only have a couple of weeks of instruction left, and then I am on my own. Nervous making and exciting. Below is the second landscape I worked on. I mainly worked on the clouds and then the ground.

Soon, I will have graduated and will be on my own. A great journey for me, I feel nervous and liberated at the same time. I think people will expect more of me, and I expect more of myself.