Becky: Hey Susie! Is it SO great being back in Mississippi with your family this week? Sneak peek pictures from Saturday’s wedding were *gorgeous*!!!

Susie: Hey, Becky – yeah, it’s cool being down here again – back to working long hours and drinking lots of coffee at the office, which I like. :) Wasn’t the wedding just incredible!?! I can’t wait to show you the rest of the photos! Erica was just stunning, and I loved all the details she had. I just get excited again thinking about how cool it was to be there and photograph everything. :)

Becky: Well, I can’t wait to see more pictures of Erica’s wedding! So, onto the task at hand… the assignment this week was “Horizons”. I’ll give you one chance to tell me what made this assignment so difficult. Can you guess?

Susie: Hmm…I’m sure there are cool places you can go to get horizon shots around there, but you’d have to drive a bit. For me, the hardest thing would be getting to the scene of the shot at just the right time of day to get good lighting. Doing it with three kids would make it even more challenging. :)

Becky: Ok, overachiever :-) I was just looking for one difficulty and you got three – all true. The hardest thing for me was simply FINDING a horizon in this hilly, urban, suburban area. Assignment clearly stated that cityscapes count, so I decided on Federal Hill, the same place I went for the last challenge. As you said, lighting was critical – but not particularly hard, just lucky. We brought a picnic diner on a gorgeous Saturday evening and played on the playgrounds until the light was golden. I brought along the tripod hoping for night shots, but the kids called foul on that move. Enough was enough and it was time to go. I initially chose eight shots and consulted John (my husband) and Julie (an artist friend) to narrow it down to our standard three. Here’s the first.

Susie: Haha. I wasn’t expecting to nail all the reasons. :) Cityscapes are cool, too. I like them a lot, actually…they are some of my favorite travel photos I’ve taken. :)  So, onto your photo. First of all, I love the clouds! Anytime I see clouds like that and I’m about to shoot, I just get happy inside. :) The lighting is also great, showing nice shadows, but not too harsh, and gives nice depth to the scene. The only thing I don’t really care for are the poles. The ones in the middle of the photo grab my eyes and distract me from the city scene.

Becky: Oh, OK, I can see that. Those poles were on purpose :-) I actually composed this scene really, really carefully, moving halfway down Federal Hill to take it. I chose this vantage point because I wanted at least one picture with the Orioles signs prominent. I thought the signs assigned a sense of place to the scene – it says, unambiguously, “This is Baltimore.” But… it sounds like that didn’t stand out to you at all! :-)

Susie: Okay…so this is where you discover that I am just not a sports fan. haha. Maybe if I was, I would like the photo a lot better – in fact, I’m pretty much sure I would. ;) I thought you did a good job with the composition for where you were. This is where taking photos in line with people’s interests plays a big role in if they like the photo or not. :)

Becky: Well, even though I managed to get the Orioles sign large enough to read, it wasn’t my favorite either, so I have no problem moving on. This is a really different point of view. I chose a spot that other people weren’t taking pictures from. You know I always want something different; something that I couldn’t just buy (better) on a postcard. Remember how that paralyzed me with the cherry blossoms last Spring? :-)

Susie: This one is cool. It looks like a deserted old town with just one person walking down the street. I like the lighting, too, and I also like the editing you did on it…it really makes it feel like an old town. I think it’s a candidate for the assignment. But, there’s always a third, right? Can I see it, too…please?

Becky: Another ONE? Just one? You have no idea of the delibrations involved here! So here’s one you couldn’t buy on a postcard… but, it might draw too much attention away from the horizon. What do you think?

Susie: Well, I think all your deliberations paid off – and you chose the right photo! I kind of love this one. :) Great lighting, amazing clouds, LOVE the composition and the way Marcus is sitting on the canon looking out just makes the photo really, really cool. This is just fabulous – and I’d definitely submit it! If this was my child I’d also print it out with a metallic finish and put it on the wall somewhere in my house. :)

Becky: Thank you! I am thinking about taking a large mirror down in our living room just so I’ll have more wall space for photographs.

I’m increasingly convinced that the less I like an assignment the more valuable it is. As I mentioned earlier, when we set out, I felt that I’d only return with something I could buy on a postcard. I was wrong. I learned a lot composing a grander view than I normally work in and – bonus – ended up with a picture of Marcus that I truly love. Thanks for your thoughts, Susie. Readers, thank you so much for your patient reading!!