Spring is in the air, although not yet on the ground. Yesterday morning, yet another snowfall. And yesterday afternoon, yet another bout of moving it around. As the afternoon progressed, it got clearer and colder. But it was light out at 7 p.m. last night. The moon came out, and the mountains, at the distance, were white with a pink tinge. This is called alpenglow.

Pete, who was cutting kindling, came in and said that I should take a photo. I grudgingly agreed. I was then in the process of erasing old photos off my SD card. I looked out the kitchen window again, and conceded to myself that I ought not let this prime photo opportunity pass.

I put the zoom lens on my camera, put the camera on the now fixed tripod, and took the set up outside. Together, Pete and I futzed around some with the tripod. We weren’t able to get the cabin, moon, and mountains in the photo. I set the shutter speed (slow) and the aperture (narrow for maximum depth of field, and then took the picture. After, we owwed and ahhed.

We next went inside, and after eating dinner, first opened up the file in camera raw. Together, we changed the exposure and a few other settings. Then we opened up Photoshop, and figured out how to dodge and burn. 

What’s most cool about this is that Pete and I worked together on this project. On my part, I’ve had to take the initiative to do more. I was motivated by

the fact that I don’t enjoy being the high maintenance person in class. I have not, as a teacher or student, enjoyed it when others act in such a fashion. I did this because I had no choice.

Habits become engrained when one is with another person for 26 years. Change becomes increasingly more difficult, if not impossible. But Pete and I are doing what comes hardest for us both, now working together. It helps that spring is in the air.

We talked at breakfast this morning about putting Raudi’s Story and Road Songs in In-Design before publishing them as eBooks. And we talked about both taking the college’s Photoshop course next fall. This would make us both more employable. And it would be just plain fun to do.

The photo that I have written about is the photo that Pete and I worked on. What’s most significant is that it is the first photo that I’ve worked on in camera raw and Photoshop. From this point on, my images should get better. The risk I take is that they’ll no longer look like they were taken/drawn by a three year old. But I might later be able to get that back. I’ve also attached my all time favorite New Yorker cartoon.

Next: 91. 3/9/12: Fixed