Polaroid play

It was a very cold sunrise yesterday morning from Sugarloaf Mountain. Not too long after I pressed the shutter on this, the clouds swallowed the sun and the snow started pelting down. Winter makes a comeback.

Polaroid Sunrise. Sugarloaf Mountain, Colorado,

The WHOLE story: I hiked up Sugarloaf Mountain by headlamp early yesterday morning hoping to catch some great light at sunrise mixed in with the clouds from the scheduled in-coming storm. It looked pretty promising as the sky began to lighten–there was a small gap of clear sky between the eastern horizon and the cloud cap curling over and above me from the west and extending toward the eastern plains. Great, I thought, I should have a few minutes with the rising sun illuminating the undersides of these wonderful storm clouds.

Not so fast, Buckwheat! I did get some great light for a few minutes. It was beautiful. And I did walk down the hill with 60-70 image files on my memory card. But, ya know what? Not one of those files survived my sorting and filtering session once I got back home.

So…I played with the Nik Color Efex Pro plug-in to see if I could salvage anything. I liked the Polaroid filter effect, so there you have it–the above image. I personally consider it a gimmicky photograph, though, as the viewer will likely be more impressed by the effect and the border than the content of the picture itself. Sort of like putting a tutu on a pig, maybe?

Lesson: Even when presented with a gorgeous scene, it doesn’t mean that your pictures will automatically come out gorgeous as well. That was certainly the case for me yesterday. But, tomorrow is another day!