Every so often something comes along to remind me of the folly of thinking that I might have figured how to fully develop my photographs into the prints I want to make. This is one example. I was reading about ways Impressionist painters used color, especially in the sky, and how this might be applied to photographs. I looked through my catalog, and I found this one to try out these new ideas. I’m not sure if even this was how I originally developed it, but when I made the version below in 2010, I know I was quite happy with the result. And now I look at the new version, and I go, wow.

I think, I hope, I’ve become more sensitive to (the subtleties of) color over the years. There are certainly so many ways in which this new version is better, and not just in the sky. In fact, this wasn’t such a good example to try these new techniques on, since it has no clouds, and the new sky techniques weren’t the only changes I made, but it is certainly a dramatic example of how images can be really brought to life by going back and reworking them.