Transforming the mundane.

Hello CC photo folks! Up for a little challenge?

Have you ever gone to a place you heard about and found it to be, well, less than captivating? Or maybe a trip to Alaska with a land-side to see Mt. McKinley and find that you're one of the seventy-odd percent that only see a monumental cloud cover instead of North America's tallest peak?

Having lived through that very thing and to prepare for an upcoming trip to places with great reputations for beauty and bad reputations for weather, I am skimming back through my photos to remind myself of what I have done in the past when faced with less than perfect circumstances.

While skimming, I came across a few shots that I took when faced with the "big deal" that I wanted to shoot being unavailable. I also found a fair number of photos that were of relatively mundane objects that I had fiddled with to save them from the recycle bin and even make photographic desperation into inspiration. Ok, that last bit was a bit of poetic license but you see where I'm going.

For the Mundane plus drama shots, include a scale shot showing just how dull a snapshot of the subject would have been along with your "inspirational" version.

For the post-process rescue, simply include a before and after version.

For the stand-in subject, include a little back-story about what the main attraction was supposed to be.

Here are a few of my rescue attempts:

Stunt-subject

Clouds covering the Big Mountain, so I settled on a postcard shot of the Talkeetna Lodge:

"Meh" rescue

After cleaning the smoker grille, I thought I saw Sponge Bob's evil twin lounging in the sink but the out-of-camera shot suffered from haste and bad light.

Before

After - Cropping and liberal use of Lightroom sliders.

Mundane

My habit of documenting the myriad shapes, sizes and colors that fire hydrants come in has had some sub-inspirational moments.

Photoshop Elements, fifteen minutes and a nod to Andy Warhol later:

Let's see what you folks come up with!

Don't forget to have fun!

Dave

Dave,

I truly appreciate your insight, knowledge and photos. Your nod to Andy Worhol is great. Thanks for all that you do on this site!

Allan

Thanks Allan.

I appreciate that.

Dave

Had to dig a little to find this thread - now that I think I have something to contribute:

Taking the yearly Christmas tree shot, but picked up the camera/tripod before it was done doing it's thing.

Bob Ross I believe it was, called these "happy little accidents".