Yesterday was the first official road trip of 2017, and I have some random thoughts about it.
Random thought #1: Being from California, I am used to spring starting in February. Weather-like, I mean. By the time April comes spring is in full bloom, literally and figuratively. In Iowa, in April you’re still prone to be in winter mode, and even possibly have another big snowstorm lurking around the corner.
Random thought #2: Here in Iowa, this is probably the least pleasing time of the entire year, aesthetically. Everything is boring and stark and dull. Downright unattractive, really. You don’t have the subtle hues or the soft lines of winter, and you don’t have the blooms and the greens of spring. You’re in-between. It’s just… blah. Hence, there’s not much to shoot, although you do occasionally stumble across something worthwhile, and that’s exactly what happened yesterday.
Missy and I, after attending a Toastmasters Contest earlier in the day, are tooling down Hwy 62 in Jackson County and I spy this scene down a rural gravel road. I immediately have visions of a stark black-and-white image flash in my mind. So, I turn around and head back. While Missy is walking Wesley I get out the gear and take a few shots with specific post-processing in mind.
As I’m doing the post-processing I get my black-and-white version and it looks good. Then, just for fun, I start playing with a color version… and I like that, too. It was overcast, which I didn’t think would matter in black-and-white, but it’s fine in the color version, too. So I am publishing them both.
Please tell me which one you like better and why. Same photo, just one color and one black-and-white. Which one appeals to you over the other?
They both have their good and bad features. The stark black & White has it’s appeal, but I like color. I have to say the color one would probably be the one I would put on my walls.
I like the color one. The barest hint of blue in the sky and the new grass say “hang in there, spring is coming” in a way that lifts this cynical Midwesterner’s heart.
I like black and whites. I imagine life before I was born and how different things were.
The color shows that life us starting over again. Spring and fall are my favorite seasons. Spring has tiny little buds that you can barely see but yet pop out amongst the sleeping branches. Fresh green grass sprouting up pushing their way through there protective winter blanket from falls dead foliage. Spring us not blah, its a fresh start, fresh smells, blue skies and new life.
PS, I like all your photos!!
I like them both and the single tree on a isolated dirt road has a calming appearance.