Crowning Glory

April 12, 2020
by Michael Scandling
comments 19
Abstract / California / Impressionism / Inspiration / Photo Log / Photography

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November 23, 2019 — Pescadero Beach, San Mateo County, California

I’ve worked on this image six times between November and now. It was never quite right.

Sometimes when I don’t love an image, it’s because I’ll never love it and the best thing to do is abandon it and move on. Other times, I just need to leave it alone for a while and come back with a fresh perspective. This was the latter circumstance and I knew it would be.

(Nikon D500, Tamron 100–400mm f/4.5–6.3 Di VC USD. RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab 3.2; Editing in Adobe Photoshop.)

The Author

California based fine-art photographer featuring abstract, impressionist, and minimalist seascapes — near and distant — and floral-based images. Fine-art photography can be seen at www.amagaphoto.com All original images on this blog are copyright 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 Michael Scandling. All rights reserved. No images on this site may be copied, duplicated, reused, published, or re-purposed in any way without express permission from the copyright owner, Michael Scandling.

19 Comments

  1. Adrian Lewis says

    Very nice indeed. And totally know what you mean about leaving images and coming back to them with fresh eyes.

    And Pescadero >>> don’t I remember that from the film Terminator 2, of which I’m a huge fan????? Always remember that scene where they were driving at night, and there was the road ahead lit up in the headlights, and Sarah Connor saying something like ” … we were in uncharted territory …” 🙂

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    • Michael Scandling says

      Thanks very much. A very workable policy for me.

      Pescadero Beach is in San Mateo County (37.2621666, -122.4133085). A couples of miles inland Is the village of Pescadero, which has a wonderful restaurant called Duarte’s. http://duartestavern.com The website requires lots of scrolling.

      From https://la.curbed.com/maps/terminator-2-movie-arnold-schwarzenegger

      4. Pescadero State Hospital

      11600 Eldridge Ave
      Sylmar, CA 91342
      Visit Website
      The psychiatric institution Sarah Connor escapes from sounds quite a bit like Atascadero State Hospital in San Luis Obispo County, which some have claimed as the real-life inspiration behind the cinematic sanatorium.

      The scenes at the hospital seen in the film were actually shot much closer to home, at the then-abandoned Lake View Terrace Hospital. A drug and alcohol rehab facility now stands at the site.

      Also see https://www.movie-locations.com/movies/t/Terminator-2.php

      Some scenes were shot in Silicon Valley.

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  4. Steve Gingold says

    There’s all sorts of reasons to never abandon all hope with an image. As time passes both our skills and our tools evolve and not all but many can be rescued from the byte heap. Case in point this glorious crown. Besides the aforementioned duo, our vision changes and we see what we did not at an earlier time. Glad you didn’t bin this one.

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    • Michael Scandling says

      Thank you. As I said to Mr. Schwartzman in a different way, there are some images that I try to love and can’t. The reason I can’t love them is because they’re not lovable. The others are lovable, but I just need to work out how to express them.

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      • Steve Gingold says

        Well….Mary Beth and I had two failed “relationships” together over the course of many years. One day out of boredom while visiting her family not far from me (she lived near Philly at the time) she called. As she walked through the door at the restaurant we agreed upon, wham. The lightning bolt. I am thinking that can happen with an image too.

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      • Michael Scandling says

        It can. And it did with the Crowning Glory shot. On the other hand, I recall in my 20s falling head over heels for the “girl of my dreams“ only to discover several months later that the dreams were nightmares. My main point in my earlier comment is that I if I have to force myself to love something, I don’t love it.

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  5. marina kanavaki says

    I can’t recall which painter said that…. “When uncertain, I leave the painting aside… some time later when I go back to it I realize that it’s finished all by itself!” 😉
    Beautiful, my friend! 🙂

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  7. bluebrightly says

    I like this image very much. I can see that work went into it, and sometimes I don’t like that but this time I do. The freshness is still there. My eyes enjoy moving around it…it has a seriousness but it also makes me smile.

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    • Michael Scandling says

      Thank you very much. The work, in this case, was to bring out the freshness that was buried in tones that were too similar to make any distinction among them. And that’s just the way the light was. And many, many cases I do everything I can in the actual shot, but I still know that’s only the beginning of what I see and what I ultimately want to present.

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