"The Bigger Picture!" - a new series where I look to tell the story of how I arrived at my final image, video or design. This can range from purely technical workflow explanations to the wider story and behind the scenes details, because context can often take the image to the next level.
Snow Storm Magic
This is definitely one of my favorite pictures to date for so many different reasons. First, the backstory. Just over a year ago now I got asked to join the first ever Alumni Ski-touring weekend from my old school.
It was amazing!
Not only did I get the chance to tour some amazing peaks in Southern Tirol overlooking the Dolomites (the background picture of this entire website is from the same trip!!), but it also brought back so many memories. I was there with old friends I used to go on this exact school trip with. Friends I hadn't really seen or properly caught up with for over a year. It instantly took me back years and it felt like we'd never left. Well, except for the oldies there with us. The Alumni Group covered over 15 years, but everyone had old school stories to tell, old teachers that were annoying and many details that tied us together. Just one evening in it was like we were old friends.
Friends that had a few too many beers on the second night. . .
As the title above already says I took this photo in quite a snow storm - on the third (hungover) day. Not a good combination I know. We struggled our way up the mountain for about 3 hours, with the visibility slowly fading and fading. Just as we could see the summit the visibility died on us and the snow storm came thundering in. We could have literally chucked a snowball across to the summit, but the high winds on the top meant we couldn't go on and luckily for us we made the right decision and turned around. Spirits low and little to show for our efforts I grabbed my camera thinking I could get some dramatic silhouettes of the team slowly walking along the ridge. None turned out the way I wanted. It was only days later when I found the time to really have a crack at the photos and invest some time did I manage to get any results.
After hours of tweaking and shifting in Lightroom I decided to take it into a different direction. I decided to ditch the silhouette idea and just add the elements I need myself. Afterall what is Photoshop there for. Now, I so rarely use Photoshop or do any real "Fakery" magic that, for me at least, this was quite a task. But slowly and surely, layer after layer I got it to a place I was happy with. I brought the blue back into the sky, the sunlight into the frame and added the snowflakes to tie it all together. Some local adjustments, some dodging, some burning and boom I'd managed to turn nothing into something. I was chuffed and still am. A few years ago I probably would have deleted the picture without a second glance. Michi - in the picture - also loves it, which makes the whole thing even more satisfying. This picture reminds me how far I've come as a photographer and why I started doing it in the first place. It gets me motivated to go out even in the worst conditions and even if the pictures aren't amazing or win any awards, I'll be better off for having gone through the process and I'm sure the people in the pictures will still be more than happy that any pictures even exist. At the end of the day it's about capturing and sharing memories. All the gear and editing should just help that. So here's to always keeping one eye on The Bigger Picture.