Sometimes You Don't Have To Go Far To Find A Pleasing Image

Backyard leaf litter as found.  No saturation added!  (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 mark II; 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 20mm; 1/20th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 400; Camera Vivid Setting

Sometimes you just have to look out of your window. Two examples.

Since I have been fighting bronchitis for the past two plus weeks, I have pretty much restricted myself to staying home.  Several days ago I made a trip to my doctor, then to a local pharmacy.  Other than that, I've been inside, much to my dismay.  This lack of getting outdoors and photographing has caused me to feel a bit restless.  I've had the same feeling many times before.  It is that urge to grab a camera, get out and wander, looking for interesting subjects to photograph.  The only cure is to photograph—something!

Since it is in my best interest to stay home until I've fully recovered, I started looking around, inside and outside of my house, for things to photograph.  By chance, I noticed that almost all of the leaves from the Japanese red maple tree in my backyard, adjacent to my dogwood tree, had fallen almost overnight.  In the mix I also spotted a few yellow leaves from a nearby Sweet Gum tree.  From my kitchen window, it looked like I could make a photograph out of the leaf litter that just a couple of days before made for beautiful autumn foliage on the trees.  I grabbed my little E-M1 Mark II with the 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens attached, added a polarizing filter since the leaves were wet from the morning dew, and spent about 5 minutes looking for compositions in the fallen leaves.  I made several exposures trying to find the most pleasing composition.  The image at the top of this post is the one I like most.

Front Yard "Autumn Glory" maple tree (click to enlarge)
Nikon D70; Nikkor 28mm f/2.8 lens; 1/50th sec. @ f/8; ISO 200

This second photograph is another example of not having to look beyond you own yard.  I saw this scene from my home office a few years ago.  There was no way I could pass up making some photographs.  I grabbed my Nikon D70 (2005) I went outside and made a quick couple of images and returned to my work!  Simple as that.

I guess when you have the desire to create, you see things in all sorts of places you might otherwise overlook.

Lesson learned:  Keep your eyes open for the possibilities of interesting images everywhere, especially places you take for granted.

Join me over at Instagram @dennisamook or my website, www.dennismook.com. 

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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