You wouldn’t happen to need a stock photo, would you? Like, maybe, any one of these?

The reason I ask is because, if I can sell 150 photos on Adobe Stock before the end of the year, I can get a free one-year subscription to Lightroom. And since I don’t need it personally (because I use the entire Adobe Suite already), I like to give it to the person who maintains the Lenspiration Pro Posing Database for me. With it they are able to maintain the Database, plus, have all the features of Lightroom for their own personal use and enjoyment for a whole year!

I’m up to 130. That’s only 20 away from the finish line! So, if you were already looking for a stock photo, maybe one on Lenspiration’s Adobe Stock portfolio would work?

But just that doesn’t make for much of a blog post!

Let me follow up on last week’s blog post, and tell you some interesting facts about the October cutout in the Lenspiration 2022 Calendar!

October

I talk a little bit about the story behind the main photo in the blog post, 5 Tips for Shooting Before or After Peak Color.

But look at the cutout. Can you notice any difference between it and the cupola in the main photo?

When putting together the calendar, I looked around for different angles of the same cupola to use as a cutout. On that photo shoot, did I step to the left or right a couple feet? Did I walk up the road a bit for a different perspective? Did I switch to a more telephoto lens, and zoom in on the barn any more? No. No. And no. I didn’t try any other angle. Evidently, I was quite enamored with that one perspective. The big tree on the right, with perfectly colored leaves, providing such fantastic dynamic range contrast. The road leading artistically to the barn. The sunlight streaming through the golden bows enchantingly. And lumpy hills in the background it as nicely as if I was working a puzzle!

I have 39 pictures from this random spot off a Vermont country background. And they are all from the same basic angle.

Some vertical, some horizontal. Some light, some dark (bracketed). A coupen even with cars in it!

I saw something there that I wanted, and I worked it on a minute scale until I got exactly what I wanted. And then I left.

Which left me with no unique cutout to use in a calendar!

So, I went to look for something else to use as a cutout.

And that’s when, after searching a while, I ran across a photo I took 3 years, 29 days, 14 hours, 37 minutes, and 48 seconds previously (if the metadata is correct haha).

It was one of the first times I had ever been to New England! You know, the real “up north” in New Hampshire (pardon me, all ye Canadians). I was traveling with my family and we were visiting some folks we knew near Lyndeborough, helping host a Family Encouragement Weekend. When we arrived, they gave us a little tour of the farm. I had never heard of “Belted Galloway” before.

And of course, if you have cattle, you gotta have a barn to keep them in.

It was a very picturesque barn. And when I had opportunity, I would run out and see if I could take pictures of it in a picturesque way. Like that night!

And the next morning.

But a picturesque photo wasn’t necessarily what I was going for when looking for a cutout. After the FEW Conference, I think it was the morning we left, I went out again. I ventured down into the lower pasture, where I hadn’t been before, ever exploring.

I didn’t grow up on a farm so I’m a little uncomfortable around cattle when there’s not a fence between me and them. But I know just enough to not be afraid of them, and they were grazing peacefully, making great subjects for my photos. Then, suddenly, they all started moving up the hill together, back toward the barn. My subjects now gone, I followed them. Their inner clocks must have told them it was breakfast time. And so back up to the barn we went. And this shot, one of the last I took on that visit, was the one I determined was best for the cutout!

Though more than 100 miles away and in a completely different State than the main photo, I thought it was pretty amazing how similar the cupolas looked. Now, that’s New Englad for ya!