Behind Green Lake, Bolivia
Phase One A Series 150MP, 23mm lens, f11 @ 1/250 second, ISO 50

Looking through my files to make this Almost Weekly Photo post, I was thinking of a new edit from my Sydney Foreshores collection. It's on the printer now as I write this, but I don't think I'm quite ready to show it. If you're like me, when I see amazing photographs, I just assume the photographer has pressed the button and made a few corrections in Lightroom or Photoshop. 

The reality for these 'amazing' photos is usually quite different.

I know Tony Hewitt, for example, agonizes over his images. I am not sure how many hours he spends on average to make an exhibition print, but I suggest it is better measured in days. And if you add in the time spent thinking about the image and resolving the visual headlines, it could take weeks or months (but of course you're working on other things concurrently).

The print I'm not showing you is now on my wall. (I'm a slow typewriter). It's not ready. I need to live with it longer. I'm comparing it with the other images on the wall and I need to introduce some light into the sea, as much to have it work better with the other images. Not only does this photo have to stand on its own, it should work with the others - a team player.

So today I'm presenting an image from another project - my Bolivia book.

The photos have been finished for some time, so why haven't I sent that off to be printed? Life got in the way and I am needing to write a few more words for the chapter pages. But the photos are ready and I might have posted this one before. Certainly I have posted an earlier edit on Instagram. 

It was taken on a photo tour to Bolivia with Ignacio Palacios and most of us had been photographing a massive volcano behind a virulent green lake. That was the obvious subject. When I had finished getting my shots, I turned around to see the group all standing up on a cliff, looking skywards. When I turned further to see what they were looking at, this is what I saw. A few of the photographers have slightly more sky around the lone cloud in the middle, which I think makes it even stronger, but since this is an edit for my book, I'll rationalise that the amount of blue sky I have is just right!

And the moral of the story is an oldie but a goodie - always keep an eye out for what's happening behind you!