Old Barns – Telluride, Colorado

I was thrilled when I saw this scene as I drove down the mountain near Telluride’s airport. I stopped the car, excited to shoot a terrific composition. For good or bad, I rarely have trouble framing a scene and don’t ponder much on how to capture it. It was different for this picture. I struggled.

First, I used the GFX 50R and framed it vertically and horizontally from different positions. Unsatisfied, I returned the next day and shot more, adding the Fuji X-E3 to the mix, zooming in at various focal lengths. Ultimately, I made an okay picture but nothing that was truly great. No matter what I did, something was off.

Shooting vertically cut off the building on the right. If I stepped back, the angle of the fence cutting across the photo looked off. A horizontal composition included the road on the left that curved away. I couldn’t get the elements in sufficient balance. I was ready to post an okay version when I had an epiphany deciding on a square crop—something I rarely do. And it worked. This may not be the most incredible image, but it’s balanced enough to satisfy.

As I looked at Fujifilm’s GFX colors with fresh eyes, I determined it had too much magenta for my taste. You can see that in my previous GFX posts from this series. So, I changed the crop, composition, color, and other parameters, massaging this image more than usual. I think it was worth the effort.

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