My January 2019 Photo of the Month is SDR2, taken along the San Diego River in Santee, California.
January Activity
I did not do a lot of photograph this month, but I tried to make an impact when I did. I added some nice sunsets from Windansea Beach. WND2 was a candidate for my photo of the month but because I had a lot of those coastal images in my portfolio, I wanted something different. SL4 was one of several good sunsets from the Mast Boulevard bridge over Santee Lakes near my home, and I already have a few photos of the month from this spot (See: Santee Southwest and Beautiful Evening From Home).
I skipped the January 2019 lunar eclipse because it was too high in the sky, and frankly, I had to be at the office in the morning. We had some clouds also roll in, so I enjoyed the view. At the darkest point of the lunar eclipse, I could barely make out the Moon due to the cloud cover, and I went right to sleep. After the great success from the 2018 lunar eclipse, I was good.
I also visited the beautiful Laguna Mountains, where I have made thousands of storm images. Great scenery, always a wonder to be up there, but nothing I haven’t done so many times.
That has been the challenge lately. I can’t travel as much as I used to these days, so it’s tough to fight photo fatigue in one’s backyard.
SDR2 Background
At last, I went with a simple sunset I made over the San Diego River as it runs to Santee. I haven’t shown this spot to most of my photo friends, so I hope they can join me one of these days.
Some may think this image, particularly the foreground, is too dark. In person, the scene was dark though, and while I can move the shadows in Lightroom wherever I want, what you see is what I envisioned. Some people think this is underexposed. I tell you it is not. Histograms are important, but they can limit you if you let them.
Sometimes, you really want an area of your image below or above medium, and an image with no range is just boring. This dark image is what I want. Let’s not let so-called rules and expectations limit us.
As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy the image.
Further Viewing
Photos of the Month Portfolio Gallery
T.M. Schultze is a San Diego-based photographer, traveller, and writer. He writes, photographs, and draws things of the outdoors that have inspired humans for thousands of years. He co-authored the Photographer’s Guide to Joshua Tree Park which can be purchased here.