It’s strange how a negative experience whilst taking photographs can compel us to dislike an image. It’s only when the emotion of the day has been dulled by time that we can see the image for what it is. But when the emotion was strong, its effect can linger.
The image I’m sharing today is one I shot during my ill-fated Nikon D800 experiment last year. When I shot this I was suffering from a trapped nerve in my neck which caused a searing pain in my back. The pain took around 3 months to subside and prevented me from sleeping. It also caused damage to the nerve controlling the triceps muscle down my right arm. Even now, some 12 months later, I can’t flex this muscle in my right arm.
I tell you this detail so that you can appreciate the strong negative emotion I had when I captured the image. This negative emotion is probably why I don’t like this image. In fact, I actually feel a little ill when I look at it. It’s only when I momentarily catch a glimpse, before I can connect it with the events of that day that I thinks it’s a nice shot.
I therefore share this with interest to see how others feel about it.
The Lightweight Photographer 
Thank you for sharing this. It’s a good reminder that what gets buried in our subconscious is often based on feelings and emotions rather than on realities. It’s a beautiful photo.
Thank you very much
I love the picture, but what you experienced while making it sounds pretty horrible. And to use a full frame with that kind of pain must have made it an even less enjoyable experience;-)
Its good to hear that people like the image and yes the weight of the full frame made it quite unpleasant. It wasn’t actually until a few weeks later that I realised the damage I had done.
Thank you for your comments and encouragement I am suffering from a burser in my hip area and cannot move easily .i just hope that I find at least one worthwhile shot soon.
I’m sorry to hear that your suffering. Be sure to see a doctor and or physio rather than keep suffering. I wish I had been treated earlier ratehr than thinking the pain was related to something else.
I would prefer to consider it with a ‘cup half full’ approach. Despite your physical discomfort and dislike of your equipment you managed to produce a top quality image, it gives me pleasure to view it and I suspect many more as well. See it as a personal triumph over difficult circumstances.
Thanks Bob. Thats a very positive way to look at the experience.
That’s the power of a single image.. That’s why I’ve started to enjoy owning my first manual camera
Which camera did you buy?
I like it, very interesting texturally and nice colours in the clouds
Thank you
Thank you for showing the image Robin, I like the image very much and having a D800 and now a D810. They are super cameras in my view. and hope your discomfort improves.
Thanks John.
The discomfort has gone now but the effects of the nerve damage linger. I have to be careful how I open doors with my right arm is it sometimes collapses on me. Other than that I am back to good health.
Quite lovely. And, your observation is a good one. Long ago, I spent 7 weeks photographing & traveling in India. I was constantly hounded by touts, to the extent that I was interrupted and frustrated most of the time and could not relax and get into my photo state of mind. When I got home, I very nearly threw away all the film, convinced there was nothing good it it and developing would just be a waste of time and money. 20 years later, some of my favorite photos on my website are from that trip. It makes me laugh now to look at them and remember how miserable the experience was.
Best wishes to you for a full recovery.
It’s remarkable isn’t it how we perceive an image differently depending on the emotion we attach to it. If we are doing this as the photographer, just imagine what our audience is doing.
Excellent image – looks like you had a polaroid filter on the lens? What (if any) post-processing did you do -some vibrance/saturation and/or colour balance tweaking, maybe?
Was your trapped nerve caused by the weight of the D800? It certainly must have aggravated it, at the very least. My main camera is a D750 but I’ve just bought a Sony a6000, which has a 24Mp APS-C sensor. It obviously doesn’t have all the features of the D750 but it comes close and with a cheap adapter I can use all my Nikon F-mount lenses with it. It’s a lot easier (lighter) to carry around than the D750 and with the Tamron 18-200mm zoom I can wander around with it in my (large-ish) pocket and still get great quality shots.
Here’s hoping the lasting effects of the trapped nerve continue to diminish.
Hi Martin,
I’m pleased that you like the image. In terms of post processing, mainly I lifted the shadows in Lightroom to prevent the clumps of seaweed turning black. I then used Nik Colour Efex Pro with the Pro Contrast filter to apply a little colour correction (the original colours looked too false with a little too much orange) and add a little dynamic contrast. Other than this, not too much. Perhaps there may have been some Vibrancy adjustment.
As for my neck, its the result of poor posture due to years of sitting at a computer working on images. Fingers crossed that I will eventually get some use back in the affected muscle.
“As for my neck, its the result of poor posture due to years of sitting at a computer working on images. Fingers crossed that I will eventually get some use back in the affected muscle.”
Ahh, yes. In the bad old days of film, paper and chemicals all we had to worry about was being over come by the fumes from the fixer! Not to mention tripping over the cat in the dark – halcyon days!
I have some images of a spectacular sunset taken on the west coast of Ireland a few weeks ago. I’ve played around with them in Photoshop but I’m still not 100% happy with the results – good, but not still not as good as what we saw with the naked eye. I’m hoping the tips’n’tricks in your Alnmouth Coastal Sunset may give me inspiration.