Don't give up on old photos

Last September I went on a trip to Los Angeles to visit my brother-in-law. We had planned to make a side trip to San Diego to go to Sea World and the San Diego Zoo. I was very excited to get some amazing photos from this trip, especially from the zoo. In fcact when I shot them, there were a few that looked outright awesome on the little LCD on the back of my camera.

So you can imagine how excited I was to get home and see them on the big screen. It took a good half hour to import the thousands of exposures into Lightroom, increasing my anticipation. When they were finally done, I went straight to the ones that I thought were going to be the showpieces from the trip.

They stunk.

Either out of focus, too dark, too grainy, or just plain old crappy, or at least not the way I remembered them when I shot them.

I felt totally discouraged. To the point where I didn't bother going through any of the other shots from the trip. I mean we're talking 3000-ish exposures that I didn't even bother going through for months.

When I started this web site I created a section for my travels, and the North America section seemed a little sparse compared to the others. So I decided to plow through Los Angeles and San Diego to see if there was anything I could salvage.

To my surprise, there turned out to be some real gems. Especially of the Disney Concert Hall, and some animals from Seaworld and the Zoo, ones I had completely ignored for almost a year!

So my point here is not every shot is going to be a prize winner. But it's worth it to see what you can make out of a what was on the surface a mediocre shooting session. Even though I needed to spend more time in Lightroom and Photoshop to rescue not so great photos, the results were worth it. I always strive to get things right in camera, and I never have the attitude "I'll fix that later in Photoshop." But in case of emergency, these tools can be real life savers.

Here are a few. Click on any of them for larger versions and more from their respective sets.


Getty Center, Los Angeles


Getty Center, Los Angeles


Pacific Park, Santa Monica


A detail of a metal robot scuplture outside a toy store in The Grove, Los Angeles


The Grove, Los Angeles


Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles


Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles


Sea World, San Diego


Sea World, San Diego


San Diego Zoo


San Diego Zoo


San Diego Zoo


San Diego Zoo


San Diego Zoo



So go back though your old photos. You may find something special where you once thought it was a nothing but a dead end!

- jc