Energized

— Energized is my new year’s word. I am not the kind of person who makes new year’s resolutions. However, for 2023, I chose that word because of an assignment in a photo critique group that I recently joined. The decision came about on the very first day of the new year. Taking advantage of the warm winter temperature (70ºF / 21ºC) that day, after three sub-freezing days, I went biking with friends and felt like the year was off to a good start. So, on January 2, I went out again for a photo walk in search of a composition to illustrate my year’s word.

The photo you see here came up in just about 10 minutes of observation at the Northeast Metropolitan Park skate rink here in Austin, Texas. There were several people skating that afternoon, but I chose to follow this particular guy you see in the photo. He did some pretty amazing things on his skateboard. While others were trying to skate down the handrail, he chose to go up the rail. To my amazement, I was able to capture him at the very moment he was parallel to the rail just before making a perfect landing.

GEEK INFO

I started my editing in Lightroom and eliminated some distracting elements in the photo. I wanted the guy to be the main focus with no distractions. Then, I thought about adding a zoom effect to bring up more of the motion and intensify my concept of being energized. That was accomplished in Photoshop. Finally, back in Lightroom, I did some final color editing. For EXIF data, just click on the photo.

In your critique, I’d love to hear what you think worked well and what did not. What do you think would make the image better for the “Energized” theme?