Starting with “good bones”

Since buying our curent home seven years ago we’ve, one project at a time, made it from what we purchased into what we envisioned it could be when we purchased it.   We knew this house had “good bones” for us and needed only some “renovations” to reach our personal visions.

I often make photographs of the same type.  I look and develop a vision about what I find interesting in the scene or what the particular scene is saying to me.  I’ll then use the camera to capture the “good bones” of the scene as best I can.  Later I compare what I captured and my vision making “renovations” in post processing to fulfill one with the other as best I can.

Of course when renovating a home you’re vision will change mid-process as you introduce new possibilities.  That was our case in some of our home renovations and has often been the case with my photographic process as well.  I will see something else in the scene during post-processing that changes my direction — I believe a vision should be “alive” and fresh, not stagnant.

One of the home areas we’ve worked on is the back yard.  Initially very rough dirt and grass, several years ago we did landscaping — including having stone walkways and an Italian style arbor built. The first year yellow jasmine planted to cover the arbor died during a harsh winter but was replanted last spring and has managed now to covered two corners of the arbor.  It’s already attracting a multitude of butterflies and we hope it will meet in the middle this summer to also provide needed shade.

The rest of the plants and bushes planted during the landscaping are also reaching a level of maturity that’s beginning to match our original visions of a backyard we could enjoy and one which would provide us pleasure from it’s functionality and beauty.

So here’s to “good bones,” recognizing them and making them fit your own personal vision — in photography or elsewhere.

Above are photos made of and from our own backyard this spring.