Picture of the day - September 25, 2007

"Altered perceptions"

They say "a picture is worth a thousand words" and "seeing is believing", but sometimes the way an image is captured can change reality into something a bit misleading...and today's picture of the beautiful Victoria and Albert Inn of Abingdon, Virginia is a fine example. A couple of days ago Cheria and I decided to visit the county library to catch up on a little reading, and when we pulled into the parking lot we noticed how the late afternoon sun was shining brightly on the front of the inn across the street. As usual, I had my camera with me so I got out of the car and took a few pictures of the lovely scene before heading on into the library. Although there were a few colorful clouds in the sky above the inn, the sky was actually pretty bright and cheerful, nothing like the dark sky depicted above. But after metering the exposure for the sun-splashed front of the inn and rotating the circular polarizer filter to maximum darkness, the result was a sky that made it appear that a violent storm was moving in. It didn't of course. In fact, it didn't even rain, and by nightfall the relative handful of puffy clouds had moved right on out of the area. I guess this just goes to prove that even though a picture truly is worth a thousand words, at least part of the story might be fiction. And even though "seeing is believing", it is always wise to remember that any time you look at a photograph, you just might end up believing something that isn't quite right based upon an altered perception of reality. Cameras don't lie, but they sure have the ability to distort the truth.   Visit the POTD Archives for previous "Pictures Of The Day"!     Submit a photo of your own!            Why I publish the "Picture of the Day"