Photographer Finds Ugly Places And Clicks Gorgeous Pics To Prove That Skill Is Everything

I occasionally give myself a pat on the back, when I happen to be at a nice, picturesque location and click a few ‘wallpaper’ like images! I mean, I for one, have zero skill, but it’s just nature doing all the talking.

While I am a luck-by-chance artist, Photographer Jenna Martin is a true artist.

And like any true artist, she sees beauty in the most basic places which you and I might find ‘ugly’. In her latest project, she challenged herself! Instead of searching for beautiful places to shoot, she did just the opposite. Speaking with Petapixels she said,

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Saw a woman on my run today in a tiny little sports bra, super short shorts, gorgeous tan and full makeup. She may as well have been filming a running commercial. She looked STUNNING. – And all I could think was, "At least I have a dog running with me." – So…I win. ❤️🐶 – Model @rach.k.simons With @rmea_talent

A post shared by Jenna Martin (@byjennamartin) on Aug 8, 2017 at 10:12pm PDT

“I wanted to go somewhere ‘ugly’ by all conventional photography standards and then see what we could do with it. Lowe’s seemed like the perfect option.”

She set some ground rules for the pictures which involved that she couldn’t use artificial lighting or props and she couldn’t make any bigger changes in the back-drop. All she had was her camera. 

With her skill and editing, she created masterpieces out of ‘horrible’ locations, proving that skill is in fact, everything you need. Have a look at the pictures.

1. This is the first backdrop that she challenged herself with.

Here’s how it looked like at first.

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Before & After of my last shoot with @rachellekathleen. These were shot with all ambient light. Scroll through to see the location shot as well 📷❤️

A post shared by Jenna Martin (@jennamartin_bts) on Nov 13, 2017 at 10:53am PST

And these are the final edited pictures that can take your breath away!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbbIrAJBTWH/?taken-by=jennamartinphoto

2. Location 2 had a lot of lighting which seemed to work in her favour.

Here’s how she visualised it.

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B&A from Lowe’s lighting section with @rachellekathleen ❤️❤️. – I always tend to lean toward cooler toned photos over warm, so I couldn’t wait to get rid of that yellow 😂🙈. Swipe to see detail and the location shot ❤️ . . . . . #behindthescenes #beforeandafter #bna #photoshop #lightroom #photoedit #photoediting #photoedits #photoshopped #photoshopskills #colorcorrection #colorgrading #beforeandafterpic #beforeandafterphotos #beforeafter

A post shared by Jenna Martin (@jennamartin_bts) on Nov 15, 2017 at 11:35am PST

And this is the flawless final result!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbgLmG8BXqH/?taken-by=jennamartinphoto

3. My mind fails to see how someone can see a backdrop of a beautiful picture here.

But Jenna did…

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Before and after from my latest with @rachellekathleen. – In this case, the before shot was actually pretty decent! It’s a bit blown out in the highlights and there are a few other minor issues, but it’s not awfu! – I shot this with the idea of making it super moody in post, so that’s what I was going for. So personally, I like the after image much better. 😊❤️ – Scroll to see detail and the location shot at the end! ❤️

A post shared by Jenna Martin (@jennamartin_bts) on Nov 14, 2017 at 4:43pm PST

And OH MY GAWD!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbdnxhgBm49/?taken-by=jennamartinphoto

4. This location also looks pretty challenging, but not so much if you have skilled eyes around!

There are hardly any words….

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Before and after from my latest shot on @jennamartinphoto with @rachellekathleen. This aisle was…not photographically very pretty( as you can see from the location shot at the end), but we wanted to give it a shot! Here’s what we came up with hope you like it! . . . . . #behindthescenes #beforeandafter #bna #photoshop #lightroom #photoedit #photoediting #photoedits #photoshopped #photoshopskills #colorcorrection #colorgrading #beforeandafterpic #beforeandafterphotos #beforeafter

A post shared by Jenna Martin (@jennamartin_bts) on Nov 17, 2017 at 7:20pm PST

The final result is simply mesmerising!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BblOOiHBn28/?taken-by=jennamartinphoto

5. Do you see how one could use this location to good use?

…well, Jenna sees it. And she pretty much nails it!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbnyNz1Bs3M/?taken-by=jennamartinphoto

6. With so much clutter, it would be impossible to focus on the subject, you would think…

But NO, you couldn’t be more wrong.

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Wow this before and after looks like kind of a mess since there is so much going on 😂. I’ll post the closeups in my stories! – So there were some tags to shop out, but the real issue was all the lines. I wasn’t shooting with a fancy tilt-shift lens or anything, so it was a little warped. So I had to correct all the vertical and horizontal lines. – Otherwise I just did some correcting for the light shadows on her face and some color toning to make it seems like one planned picture. Scroll for location shot!✌🏻❤️ . . . . . #behindthescenes #beforeandafter #bna #photoshop #lightroom #photoedit #photoediting #photoedits #photoshopped #photoshopskills #colorcorrection #colorgrading #beforeandafterpic #beforeandafterphotos #beforeafter

A post shared by Jenna Martin (@jennamartin_bts) on Nov 16, 2017 at 2:06pm PST

Isn’t this amazing?

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbiyI_5B_FS/?taken-by=jennamartinphoto

Jenna, you are an effing wizard and your camera is your magic wand.

In Jenna’s words, “Next time you see an awful spot, maybe give it a chance, you never know what you might end up with.”

So go out, discover your perfect spot!