Welcome to Shutter Notes, our new weekly community feature. Shutter Notes will be a chance to get to know our community members a bit better. Each member will share a little bit about themselves and an image theyā€™ve chosen.

Jim Hughes is a photographer in Minneapolis who is interested in many things. Being retired gives him the time to just focus on creating what he wants. He is also able to continue learning more about photography. Jim has been photographing more or less seriously for about 10 years. 

This wonderful image of cattails was created in an area at the southern end of Minneapolis. Jim describes this shot as a quiet moment in a wetland. Heā€™s done a beautiful job of expressing just that. Jim considers this a landscape without any sense of place. He was happy to go back to this particular location after seeing it and creating the image he wanted.

Jim Hughes cattails image
On a cool day in October, the sun lights up the dying cattails in a Minnesota wetland.

How Jim created this image

Jim worked on this image using his histogram, after converting it to black and white, making adjustments there until it looked how he wanted. In the process of creating this image, he learned that he can see something beautiful, make a plan, photograph it and get it right. Jim hopes that those who view this image get a sense of relaxation and feel less worried.

Thank you Jim for submitting and sharing this very calm and peaceful shot. The black and white is very fitting for the image.

Please join us in the Photofocus Community and find the complete description and instructions on how to submit your image for consideration here.

Please only submit one image at a time and for now only one submission per person. Weā€™ll ask for more at a later date if we need them. If you have any questions, comment here or send me a message within the community. We look forward to your submissions.

If you have any photographer friends you know would enjoy or benefit from being in the Photofocus Community, be sure to invite them!