November is NOT one of my favourite months. Yes, there is still plenty of autumn colour, in the first part of the month at least. But here in the UK there are many more dull November days than bright, or so it seems to me. And with the clocks going back at the end of October, darkness falls by late afternoon.
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It may seem contradictory to suggest that we photograph empty space. Shouldn’t a photo be OF something? But if we set our subject against a large area of relative emptiness and create ‘breathing room’ around our subject, we can help the viewer to see that subject differently.
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When you first start using a camera, the tendency is to look straight ahead at a scene. We get caught up in what we see right in front of us. We may look ahead, to the left and right, down and even behind us, but many times we forget to look up.
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In photography, when you choose to fill the frame with your subject, leaving out everything that surrounds it, you remove all distractions and by doing so force the viewer to look only at this one thing. This can be very impactful.
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Our world is full of signs, both those we erect ourselves to convey a message, and the more subtle ones we can read in landscapes and nature. The latter include the signs that speak of changing seasons, like autumn leaves or buds on trees. There are signs in the rocks telling of seismic changes in the earth’s crust, or more subtly speaking of people that came before us.
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In his poem 'To Autumn' John Keats describes the autumn we all know and love, with lingering warm weather and bountiful harvests. But he also celebrates later autumn days, when winter seems just over the horizon. Both have their beauty.
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Contrast must be one of the most used words in photography. Usually we are talking about the lighting conditions for an image; the contrast between the light and dark areas. Sometimes it can be hard to balance these, if the contrast is great.
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Everywhere you walk, every place you go is full of art, explicit or hidden! If you can see them, you will be the richest art collector and your memory will be the richest art gallery! [Mehmet Murat Ildan, Turkish playwright]
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Perhaps because I grew up during the Apollo programme, I have always been fascinated by our nearest celestial neighbour (and come to that, by all that we see, or can’t see, in the night sky). I’ve never invested in the gear needed to photograph more distant objects but I can and do try to capture the moon whenever I can.
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I have long been fascinated by the roofs of the far east. The ornate figures that line the top edges if a Chinese roof. The intricately carved end tiles of a Japanese temple roof. The delicately painted beams that hold them up. And the steep temple roofs of Indochina.
