In My Back Pocket - Photography
'It is not what you look at that matters. It's what you see.' – Henry David Thoreau
Swathed, Corduroy Rows
On fields, rolling in their contour, somewhere between Sangudo and Whitecourt, Alberta, an International combine sits, no longer harvesting grain from broad swathed, corduroy rows; the combine is placed within a farmer’s field close to the highway to attract its sale – another farmer could use this International 914 for parts. For me, though, driving past through each season the International’s structure, angles and colour presents contrast to its surrounding landscape attracting my attention. I’ve been meaning to photograph it for some time. Last June, a solitary drive home provided opportunity; and, over the last few nights I’ve been able to edit the image.
Listening to – Peter Gabriel’s ‘San Jacinto,’ ‘In Your Eyes,’ ‘Solsbury Hill,’ ‘Shaking the Tree’ and ‘Blood of Eden.’
Quote to Consider – “… there is a difference between photography conceived as ‘true expression’ and photography conceived (as it is more commonly is) as faithful recording ….” – Susan Sontag, ‘On Photography’
Very nice use of selective color.
Hey there, Tim:
I’m liking the red, too; I’m wondering if a better tone for the black and white would have been better.
I may give it another go. Thanks for looking in. 😉
I’m not sure about the black and whites. Since the field is green it might be interesting to put a very little color back in the field. Since green and red a complimentary colors it might work.
Hey there, Tim:
Gratitude … you might be one of three people who have encouraged a good, technical next step in the photography within this blog – complimentary colours as route to an edit.
Don’t be surprised if you see a next step taken, here. Good schtuff!
Thank you. Take care … 🙂
Pleased to offer suggestions. Best with playing with the colors. I’ll look forward to seeing what comes forth.
Interesting that you cropped the greyscale image closer, I like the wider view of the colour image, I find the solidity of the red too much, to heavy perhaps, where there is more space to play with in the wider shot, for me – more balance.
Jim
Hey there, Jim:
For me, the grey scale image is out of balance; it is a second image cropped closely. For me, it’s more about the tone of the grey scale not working; I agree that the solidity of the red is also at play where hints of red and texture might have added reminiscence as features of the image (I’ll be thinking on this dynamic in the next while). But, balance, like you are suggesting, may be about balance of subject to context (and there’s also narrative influencing balance here … the landscape detail that adds to why the combine is where it has been placed); there is the matter of making sense of the scene. Maybe that’s the trick of narrative – the author can work with or from vantage points to see and tell the story.
Good thoughts to work through/from …;)