Kodachrome Days
As photographic composition goes, I can't get too excited about this image. But as catalyst to memory from the middle of a snowy January day, this will carry me back to the colors, textures and smells of June pasture after a cold front has passed through. Clearness, coolness and color--a snapshot of the times of our lives.
I've been back over in the dew again morning already, even though it's barely light. A dense fog has settled into the valley. And again, there is no focal point than the valley itself, landscape for its own sake. But I'll return one more time later, as the sun rises. I can't watch it happen from the windows. Hopefully, the fog will not burn off completely before the light becomes a reason of its own to be there in the wet grass of June. Life on the planet is good, if we keep our vision sufficiently circumscribed.
Comments
Do you know the painter Jim Harrison? He lives about an hour from me. Anyway, this photo is just like one of his paintings. Really nice.
http://www.jimharrison.com/
Posted by: Trey | June 22, 2005 3:07 PM
I was thinking Turner-esque...but you're right Trey.
Posted by: BJ | June 22, 2005 6:35 PM
No...wait. Not Turner. John Constable...yes, this photo reminds me of his use of light, composition and scale. "The Cornfield" comes to mind.
Posted by: BJ | June 22, 2005 6:52 PM
More important than composition is the feelings an image creates. Your photo makes me think of a warm summer's day as a child, hot from the sun beating down on my shoulders, and then cooled by the light showers that fall from the clouds whose shadows you see to the left. Young, carefree, all the time in the world.
We chose different seasons, but we both felt something because of the image. That's what really matters.
Posted by: Da Goddess | June 23, 2005 12:00 AM
That is SO the farm I grew up on (in the PA Appalachians. Thanks!
Posted by: fredR | June 23, 2005 12:28 AM
Just stunning use of light and color. How many hours did you have to sit there to get the clouds to do that?!
Posted by: Peter | June 25, 2005 11:19 PM
Turner? Constable? How about Hopper, as in "Gas"?
Posted by: Peter | June 25, 2005 11:20 PM
You know, at times I lament how housebound I've become (by choice) and what a small pond we live in here, in the bowl of our valley. I think my photographic world should be much larger and richer. But then, I have access to those unique moments in time when the lighting is just, well, picture perfect, and all I have to do is go out on the front porch or walk five minutes to capture it.
I suppose one can 'go there' and hope for that perfect combination of light and color. Or one can 'be there' receptive to what comes to him, close at hand. While I do want to do more of the former, I am most grateful for a life in which the latter is possible. And more so as gas prices go up!
Posted by: fred1st | June 26, 2005 7:15 AM