Opportunities in a World of Darkness and Light (Part II)
Autumn is a season of unending possibilities for photographers. In terms of colours, the ambient light, early and late mists etc., you can see potential photographs almost everywhere. Last autumn I had the pleasure to be in the Pacific Northwest and on one particular morning I decided to go to the University of Washington Arboretum in Seattle. The morning had leaden skies and a flat light that I knew would help with the colours and exposure under a tree canopy and was very much looking forwards to getting out there. As I parked, the heaven’s opened and it began teeming with rain, not suitably attired for hours in the rain, my enthusiasm waned a little.
I wasn’t wrong about the colours in the arboretum, they were stunning, but it just wasn’t working. After two hours of sheltering under an umbrella, trying to take pictures (try patting your head with one hand, rubbing your stomach with the other and scratching your leg with the other..you get the picture - one hand too few!), I came away not expecting to have anything of worth.
When I got back home to review the shoot, I found I was correct, very few of the pictures made any connection with me, so I began to play around. First thing I do always is start converting to Black and White. There was a series of pictures of a tree (maybe a birch?) that stood alone, surrounded by a lot of its fallen leaves. The whole scene was a glory of oranges and yellows, extraordinary really, but it just seemed muddled and overwhelmed. However, once I had converted to Black and White, the scene made a little sense. So with more adjustments, particularly a very high contrast B&W conversion, with some extra lightening and then using the one shot where the composition is just a little wrong, which sometimes adds to the impact of a shot, giving it an unconsciously unnerving edge, I ended up with the slightly surreal image below, which I like very much.
Nick Fuller of JadeGreenImage
