Legs lagging. Arms aching. Breath heaving. My family and I, during our holiday to Devon last week, had been wandering for around an hour when we caught sight of our saviour: a bench in the field. We sat down, relieved and smothered in yellow sunlight. Instinctively, I pulled out my phone, snapped a shot, and later took another look at the picture - only to be shocked by the heavenly horizon on my screen.
What struck me first about this photo was the vibrant blue of the sky, and its sharp contrast with the dark silhouettes of my family and the land ahead of us. Warm highlights and tones, from the sun’s yellow light, and cool highlights and tones, from the blue sky and green grass, furthered the contrast of the image. A ‘natural vignette’ was formed, with the centre of the image being lighter due to being hit with more light from the sun.
The variety of textures in this image, softening towards the top of the photo, also provided depth and visual interest: the ridged, smooth, solid surface of the table at the bottom, followed by the slightly softer lumps of grass, then the fluffy clumps of cloud which are concentrated around the edges of the photo and enhance that ‘natural vignette’ effect.
Another interesting observation of this photo that I noticed in hindsight was how weight had been distributed across the image: the bottom left area of the photo is more clustered than the bottom right due to its thicker layers of trees, more table and shadows, while the top right is more clustered with clouds than the top left. This sense of balance was just one other subtle contributor to the tranquil atmosphere of this photo.
Usually when taking a ‘good’ photo, a great deal of thought must be put into formal elements like focal point, contrast, exposure etc. But here all these things seemed to have come naturally, without me even realising in the moment – mirroring how in life, we tend not to appreciate what we have until it has passed.
A scene emanating serenity, encapsulating the beauty of nature and humanity - a field not plagued by the human diseases of litter or pollution or chaos, despite three humans sitting right there.
