Sunday, October 09, 2011

Under a blood red canopy


Colorburst
London, ON, October 2011
About this photo: It's not too late to get your autumn-themed photo submitted as part of our latest Thematic. Click here to celebrate the season.
A whole bunch of years ago, I shot my first roll of film. It was black-and-white, and I recall feeling an immense feeling of power at my newfound ability to capture snippets of the world. I even saw the lack of color as an advantage, a limitation that forced me to rely on composition to tell the story.

To this day, b&w is kinda my soft spot, and I'll often flip the camera into b&w to force myself into that mode. I like how it becomes a very different art when you remove color from the equation.

But sometimes I'll just let the color do the talking. Like here. I was rushed - had to get back home because everyday life awaited - so I wasn't thoughtfully composing as much as I was rapidly grabbing whatever snagged my interest. I like fast-shoots like this because you get to rely on your gut instinct. And as soon as I saw this tree, my gut told me the color was the story. And if I waited so much as another day to take it, the magic would be gone.

Your turn: How does color touch you?

5 comments:

Max Sartin said...

Beautiful red leaves, amazing!
I also started with black and white photography. I had my own darkroom in my bedroom closet, and because of cost difference was stuck with no color. But that didn't stop me, and I also developed a soft spot for b&w photography. My camera doesn't have a b&w mode, but I do sometimes still yank the color out with my photo editor.

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Pretty!

I confess that I always like color photography. And the pictures you can take now with little digital cameras are so awesome.
~

Sara said...

The color is so vibrant. I think it is hard to capture the color of the fall, even though it may seem easy ... it has to be the right time of day but you certainly have it here. I have a bunch of fall pictures on my camera, hopefully to post tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

What vibrant color! While I agree with you on B&W demanding composition, there are some times when color is definitely needed, especially on days when the sky is gray, the streets are gray, and my mood is gray.

sage said...

Beautiful--I have a red maple and its reflection on water in my most recent post.