When I told people we were going to Mexico, a frequent piece of advice was, make sure you visit Oaxaca. It’s beautiful, they said, and the food is amazing! The advice however was unnecessary, as the city was already on my must-see list. And Oaxaca de Juárez, to give it its full name, definitely lived up to my expectations.
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Warm colours, such as reds, oranges, and yellows, are often associated with energy, passion, and warmth, evoking feelings of excitement and vibrancy. In photography they leap off the page or screen. It’s hard to ignore a warm-shaded image! The deeper warm shades suggest cosiness and comfort, while the brighter ones are sunny and cheerful.
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Nothing says Christmas quite like an abundance of colourful lights. Whether on your tree at home, adorning the exterior of houses or an official display, they lift the spirits and set the mood for a joyful festival. For those of many religions, or none, such displays symbolise the triumph of light over darkness, bringing warmth and hope during the winter season.
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In photography, when you choose to fill the frame with your subject, leaving out everything that surrounds it, you remove all distractions and by doing so force the viewer to look only at this one thing. This can be very impactful.
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The terms ‘black and white’ and ‘monochrome’ are often used synonymously in photography. But when you consider the meaning of the latter you quickly realise that they need not be the same thing. A black and white photo can be described as monochrome, but a monochrome image isn’t necessarily black and white. Monochrome simply means ‘one colour’, so any photo dominated by shades of a single colour can be said to be monochrome.
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Today’s rainbow will have only three colours: red, yellow and blue. Why? Because they are the primary colours from which all other colours can be made.
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How often have you said, there’s nothing of interest here to photograph? Not often, I hope! Look at things with a photographer’s eyes and you will almost always find a way to make them look interesting. A broom, a piece of rope, a paintbrush, a few vegetables. All of these and more are food for the hungry camera!
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We are saying goodbye this week to a much-valued member of our blogging community, Bren, who sadly died quite recently. Her photography blog has long been a favourite of mine, and an inspiration in my own photographic experiments. Her creative, atmospheric monochrome shots and beautiful soft-focus flowers were always a pleasure to view.
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Picture India, and you are quite likely picturing Rajasthan. A land of ruined fortresses and long-abandoned palaces whose stones speak evocatively of past maharajas. A desert land where rural life is tough and little-changed over the centuries, yet vibrant and full of colour. A land whose people know how to celebrate and how to welcome strangers.
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Purple is the colour of wealth and royalty. Its rich tones call to mind the trappings of majesty and ceremony. Its blend of red and blue means that it lies carries messages both of tranquillity and of passion. Purple is also the colour of creativity, as it fosters creativity by stimulating our senses while also promoting the calmness needed for thoughtful observation and introspection. And it just happens to be my favourite colour too!
