There is always the obvious to photograph. Fishing boats in harbors, lighthouses standing tall, sunsets and sunrises galore, Motif No. 1 in Rockport, MA … I could go on. There is nothing wrong with photographing all these things, but the trick is to make it yours, to make it different. Or, to look for something less obvious.
It’s part of what Arnie and I are always saying to our students. Seek your own vision. And we tell ourselves that, too. All the time.
One of our favorite places to photograph closer to home is on an island near the Outer Banks. It is, in fact, a working, fishing village. We have gone there so often over the years that people know us, and permission to photograph is never an issue. Still, I always ask. The fishermen a kick out of that, and then we jibber-jabber a bit before I head off with my gear to have fun.
Those of you who know us know that I love textures. Old things attract me.
Arnie used to say something like, “There’s a Margo barn. Do you want to stop?”
“Too new,” I’d mutter. “Thanks, but keep going.”
We keep returning to this little village, as it always produces images we love. There’s a lot of age here as is typical of a working environment, and each visit, the colors and patterns are different.
Last spring, when we were doing our final scouting, there weren’t any interesting boats at the piers. It was morning, but long after the fishermen had gone out to sea. That didn’t bother me; I just walked around to one of my favorite spots.
The sky was overcast — enough to saturate the colors but not so much to remove the luminance. Even though the surface here was definitely showing its age with the pits, the colors sang. That combination of color and decay only added to the photographic allure for me. There’s no accounting for taste!
What probably caught my attention, beside the classic, complimentary colors, were the blaze of yellow and the subtle, diagonal pattern.
I looked and worked on the composition until I found what was, for me, the right balance. Someone else, had she/he been right next to me, would have likely found something completely different.
Again, this was a one-shot image.
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