NZ Visual Diary - entry 447
down and behind
Looking up, down and behind are critical photographic prompts. In the instance of this entry, down and behind were the operative impulses.
Inspired by a video presented at the YouTube channel Photographic Inspiration, I took a walk along a familiar path in Wynyard Quarter. The practice frame for this outing was to maintain the discipline of looking up, down and behind. The mantra served me well.
Looking down rather than straight ahead allowed me to spot a storm sewer grating. The strong repeating pattern of geometric rectangles served as contrasting background for the dominant figure of the red iron valve, itself encased within a concentric circle. As my wife remarked when she saw the image: “It is something my husband would notice and consider visually curious.” The cement casing of the storm sewer on which the grating was placed punctuated the interplay of geometries.
Farther on, I walked behind a structure at one end of the Jellicoe Street carpark, which revealed another odd treasure. Someone had taken the time to paint a piece of corrugated siding that lined one edge of a raised street garden. Capturing the photograph with a wide-open aperture at close proximity ensured that the siding and flowers, with their dominant red and delicate yellow hues, would attract the eye of viewer. The visual wash of the gauzy background, the artistic consequence of a shallow depth of field, added a nice finishing touch to the photographic elements of the composition.
I was reminded of an old joke shared amongst architects:
“How do you know that there’s an architecture convention taking place in town?
Everyone in a crush of pedestrians is looking up.”