weaving the rainbow

Many of you are probably going to jump on the apparent hypocrisy between this image and the previous one, especially given my self proclaimed "manifesto". But I suppose it's time to come clean - that "darkness manifesto" doesn't hold for every scene, just that some scenes will conform, some moods demand that and some don't. It's an area that I want to explore more deeply, but it is an area, a part of my personality as a photographer and not - if you'll forgive the pun - the whole picture. The difference in my mood once the sun rises might just be palpable here.

I guess only the more serious landsacapists amongst my contacts will have hiked for an hour before dawn to get to a location, but I'm sure you can all understand, the creaking trees, the flapping crows, the mysterious rustle in the bushes that wont reveal itself even in torchlight - the fight to control the nerves, the sheer difficulty of finding a path via a tiny circle of torchlight. It's not necessarily what I'd call a pleasant experience!

Mind you in a perfect world, if I'd had time, the bright stars and the crescent moon hanging low over the salt marshes next to North Hill Tor, would have been something quite special to have illustrated in more than words. Some experiences just need storing away in the memory, sometimes I have to follow my instincts.

Coming to the end of a dawn shoot, when the sun climbs in the sky and you know you have some good images stored away is a mixture of relief, satisfaction and joy that is hard to communicate, but one that is (believe me) worth seeking out.

Whilst I'm discussing what it's like to to be out there taking landscape pix, perhaps it's time to explain the thoughts behind the title "weaving the rainbow". Photography literally photo (light) graphia (writing) is writing with light, - weaving the rainbow is directly analogous to what many artists and photographers pursue, only more poetic, transcending the strictly technical. So this one is dedicated to all my friends out there weaving their own rainbows.

Copyright Open Aspect Photography