Red, White, and Blue – Look for the intimate details
Often, there’s stories that can be found and told by making photos of abstracted elements of larger objects.
The detail of the flag in the left hand photo contains just enough so that we recognize the larger flag of the United States of America, but allows us to also see the texture of the fabric and its stitches, the undulating highlight and shadow tones of the banner as it ripples in the air, and the smaller highlights and shadows of the raindrops clinging to the cloth. Because the entire flag isn’t shown, it calls attention to there being much more to see.
In the image on the right, what the larger objects are becomes nearly irrelevant. It’s an riveting composition of simple graphic elements in saturated primary colors. Red, white, and blue invokes emotions in Americans, especially when presented in that order. Since our early childhood, we’ve recognized that at the colors of our national flag, a symbol of intense pride and patriotism. I’ve further reinforced that by displaying the image along with an image of the American flag. (This is a graphical composition I found in stacks of small sailboats, stored inverted on a dock in Manteo, NC.)
I usually go out with the intent of making grand photos of scenics or of larger objects, such as my aviation photography. Often however, the images that stick with me are those that forced me to observe and record much more carefully and creatively. I made the image of the flags while out photographing fall foliage. The right image was made during a trip to photograph the sunrise over a harbor.
Consider looking beyond the obvious, turning your lens to the little intimacies you’d normally overlook. There’s endless possibilities when you do!
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