Photo of the week
In this weeks photo of the week, I’m going to focus on a photo I have been working on lately. I will break down to you what “works” in the photo in regard to composition, light and so on. Besides from that I will talk about the story of the photo.
Photo of the week
This photo is one of my all time favorite moments in photography. I have visited some special places over the last years, but this moment is imprinted in my conscious. Arriving in Sary Jaz this was the kind of views I expected. It wasn’t what I got however. Driving through the scenery, all we could see was ten meters ahead of us. Everything was covered in low clouds and fog. The same thing happened the following morning for sunrise.
Therefore, as we left, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed. I had hoped to photograph these massive mountains, but had gotten away with no photo at all. After an hour or two, we stopped the car in order to set up for some interviews, for the documentary my friend Martin was doing for Visit Karakol. I was the first one being interviewed, and sat with my bag towards the mountains, which was probably a good thing! As the interview got going the clouds suddenly started disappearing from the mountains. As we wrapped it up, I turned around and saw the mountains for the first time. I grabbed my gear, and started running towards a point, from which I would be able to photograph the mountains, with cows in the frame as well.
As you might realise then, this photo has a huge personal meaning to me, which is probably why I like it so much. However there are a few techniques included that work well in the photo.
First off, we have the grass in the foreground. It doesn’t do much, but it creates interest, and leads the eye further into the frame. The cows are placed in the center of the photo, which works particularly well in this case. This is a central composition, and had the cows been placed on either the left or right side of the photo, it would have been imbalanced.
The cows also work perfectly in order to create scale. The mountains are absolutely massive compared to the cows, giving the viewer a better understanding of how huge they really are.
Due to the fact that I choose photographing from a lower angle, we have added another layer as well. These layers help leading the eyes of the viewer towards the mountain due to the way the light and shadows affect the photo. The layers create a zig zag starting from the bottom left, and leading to the mountains.
Besides from all this, the photo uses complimentary colors, which helps create contrast, and make the photo pop. Colors are a great way, to play around with, and create the photo you want to show your viewers.
That was it from this week, I hope you have found it helpful.