English Woodlands

English Woodlands ©Stewart Weir 2011

Brighton Beach – New Series

Brighton Beach © Stewart Weir 2010

 New series of images coming soon.

 

 

 

 

 

Story Behind The Image – Herat, Afghanistan

Some images are given more impact by someone else doing something you never anticipated. Down a side alley in Herat I came across a group of children playing with a ball. I framed this young girl who just stood there completely unfazed, smiled at me and I raised my camera and she just stood as she is in the image. I took 1 shot then the boy leaned into the frame and made what I envisaged into something even stronger. Even if the boy could speak English the chances of getting him posed as he is would have been difficult and would have looked unnatural. Sometimes you have to work hard at getting the image you see in your head but the best images with the most impact just unfold in front of you. The key is seeing the image before it occurs and accepting acts of random behaviour as they happen.

Story behind the image – English Woodlands

"Now to consult the rules of composition before making a picture is a little like consulting the law of gravitation before going for a walk. Such rules and laws are deduced from the accomplished fact; they are the products of reflection." Edward Weston 

Early morning spring light. A Rolleiflex and a few rolls of Fomapan. One camera with a fixed lens makes you think and exercises the creative brain. I learnt the rules of composition then decided to forget them and just 'feel' whether an image worked or not. Image making is about light and how the viewer dissects the image relevant to themselves. Its easy to stay safe with your photography, but you will never progress unless you break some rules and so its important to know when to break them. The image is a scattered mess of branches and leaves and the focal point isn't obvious.. or is it? The middle and lower middle leaves are lit and the upper  right leaves into the middle are in silhouette. The branches are a tangled web and form an outer layer that forms the whole image. I laid on my back to get this shot and was one of 3 with this the strongest. I chose this one because I felt it said everything about an early spring morning.