Vision. Perspective.

There's this avenue of trees that I've 'seen' a photograph in all winter. Sometime it was going to happen. Exactly what it would be like I had no idea. This happens to me a lot. I sense there's a photograph waiting to be made if certain things come together, but I couldn't tell you what that photograph is. It's more a feeling than an image that forms in my mind.

The other afternoon the sun came out late on and I decided to spend an hour looking for barn owls at the marsh. None showed up before the cold drove me away. A spectacular sunset wasn't on the cards as the sky was pretty much cloudless. There was nothing to hang around for. As I turned off the track onto the road the sun was a low orange disc ahead of me. As the avenue of trees came into view an image came to mind, but the sun was too high. Knowing that the closer I got to the trees the lower the sun would appear in relation to them I slowed down (there was no traffic behind me) hoping things would line up right. They did. I pulled over. Lowered the driver's window. Poked the long lens out, framed, and fired the shutter. A review on the screen and away I went.

Sounds simple. Technically it was. The complicated part was having a vague notion that there would be a photo to be taken one day, understanding how perspective alters objects' relationships to each other, and not getting rammed by a following car! Somewhere in my subconscious the composition had already formed and I knew what was required.  Very strange. I could have agonised over composition, trying different framings, but there was no point. It might have turned out more 'correct', but that 'not quite' perfect quality that gives an image vitality can be lost if the composition is too carefully considered.

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