PotD: Down to Basics, Light and Colour

Here’s another one of those images that I find it hard to explain why they give me so much satisfaction. I think it’s something to do with getting down to the basics of light and colour. It’s part of the same session as the previous two potd’s, at the local market in Tupiza, Bolivia. I’d noticed the interesting colours in the market’s alleyways coming from the daylight filtering through the different bits of plastic corrugated sheets and was concentrating on capturing that effect at the location itself. It took me a while to actually look up and realise that there were some wonderful abstract shapes going on up there too. Sometimes going in on a detail can really concentrate the essence of a place. In this particular case, the play between the lines, the light and the colour resulted in an image that literally made me stop and be aware of the beauty of existence. I know this sounds grandiose and reminds me of that plastic bag scene in ‘American Beauty’, I just can’t help it. After taking this image and bringing it back up on the EVF, I remember that a huge smile mixed with an emotional intensity immediately overwhelmed me. To be clear, this is not a state that I’m constantly in as I wander around with a camera but, when all the elements align (and I’m emotionally vulnerable enough!), there is a definite rapture to it all. The rest of the time while travelling I’m usually just pinballing around in aimless absurdity (both metaphysically and physically).