Handstand at Petworth.
I love the carefree attitude kids have to doing handstands in public. Of course, they don't think about whether it's appropriate... when could a handstand ever be anything but harmless? But at some stage though, as they get older, they stop doing it, as with anything "childish". There's something about growing up that makes us more self-conscious about such things, a side effect of becoming a stable and productive hard-working member of society I suppose...
After noticing this scene I was fortunate to have a minute or two to compose in such a way before the handstands stopped. I like how the leg aligns with the slope of the hill, how the hill semi-obscures the stately home but not enough to diminish its power and presence, the juxtaposition of these visual elements and their inherent symbolism if one wishes to think deeper.
I must admit to wondering sometimes if a scene might be better in colour. Not very often though, hardly ever in fact, but on this occasion I did wonder. The reason was because these particular colours (a clear blue sky, a grey stone building, and sun bleached grass) all rendered as a rather bland mid-grey when looked at with black and white eyes. As a print, I knew the greys would look even worse (the backlighting of a computer/phone screen seems to compensate well for dull tones). Thankfully, there were some harsh shadows to add an element of contrast, but even so, a sunny day shouldn't look so glum. By slightly overexposing (and also lifting the exposure a touch more in processing) I feel satisfied that the final photo now shows a sense of the brightness of the day, something that didn't originally come across very well unless viewed in colour. These brighter greys are much nicer to view in natural light too.
Anyway, as always, thank you for reading.
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