Photography: feet can be as important as hands

Posted on February 10, 2013 by Admin under autumn, big sky, mirrored water, reeds, reflection, Snape Maltings, Sonning Creatives

Photographs are taken with the hands – right?  Well, perhaps not!  Sometimes the photographer’s feet are just as important!   In November I visited Snape Maltings – a gentle, reed-girdled river just in from the Suffolk coast.  It was a perfect Autumn afternoon, the river showing a classical mirrored stillness.  The colour contrast between river / sky and the reeds was glorious and I couldn’t wait to get the camera out.  

Snape Maltings, Autumn Day - a photo chosen to illustrate the wrong viewpoint for a compelling image and to compare with right view elsewhere on the page
Right time, wrong place: Big sky, peaceful river, good colour contrast – but entirely un-compelling image.

This part of the east coast always offers huge skies, but with no cloud, the interest was in the landscape.  My first shot showed that big sky and good reflections.  But the image lacked something.  It had no pizzazz.

 So I walked on a little … no more than 30 or 40 yards… and suddenly the vista opened up, revealing a beautiful S-curve.  The final key to the shot was to engage knees too and take it from a lower position to provide some foreground interest by emphasising the reeds on my side of the river.

 
 
Late autumn landscape of Reeds and river at Snape Maltings Suffolk. River disappears around a bend towards horizon while foreground framed by reeds.  Image reflects good photographic framing compared to other image on this post.
Just 30 yards or so along the bank and a lower viewpoint opens up the scene – right time and right place.

The final image needed very little post-processing – a judicious crop, and a little detail boost was about it.  
This shot looks great in print- but you wouldn’t give it a second glance if I hadn’t moved my feet!


Currently available as 18×12 inch print through my Etsy shop, below,  For other sizes please message me: etsy.com/uk/listing/151626280/riverside-landscape-fine-art

One thought on “Photography: feet can be as important as hands”

  1. ColinKemp.Photography says:

    Was really chuffed to get a lovely email from a client who bought the final version of this image:

    “I wanted to thank you for the beautiful photo of Snape, I ordered it to give as a birthday present to capture the memory of time spent there last year. I couldn’t be more pleased with the picture – it is a stunning and evocative image.”

    Thank you L from Upminster – your email made my day!

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