a photo by cooper.gary on Flickr.This image was captured at a Denver restaurant as the sun set on the Rockies. I adjusted it a bit in Aperture by warming it up a bit (6500K) then dropped the exposure by 2. Beyond the blownout intensity of the sun (which looks like a nuclear explosion), there are a couple of very subtle moods and outlines that I like in this image.
Denver, Colorado — Urban Street Art has transformed this business into an eclectic art gallery. Everything now wears a mark the building, sign, sign post, abandoned tire, and even the curb.
She appeared not wanting to be there.
There is a story waiting to be told from within this image.
The couple waded into the early evening water just after sunset.
At this moment, their body language told more than a conversation could have.
He appears confident.
She–hesitant; looking for an escape.
The outline of her shadow provokes curiosity.
The image brings forth the question of why?
A hundred stories could be made up and told.
All would be based on our own frame of reference.
Reflections of our own individual memories–
Reminiscent of the past, or a dream for the future.
The couple is unknown and so is the real truth of the mood.
Even with the curtains drawn
to put privacy between the inside and out,
a sunset reminds me to come out and play.
Simple things.
Simple everyday things that pass for being taken for granted are more complex than they seem.
This is just a spoon–some sugar in the raw;
yet the shapes, patterns, and mood are so much more than what appears.
Simple things that are lost in a complex world.
A world driven by time rather than the senses;
driven by volume rather than the individual parts of the whole.
A world that cannot be without each piece playing a part to whole.
A world without the spoon? A world without the individual parts?
What strikes me about this photo?
It is the eye–an emerald-like green that contains a reflection of this bird’s world.
The detail of the feathers that blend to another impression at a distance.
The beak is long and portrays a working life–it transcends the depth of field.
The light is low, bright and wintery.
Imperfections in the image build on this bird’s personality and character.
There are questions of where this image was taken
What else is hidden from the edges.
This photo talks to you and provokes an unsaid conversation.
I captured this image with my iPhone as we were leaving a garden store in Denver one evening.
The sunset was absolutely beautiful and I hesitated with even trying to capture what I was seeing because of the urban clutter in the foreground. I thought it was timing and a just a matter of not being in the right place. Still, I propped myself up against a column and took a shot at that moment knowing that the composition was not right and that I would probably end up deleting the image.
Today, I rediscovered this shot in my photo stream and the image evoked a completely different perspective from the original view that evening. Lately, I have been frustrated with the noise that pounds us on a daily basis. With that perspective, what I found captured within the chaos of urban life, the traffic, the noise, the price of gas, the ugliness of strung wires in every view, is a subtle reminder. A reminder that we have to step back and see through the noise that clutter our lives every day. A reminder that the our world–which at times seems overwhelming and all-encompassing–is really pretty small in the big scheme of things. There is a reminder of being positive. If you see the wires, the shot is ugly and you miss the beauty. If you see the colors of the sunset, the wires fade to where they belong, in the background.
Copyright © 2012 Gary Cooper Photography. All Rights Reserved.
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