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Friday, March 25, 2016

Figures in a Landscape

When I lived in West Africa I was always interested in local people's reactions to my photos of Canada and my family and friends there. Striking photos of the Rocky Mountains, the wide prairies, and emerald green lakes would be thumbed through without a glance unless there were some people visible. Then I would be asked who those people were and what they were doing.They were not interested in scenery at all unless it had some people in it and then they were only interested in the people. For me that marked a very significant difference between West Africans and Canadians. West Africans were much more interested in people. Years later, I noticed in traditional Chinese landscapes, those ones of misty crags and winding trails, there are almost always a few small human figures visible somewhere. I know it's a subject that has been much discussed by graphic artists and I am not likely to add anything new or profound to the discussion. All I want to say is that I too like small figures somewhere in a landscape if possible. As well as adding scale, they add meaning to the picture just by their presence. This photo is also intended to give a glimpse into our weather lately. Though the sun often breaks through and lets me take a few bright pictures, we've mostly been getting windy, rainy days like this. Yes, it's definitely spring but as the saying is "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb." We haven't got to the lamb part yet.

3 comments:

JoJo said...

I'd prefer if people weren't in the background of my scenic shots but that's unavoidable sometimes.

William Kendall said...

I like this shot. I seem to prefer not to have people in the shot.

The Furry Gnome said...

No March lamb here either!