Filtered Light
I wrote two days ago about my visit to Cumstoun Hall. This is a view of part of the interior of the ancient tower house that stands just back from the hall itself. It’s surrounded by dense undergrowth and mature trees and so it took a while to make my way inside. I’m not sure that I have got the best out of this shot. It was pretty dark inside despite the blue sky and sun, and perhaps I have lightened it too much because the fresh green leaves on that small tree really sang out in the gloom. Composing shots when you are in a confined space and the structure is large and somewhat featureless is difficult, and it wasn’t easy to move around there because of the fallen stones and tree growth. ………excuses, smithy……what you should do is go and re-edit it……..hmm………
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Ah, but look again, Smithy…above the rooted tree, up there near the rock: I see a mysterious stream of light and wonder what is lurking behind the rock.
It’s the dragon come to rescue the maiden from the tower….but not to worry, the window opening is too small…
Though if you hadn’t said anything, most of us would never have known any different, it looks fine to me. I suppose that is the problem when you see it, take it and edit it, you want to remember it as it was. Sounds like a fascinating building. We don’t have anything, nothing, like that here.
Mmm, I think that the problem is with the vision, not really with remembering what it was like. As you know with your own work, you do need a vision. Sometimes you have one, sometimes you have to find one through experimentation with processing, and sometimes you don’t quite get there.
The building is just a pile of stones with little to commend it architecturally….so you go with the intention of finding viewpoints and ways of framing it.
This brings us back to your first point, about the kind of reality that exists at the location and the type of reality that you create in the image. In a way, neither is the truth because both are a selection, a slice, a reduction, never the whole truth…..mmm, interesting…thanks Leanne.
This was a real challenge as a shot. The light through the ‘window’ and that falling on the tree make it a success for me.
Yes, that’s how I felt about it too, though I don’t think that it is fully realised here. I find these discussions very useful because they lead to a clarification of the thinking necessary in making an image. Thanks Mr B.