study – MARSH RIPPLES © Sharon L Hicks, 2013

Prismacolour pencils, 5 x 7

This study is based on one of the newer images in my collection. I was sitting at my work-station one afternoon, deeply engrossed in the study I was working on (study # 26, probably). I had been feeling like I'd nearly exhausted all the 'best' images in my photo collection, and had been wondering (subconsciously at least) how I was going to add a little interest to the 'plainer' ones which remained.

I'd been working on this series of studies in groups of 4, though I'd 'mapped out' all 30 images at the beginning, and I was partway through the final quartet of images I'd prepared and printed out to use as reference. After that there would be just the final 2 images to prepare and print out as reference material for the final 2 images in the series.

But I wasn't particularly enthusiastic about starting those final two, I felt I had 'scraped the bottom of the barrel' to find 2 more, when I'd already used up the more interesting images in my collection. I didn't want the series to just 'fizzle out', as far as interesting subject matter went. I'd prefer it to 'go out with a bang'.

So there I sat, in this half-trance state of artistic endeavour, my left mind mulling over the issue of 'what's left?', which freed up my right mind to work on the task at hand. After a particularly vigourous session of blending colours together, which marked the end of the time allotted for the study, I sat back to shake out my cramped hand. As I did so, I casually glanced out the window to my left, and what I saw took my breath away. Literally.

I leaped up from my seat (as well as my over-60-yr-old body will allow me to leap), grabbed my camera from the desk, scooped up my purse and keys, and headed out the door. A short drive later I was out on the Tantramar Marsh, where I knew I would have the best vantage point for grabbing a few more sky pics. It was another of those 'AHA' moments I've mentioned previously. I drove back home with a huge smile and a feeling of smug satisfaction - I knew I had just captured exactly what I needed to complete the series.

Here's the first of the 2 which I selected from that impromptu photo-shoot.

                My photo                         after 5 minutes                       after 1 hour

This shot was taken looking toward the east, out on the Highmarsh Rd. The road seems to disappear into the distance, since the ground is so flat. You can literally see for miles and miles in all directions.

I did make a few compositional decisions in this study, such as modifying the angle of the road itself, and minimizing the foreground strip along the bottom. The background line of trees was varied a bit as well, and the hydro tower was completely ignored. The sky shapes too were adjusted a bit, to increase drama and tension.

Again you can see how the colours in the photo are not 'true' - they're generally darker and 'bluer' than they are in real life, and I compensated for that as well, employing a few tricks of colour perspective to push the horizon back, visually.

Tomorrow will be the final study in this series. Come back and check it out - you'll see the second shot I captured on that hurried outing, and I think you'll agree I've saved the best of the two for last.

Cheers

Sharon