mercredi 2 février 2005

Bleu, Blanc et Rouge... Photography by Numbers I would have started writing, "Red, white and blue," followed by, "It is not you... you're out!" from remembering the childhood rhyme used to exclude player after player in whatever game we were engaged in... the one remaining being the unlucky one asked to find or chase the others. Strange games children play... you would think the remaining player would be a winner rather than loser! However, I use, "Blue, white and red," as that is how the French tricolour is displayed... the painter David deciding that bleu was always to be flown against a flagstaff. Whilst there's no way the American flag can be hung in error the Union Flag of Great Britain (the Union Jack is a misnomer) is occasionally seen flown upside down both in ignorance and error. The three colour combination of red, white and blue - and I revert to using "red" to introduce the three as a group because it's an advancing colour - make a dynamic theme for a photographic subject. For many years I've been snapping them when and where ever I see them... they are almost like a magnet for my camera and lens. Strangely, I have very few images of the Union Flag, the Stars and Stripes nor the French Tricolour... partly due to increasing problems not of photographing them per se but of including some of the public (and more secretive) buildings which usually fly them. To assemble the composite grouping of red, white and blue images above I retrieved from my files the following, from top-left to lower-right... Number #1 close-up of an American decal on the wing of a model aeroplane - Nikon F2 with 55mm Macro-Nikkor. E Patch close-up of the stylish company logo on my wife's "Escada" jeans plus her red and white sweater - Nikon F3 with 55mm Macro-Nikkor. Yacht freshly painted prow (or is it bow?) of a cruising yacht on Aberdovey dockside, Wales - Leica M3 with 28-35-50mm Tri-Elmar. Hot-Air Balloon There are great opportunities for colour photography at hot-air balloon fiestas... this one at Bristol, UK - Contax 159MM with standard 50mm f/1.4 Zeiss. Blue Diamond From memory this was a logo on the side of a Parcel Force mail-van in the UK - probably Nikon F3 with 135mm Nikkor. Poppies A wreath of artificial poppies on a War Memorial in Wales, UK - Minolta 9000 with 28-85 zoom. Car Colours Red and blue cars are popular in the UK... the trick was finding some white in the composition - but here a chromed door handle and radio aerial just suggest enough to make the theme valid - Pentax LX with 300mm telephoto. PUCH the motorcycle company name plus blue and white checker tape on the fuel tank of a racing bike seen whilst visiting the Isle of Man during the TT Week - Nikon F2 with 55mm Macro-Nikkor. Warning! A red flag on a white flagstaff against a blue sky make the theme complete - Canon EOS100 with (superb) 135mm Soft-Focus lens... although this grim weather shot doesn't do the lens justice. Wild Flowers White daisies, blue sky and purple foxgloves... look closer and the rusty roofing and side cladding on the barns are red rust coloured - Nikon F3 with 20mm Nikkor. 750 Four another motorcycle fuel tank decoration seen on a big Honda during the Isle of Man TT race week - Nikon F2 with 55mm Macro-Nikkor. Paint Daubs I saw this in the 1970s and am still not sure what the house-owner was thinking about when he was renovating his garage doors... perhaps he was using up paint from several old tins in his shed... whatever, it provided me with a suitable target for an entire roll of film - Nikon F2 with 50mm standard f/2 Nikkor. As you can see, there are many opportunities for a red, white and blue theme. It may at first seem an easy theme to exploit... but you have to look hard to see examples which are interesting... and as such it becomes an interesting exercise. I find there are many other colour combinations which are visually striking... but this one draws my attention time and time again because, perhaps, the colour red advances whilst blue recedes. As colours they are in competition... and with a camera, lens and a selective eye you can strike a different balance in favour of one or the other. To me, red, white and blue doesn't simply mean tricolour... it means try colour! 9:51:13 PM    comment []