01-02-2015 / Personal Visions #5: Against The Current
Against The Current
I hereby present the fifth entry in the Personal Visions series: Against The Current.
Technical Commentary:
This is another case of "I know what I'm looking for but I need to find my way to that result".
Before I captured this image, I saw the branch at the edge of the river touching the water intermittently but only when the wind pushed it. It was during a gust that I saw the branch hitting the water and creating the effect seen in the picture.
I have several versions regarding the location of the branch within the frame, but in the end, this is the one that convinced me the most.
Due to the lightning conditions, I couldn't push the brightness or darkness of the picture in the original capture too much, otherwise it looked washed out or practically black.
The exposure settings had to be just right to create the effect I wanted for the water and the branch. I wanted the water to be blurry but I couldn't use a shooting speed too slow because even though it would have made for a larger streak of "broken water" so to speak, it would have also made the branch blurry and I needed it to be sharp enough so its texture could be made out.
In contrast, this meant I couldn't use a faster shooting speed to keep the branch's texture visible because then the broken water flow would have looked different; frozen and still, and that would have killed the intention of the message.
The speed had to be in the middle at a very precise point.
This forced me to use the slowest sensitivity in my camera and I had to fine tune the overall brightness and desired effects through the lens aperture and shooting speed.
The lens aperture had to be controlled in order to avoid having too much visible detail. If the contents at the bottom of the river had been visible, it would distract attention from the main subject, if I had opened the aperture too much the texture of the branch would have been compromised and would had ended up being diffused.
There's another factor to consider here: the speed of the river flow. It was faster than I would have expected, combined with the fact that I depended on gusts of wind to create this scene, I was dealing with factors completely outside of my control.
I could have made things easier for me and go further downstream where the flow slowed down but the image wouldn't have been the same. There's also the fact that one needs to deal with situations outside of our control and to make the most out of it.
This was a good chance of doing precisely that.
There are probably 10 versions developed for this image (9 in black & white, 1 in color) during post-processing. Although several versions in B&W work really well for me, their look is not precisely what I was going for.
The version in color that was originally developed didn't strike the right tone either. It looked like something you'd use at a hospital room in order to help the patient relax and unwind.
Not the intention I had in mind either.
I needed muted tones, like how things look when they've been under intense sunlight or drowned in water for a long time and their colors are practically gone but you still can see some of them.
I decided to start removing colors from the picture one by one but it slowly turned into a B&W image. At some point I was suggested that instead of removing all the colors, that I should alter the intensity of them and that opened the door to this final rendition.
When I shot the original image, color surrounded me despite doing so during so an overcast day. This rendition is exactly how I was visualizing the image in my head, but at the time I had no idea how to arrive at this final version without over-complicating things or resorting to B&W as a mere cliché choice.
It took a lot of work, but I'm definitely proud of the result. This is what I had envisioned originally.
Personal commentary:
Photography is an art regardless of what some people may think or say. So if photography is an art and art is a form of expression, this is what I want to say that I can't express with words.
The image by itself may seem like a simpleton one, how interesting can a stick in the water be? But when I saw that stick clashing against the water, I felt really identified because that is a feeling I know too well: against the current, against a superior force that blocks my path and pushes me back.
When you spend a lot of time pushing against something without making any progress, one starts to lose strength in many ways.
There are times when the branch is too small and the river drags it away; there are times when despite the size, the branch holds the position and endures the force of water coming at it, but... is it worth it?
Life is not always peachy, perfect and pink. There is the other side of it, this one.
The image was never meant to be "beautiful" in the sense of being full of color and joy. It was meant to display those times when we feel that something is washing away our colors and we endure as much as we can, but at some point we wonder if we should. Is it worth it at all? Is it possible to hold on anymore?
In my opinion, this photograph can possibly be interpreted in two ways: 1) the progressive decay one is subjected to when going against the current for too long or 2) the ability to endure the onslaught of time, pressure and a more powerful force going against you, and despite having lost your colors, you still hold on.
That's why it was so important to have the streak of water caused by the branch and also the detail itself of the branch. Most of the image is in movement, subjected to a force that can't be stopped, yet the detail in the branch gives us a visual reference to "hold on to something" so we won't be carried away.
It's up to you to determine what does this photo represents to you. Maybe it's something I haven't even considered. Our experiences won't be the same.
Forget the rest and leave me here
For the water has washed my colors away
There is a limit to how much I can endure
And I'm afraid I won't be able to hold on for much more
I was told it would be better downstream
But I can only gaze at a black shroud that screams
The water lied and it abraded me
Instead of being nourishing as it once promised
Time expires and I shall fall
Learn from me and fly far
The water lies and it will wash your colors away if you let it
Find better rocks to protect you
Please don't say my name anymore because I no longer remember it
That was the first thing I forgot when I wrestled against the current
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