INSPIRATION
My Favorite Shot
COLORS
What’s the favorite photo you’ve taken?
Could you pick a favorite image you’ve taken? Not easy we know, but to coincide with our September 2022 COLORS call for entries, we asked some of the photographers in our community to do just that. Or at least to pick a shot related to the topic that they hold dearly, were happy to have taken recently, has a great story behind it, or that resonates with them in some other way right now. Here they tell us why…
(Banner image: Luca Tombolini)
LUCA TOMBOLINI
www.lucatombolini.net / @lucatombolini
“The image I chose is as yet unpublished and belongs to a new series I’m editing at the moment. It’s by far the toughest project I’ve ever done, which spreads across three trips to the Andean plateau in the last three years. The image is taken in a high altitude region of the Catamarca province in Argentina. Daytime colors, especially during sunny days with clear sky, are so intense because of the altitude. We’re at around 4500m/14700ft for this scene and the existing color palette of rocks and sands gets enhanced on the negative film to the point of hyper-realism. Due to how remote the region is and the struggles to get there, and stay long enough to photograph, I also remember working on these images as a great adventure and a privilege to personally witness such magical places.”
LINDSEY RICKERT
www.lindseyrickert.com / @lindseyrickert
“Otherworldly Botanicals’ was a series born at the start of the pandemic. I found myself feeling lost and disconnected at the sudden inability to photograph or be near people. Searching for a creative outlet to help me cope, I looked out my window and found inspiration in the plants surrounding me. I began basking them in colorful light, transforming them into vivid, out of this world images.
My favorite shot (so far) from this ongoing series is a set of three dahlias. The varying colors from the gelled lights accentuate and every detailed texture of these already gorgeous flowers and the positioning of the flowers give them a human portrait quality. But, what I really love about this image is how much I hated it initially. Why, I’m not sure but I’m glad I gave it another chance.”
RACHEL TURNER
“Wildflowers were in bloom as we drove through Milpitas California in May 2021. Taken by the urge to dash through them, we pulled over on a windy hillside, grabbed our cameras and literally headed for the foothill. I took the shot as we bolted out of the car in joy toward the carpet of roadside yellow blossoms.”
GIEDO VAN DER ZWAN
www.giedovanderzwan.com / @giedovanderzwan
“Scheveningen, The Netherlands, May 2022. I love photographing people on the beach close to where I live. There is almost always something going on. On this sunny and warm spring day, I was following a fanfare that was playing on a quiet part of the beach. I was actually expecting some great opportunities for photography: the visual rhythm of the members of the band walking and standing in an out-of-place environment and the beautiful colored costumes against the backdrop of sunbathers were already enough for some great shots. But then I witnessed a ‘magic moment’ when this little girl ran to her father, proud that her daddy was leading this band. At that moment everything came together.”
LJUBICA DENKOVIC
“In my series of work Night Motions I have this over-saturated, crowded, over-stimulating shop window in Amsterdam. Same as the city, it offers everything for everyone. I remember I did this shoot by randomly walking on the streets searching for something that would catch my eye. At that moment I didn’t think it was something special. But later when I looked at the photos I made that night I was overwhelmed by the atmosphere of this image and the intensity of the colors and that shot unexpectedly became one of my favorites.”
GLENN HOMANN
“This photo epitomizes what I am always trying to achieve in my work, although particularly in the more minimal images, and that is an overall sense of balance and harmonious composition. I feel that the two colors (red and yellow) play an integral role in attaining that goal as the eye moves across the otherwise mundane urban scene. This shot helped me to cement the concept of using color sparingly and in a minimal manor, paying close attention to the “weight” it can add to critical areas of the image/composition.”
BOB ROSINSKY
“This is a long exposure photograph taken at a beach along the Gulf of Mexico. It was foggy and misting outside while the late afternoon sunlight filtered through. The photograph is intended to be experienced as a large print, so the optical pop of competing colors touches the viewer viscerally. Many mistake this for a painting or chalk pastel rendering.”
MAGALI CHESNEL
www.magalichesnel.com / @magalichesnel
“Photo taken in August 2018; above the Saline of Gruissan, France, with my drone: DJI Mavic Pro2.
I am fascinated by the salt marshes. By observing them from above, you realize how spectacular Mother Nature is, one of the best designers. These are places with amazing actions and reactions, which never fail to impress. In my way of photography, I always have in my mind a bit of Rothko’s principles: insisting on the primacy of raw emotion, pushing the boundaries of form and color to make photos appear as “painting-like” as possible, while creating an emotion, a confusion in people’s retinas. Here is an application of these principles, with this image, Shades of Salt.
This aerial photo depicts the “mechanical harvesting” of industrial salt, which is primarily used for de-icing roads during winter time. Here, a tractor breaks the salt layer, giving birth to different shades of color blooming thanks to the Dunaliella salina, an algae rich in beta-carotene. From the ground its colors are pastel, but from above they’re ten times more intense. Fortunately and unfortunately, this is one of the only photos I managed to save right after the shooting, as I lost the memory card. This very frustrating moment taught me that after each shooting, I have to take time to select the best pictures to make sure they are safely saved on my computer.”
SANJA MARUSIC
www.sanjamarusic.com / @sanjamarusic
“This image is from my series With You, made together with my partner and son who was six weeks old at the time. I hand-painted our hands, choosing the colors intuitively, to show three different people who are trying to become one with the image and make an organic form together.”
POL KURUCZ
www.polkurucz.com / @polkurucz
“Blue is male, pink is female, cute is for girls what glam is for women. Welcome to the seemingly benign world of stereotypes, norms and conventions that form an unconscious jail for the mind. In this invisible institution each generation teaches the next, still unsullied and free, to color-conform themselves, unknowingly inviting them to the other side of the soul’s prison visitor booth. “Barbie” is a visual allegory of this sad phenomenon and a piece that best translates my quest for a norm-free society. Norms comfort the ego, unable or unwilling to accept uncertainties and the complexity of the human condition, but the idea of normalcy has a toxic side effect: where there is a normal, there is an abnormal, and the abnormal shall be despised, rejected, fought… a reality behind all destructive dogmas, intolerance, violence, war.
I used the contrast between this dark reality and the vibrant, dollish aesthetic of the photo to show how at first we are conditioned to interpret such an image, hopefully becoming conscious at a second glance of the harmful mechanism at work behind it.”
MALICK KEBE
“This image – Passion of Water – is one of my favorites because the story behind it is so amazing. This is the story of a fisherman who gets up before 6am every morning and finds himself on the lagoon to catch fish to feed his family. Red as a color is used to highlight his passion for water and the courage he has to meet the needs of his family.”
SASHA ELAGE
“I took this picture in Estonia in January 2019 at Haabneeme beach near Tallinn where my mother lives. I had to take at least 30 minutes of photos to get this one. Usually, it works from the first shot, but in this case, it was more difficult, and I had to persevere to get the picture I had in mind on camera. However, I must admit back then I was not entirely satisfied with the outcome because the swing was not perfectly balanced between the parts of the metal frame. I tried to come back many times to do it again but the snow was not the same and there were many people around and the light was different. Ultimately, I really like it because it isn’t perfect but everyone else believes it is.”
