Colors of Yesterday

“Art is unquestionably one of the purest and highest elements in human happiness. It trains the mind through the eye, and the eye through the mind. As the sun colors flowers, so does art color life.”
― John Lubbock

Ever since I began this journey in photography, I have been so drawn to color.  I have always admired bright, vibrant colors in the images of others.  Color is what drew me most to the work of 

Bryan Peterson.  Bryan was one of my first teachers in photography.  Before I ever heard Bryan speak, I learned from his wonderful books.  I also learned by studying his photographs.  I knew I wanted to make photographs rich in color because of his work.  The colors in his images brought life to the elements within their frames.

You can learn more about color by reading Bryan’s most recent book:  Understanding Color in Photography:  Using Color, Composition, and Exposure to Create Vivid Photos.

Last week, my friends and I went to explore, shop, and photograph at Clines Antiques, located in Mt. Pleasant, NC.

My mentor and dear friend, Les Saucier, frequently discusses photographing color as a subject.  During my Saturday at Clines, I did just that.  I found bright, vivid colors at every turn.

I was drawn by the blue and gold (my old high school colors) when I saw a pile of old fire hydrants.  The wonderful textures just added to my excitement for this subject.

The contrast of textures (smooth bottles vs. rough, rusty metal) and the colors being picked up on the lips of these bottles caught my attention.  Amazing details can be seen when photographing a subject.  These details are often not as visible to a viewer without a camera.

Some of the bottles I encountered had seen better days.  At first I was a bit disappointed that the day presented bright sunlight rather than cloudy, diffused light for this outing.  However, only bright sunlight would have allowed me to capture this scene with the broken bottles.

My fascination with bottles continued as I explored a rack of colorful bottles.  I tried to make a more abstract image using these bottles so the image was more about the colors than the bottles themselves.

The next time you are out photographing or just observing life around you, be sure to take in the beauty of bright, vibrant colors!