Tuesday 16 June 2009

Blue & Green

"Blue and green should never be seen" -- traditional advice on colour combinations to avoid that seems to ignore the fact that these are the two most predominant colours of the natural world in summer. This one was probably cooked up by the same people who insist red-headed girls can only ever wear green... I seem to have become a connoisseur of barrier-tapes and fences. A few years ago I made a sequence called The Mysterious Barricades, featuring various ineffective or odd barriers encountered in the landscape. I stole the title from a harpsichord piece by Couperin which, I confess, I first came across and appropriated after reading its description in William Wharton's novel Last Lovers. Wharton, by the way, is a very good writer whose work seems to have vanished from view: Birdy was once famous because of the film, but if you're looking for something new to read I'd recommend Dad or A Midnight Clear.

1 comment:

Struan said...

One of my mental notes I carry around to consult when photographing is not to be too pernickety about nulling out colour casts or avoiding mixed lighting. The way that green foliage reflects blue/cyan skylight is one of my favourites, and it turns up often in summer at high latitudes. The effect is slightly undersea odd, but beautiful.