There are a number of things I like about this image – some of which really only have meaning to me. I’ve found out that you’ve got to be careful about why you particularly like one of your photos, because often it’s due to your own connections with it, rather than any factor accessible to other viewers. You remember the circumstance in which it was taken, some happy memories or perhaps some obstacles that had to be overcome in order to capture the shot. So it can be the packaging around the images, rather the intrinsic merits of the image itself, that you enjoy when you look at it.
Anyway, what do I like about this shot? Well I like the solid blocks of primary colour, and I like the perspective, looking down and out across the image to the water below. But mostly it’s the repetition of form in it, there’s something pleasing to the eye about seeing shapes and/or colours repeated within the frame. In this photo it’s the water in the pool and in the ocean, the parallel lines of the tree trunks, the array of deck chairs beside the pool – and of course the red-trousered precision swimming team in the pool itself.
In fact (yes, you guessed already), there was only one guy in the water, but I thought he’d look better as a whole Esther Williams/Busby Berkeley synchronised swimming troope. So Photoshop came into play to achieve this, and while I was at it I extended the pool a couple of metres to give him/them some more room to swim in. It ended up relatively seamless, which is another thing I like about the image.
And the main thing I like? It was taken from the balcony of our room at Bannisters at Mollymook on the NSW south coast, on the morning after Karen and I got married. And that’s a perfect example of a ‘personal’ reason for liking a particular photo…
This photo is also featured on the main Jokar photography web site. Go to the Human Landscapes gallery to see other photos in this collection.