Photography offers the possibility to play with unusual perspectives of the, sometimes ordinary and mundane, elements of the daily world.What this might be? Mayan pyramids during solstice? Perhaps... Or...
Actually it is just a pile of empty barrels stacked up in the Speyside's cooperage. When we first passed by the scene looked exactly as what it was: a pile of barrels in a flat, unappealing light. But the jiggered shape of the stacks looked interesting enough to come back for the sunset. 'Silhouette might just work better' I thought.
When we got back a few hours later I walked the scene up and down looking for an interesting angle - to cut any distractive shapes out and bring some more symmetry to the scene. After a couple of scratches on the barber wire I spotted the mall gap between the barrels: with a perfect alignment of the sun setting behind the barrels and a correct setting of the aperture to create a sunstar it could add some 'astronomical mystery' to the picture. The position to take the photo was extremely uncomfortable - but well worth the effort. A few more scratches and a cow's poo accident on the way back to the car were all well worth it!
Sometimes the secret lies in looking for the strange shapes, features or patterns of colours that look different, strange, unusual or even alien from a particular angle. Another example is a close-up of some patterns on a coast on Isle of Arran.
