This image conjures up all sorts of emotions in me. That is the beauty of a single photograph. It can transport you to many places, evoke countless memories and trigger a depth of emotion that may not otherwise have surfaced before feasting your eyes upon it.
This image brings to mind warm, sunny days, the sound of distant child’s laughter playing in a meadow, the drone of light aircraft cutting through the sky, the whiff and drifting scent of a bbq triggering a certain hunger pang, the perfume of summer flora and the hum of a lazy bumble bee bouncing from flower to flower. It brings to mind the sound of a cricket chirping somewhere not too far away on a stem of grass, or a ladybird stumbling through the undergrowth on a journey that only it could know. It reminds of the simple joy of laying on your back in the deep green grass and watching cotton white clouds meandering along against a cerulean sky while all of you cares melt out of memory. If I look at this image for long enough, it would probably bring to mind a lifetime of simple pleasures and quite possibly many other emotions.
The power of photography is evident in the way in which nearly everybody in this day and age makes record after record of their life journey on a day to day basis using smart phones and all manor of digital devices. There is something special about a photograph, about photography. The simple recording of our life experiences for us to look at again and again has become customary. Photography is essential for many reasons in the world in which we live.
The passion for making great imagery sits profoundly within me. It is almost an obsession, but one that brings a huge amount of joy, both in the initial recording of an image and that of the huge amount of joy that one single image can bring thereafter. If one single image can do all of that then imaging the joy derived from many thousands of images?! Little wonder then, that for me at least, making beautiful photographs is a compulsion.
© Mike Barrett Photography 2019 – All Rights Reserved
Lens EF70-200mm F/4L USM @ 188.00mm, F4, ISO 400, 1/800 Seconds Exposure, AP, Hand Held.
