Orange and purple

click photo to enlarge

Orange and purple don't rank high in the colours that I like. I prefer orange over purple, but I'll take green, red, blue and violet over either of them. When I see the two colours I think of the 1970s, a decade when they seemed to rise in prominence and find uses in the most unlikely places. I recall seeing houses and shops with their exterior woodwork painted a deep purple; not very many admittedly, but it only takes a few to catch your eye and cause you to wonder about the aesthetic sensibilities of the owners of those premises. Then there were the bright orange walls in rooms - not every wall, just one or two to contrast with the more muted colours elsewhere. Clothes often featured the two colours as well, usually to the detriment of those wearing them. A few years ago the seventies came back into fashion and orange, more than purple, re-surfaced as a colour of choice. In this latter-day reprise it was often paired with strong lime green. I remember seeing the combination used for plastic kitchen implements. The very thought of them makes me shudder.

It has been said that as far as putting one colour next to another goes you have to be careful except in one very particular circumstance. Flowers, many believe, go together whatever the colours. I think there's some truth in that statement. Perhaps it's the omnipresent green of the leaves acting like a flux, binding one hue to another. In our garden we have a fine show of French lavender (Lavandula stoechas). We've grown a variety of annuals and perennials next to it without much thought for the colour combination, and we have not been disappointed by the display that has resulted. Last year we were given some poppy seeds that produce orange flowers in profusion, day after day, even though each bloom lasts for only a single day. When I saw the first flowers appearing against the blue green foliage and purple flowers of the lavender I wondered how it would look. But, despite my feelings about each individual colour I like the combination. So much so that I took this photograph.

photograph and text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 191mm
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/200
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation:  -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Yellow - again

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The other day I wrote about my liking for the sight of oilseed rape fields in the spring, and noted that many didn't share my view. I ascribed this to the transformation they have brought about in our very green landscape. On reflection, however, it occurs to me that another factor may be at work, namely the relative unpopularity of the colour yellow.

When people are asked to describe this colour they invariably choose words that have positive connotations: happy, warm, bright, etc. Yet, yellow is a colour whose popularity declines with age, to the extent that it usually has only black, brown, grey, and orange placed below it. There are deep-seated, often cultural reasons why this is so, and these may be factors that weigh more heavily with those who dislike both the colour and the increasing acreage of yellow oil-seed rape. On the other hand such people may all be hay-fever and asthma sufferers who resent the discomfort that the pollen brings each spring!

Today's photograph of the crop was taken into the sun - contre jour, as it is sometimes called. The effect that this kind of light has on clouds can be quite attractive, and I like it here. Of course, the almost-complementary of the blue sky also enhances the yellow of the flowers. I tried to make something of a composition with this shot and moved my position so that the line of the track through the yellow entered the frame near the right corner and led the eye across the scene, first to the lone, leafless tree, then on to the horizon.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 11mm (22mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/1600
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -1.0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Beautiful feathers

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I love individual colours, and have favourites that I appreciate whenever I see them. In a recent post I spoke about my liking for blues and greens, and commented that I'm a fairly typical man as far as my general taste goes. However, for me, colours that I wouldn't place amongst my favourites take on a new significance when paired with a suitable companion. In fact, I find that colours often work best in combination, something that artists and designers have known for years.

In that earlier post I spoke about how certain hues of yellow and pink, colours that I don't usually favour, can look great when placed togethre. And, in a post of last year I commented on how Jean-Honore Fragonard's painting called The Swing opened my eyes to the beauty of shades of pink next to turquoise hues. On that occasion I was speaking about Fragonard in the context of my photograph of orange Chinese Lanterns (Physalis franchetti) in a blue/green vase, another colour combination that appeals to me. Today's photograph is a re-working of that theme, but improved by the the blue having an iridescence that includes green and purple, and the orange having a hint of brown making it more of a "burnt orange". I find these rich, lustrous hues absolutely stunning, and think it small wonder that such deeply coloured feathers were once appropriated for women's clothes and hats.

I was glad that the owner of these feathers hadn't had them taken for other purposes, and further delighted by how he stood proudly on a wall near a churchyard, showing them off, allowing me to get this photograph.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 150mm (300mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/250 seconds
ISO: 400
Exposure Compensation: -1.0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Primula supernova

click photo to enlarge
I've never been a big fan of primulas. They always seemed too showy, artificial even, forcing themselves on you with their bright hues and improbable colour combinations. They suffered too, in my eyes, from their connection with the primrose, a beautiful, delicately coloured, unassuming flower, a harbinger of spring, against which the primula looked like the brassy, unsubtle cousin. But, just as my taste in colours is changing as I get older, so too is my appreciation of flowers. Where once I wouldn't have seen any virtues in the primula I can now appreciate how they add a glow to a dark corner, or brightness to a window box or planter (though I still don't think they touch the spots that the primrose does.)

Today, after the early morning frost had melted I went into the garden to see if I could get some shots of the daffodils and narcissi that have opened in the past week. I did, but none of them were any better than I've captured before, or offered anything that you haven't seen before. So, I continued my rounds and came upon some burgundy-coloured primulas under a willow tree. Now, considering that I don't particularly like burgundy coloured flowers in general, feeling that they don't supply enough contrast with the soil, and taking into account my feelings towards primulas, it's surprising that I stopped to photograph them. But stop I did, and am quite pleased with the outcome. The beads of water left by the frost help the image, as does the reflected sky in each one. However, what makes the image for me is the colour combination and the overall darkness of the shot - the centre of the flower-head is like a supernova against the duskiness of star-flecked space.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 35mm macro (70mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f4.5
Shutter Speed: 1/125 seconds
ISO: 400
Exposure Compensation: -0.7 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Thinking about favourite colours

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As far as colours go I'm a fairly stereotypical person. When I was a child I preferred a strong blue - royal blue in my case - and this is the colour that most boys name as their favourite. As I grew older my allegiance changed to green, the second most favoured colour amongst boys and men, and one that remains so until they get into their fifties (blue remains top for life!) At that point, in most surveys, green drops off the radar to be replaced by purple. It's here where I step out of the mainstream, because I have a deep dislike of purple, the colour that is usually cited as the third favourite colour for men between the ages of 20 and 50.

As far as disliked colours go, I partially agree with the colour surveys of men - orange and purple would be top of my list of loathed colours, whereas they are usually second and third, after the reviled brown, a colour I am not especially averse to. In my boyhood I always named pink as my least favourite colour (perhaps for its "girly" associations), followed by purple. I had a particular dislike of both of these when they were partnered with yellow. Nowadays my feelings against pink are not as strong (though I am still anti-purple), and I particularly like it next to shades of blue/green. I even find myself seeing some admirable qualities in pink next to yellow, overcoming my "raspberry ripple" associations, though only when they are represented by subtle hues, as in the example above.

I took these carnations out of separate vases and placed them together for a photograph. If I can rid my mind of the thoughts of weddings, Valentines, Mothers' Day, and romantic novels (!) that the image conjures up, I can find qualities to admire in this pairing that would have been completely lost on me in my younger years, so clearly my tastes are changing. Perhaps though, choosing flowers to test ones liking for colours and colour combinations is cheating, because it has been wisely said that as far as colour goes, flowers never clash!

photograph & text (c) T.Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 35mm macro (70mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f11
Shutter Speed: 1/20 seconds
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.7 EV
Image Stabilisation: Off