Lenswork magazine, a premier photography journal, free of advertisements and over-sharpened images of iconic sites, sponsors an annual book with different themes. For several years the book was titled “Seeing in Sixes” which focussed (no pun) on project-based photography. That series was followed by “Our Magnificent Planet” in which I had two images published, and last year the theme was trilogies. This year’s theme is “glorious light” with an emphasis on strongly lighted subjects or light filtering through scenes or objects, etc. That idea became fixed in my little brain and caused me to mentally frame subjects in ways that I might not ordinarily see them. “Mentally frame” is key here. Sir Don McCullin, the UK war photographer, “framed” the leafless winter trees on his property as “etchings” which lead me to photograph the winter trees of Fearrington and tone the images in a cold blue shade to reflect their nakedness in the cold of winter. With glorious light in mind, I awoke one recent morning to see the horses grazing in the rising sunlight and immediately grabbed a camera and ventured onto the deck to record the event as they moved along the fence. This is one image of many that I recorded that morning. The interplay of subject and light is reflected in the lightness of the animal’s rear half and the shadows created by its shoulder and the shadows on the grass. So, this image is way more than one of a horse munching grass; it’s a mood, an emotion. This image also reflects the mystery of the meadow, a piece of uneven ground whose botanical cover changes with rainfall and season and whose appearance is determined by light. We don’t walk past a window without a glance or a gaze in its direction. Sometimes we see horses too.
A bird flew through this scene too,
