East vs West

May 2nd 5:48:32 a.m.

May 2nd 5:48:44 a.m.

I recently posted a photograph on Facebook and was blown away by the response there was too it. I had more likes and comments on it than any other image I've ever posted anywhere. (Photo is shown below.) I love the image as well but the response made me think.

My husband is a photographer too and I always show him the photos I take in any shoot. I appreciate his experience and his eye, and have learned a tremendous amount from him, photographically-speaking, over the years. So I asked him to re-review the images taken at sunrise on May 2nd, the same day I took that very popular one. I watched as he swiped through the file and I observed something very clearly. All of the images he preferred were vivid, with stark contrasts and shadows, and he sailed over any that were lighter and softer with pastel colors. In fact, he gave the latter no time at all.

By way of contrast, I spend a great deal of time on the images with pastel colors as they seem more of an exception in nature than the rule. They evoke more emotion in me. Don't get me wrong I love capturing the drama of those high-contrast moments; my heartbeat accelerates and my breath quickens as I try to capture the light (and dark) in an unusual juxtaposition. But, the calm, peace I feel when shooting a pastel sky is immensely comforting to me and in some ways the subtlety in the colors and contrasts demand that I focus even more closely on composition.

Thus I come to the title of this post. As you can see from the captions, these two images were taken only 12 seconds and 180 degrees apart. The high contrast image was taken facing East and the soft pastel image was taken facing West. Sunrise is my favorite time of day and most people who join me around that hour are fixated on the eastern horizon, pivoting little if at all. I just want to say, "Look both ways", you just may find nature revealing more subtle aspects of her ever-changing personality, some that may inspire you to say "Ahhh!"