Thorney Island

Ah, brings me back. I remember those summer days when I would stroll along the Thames, catching that 11:30 sunset. It was my first time in England, set to live there for three years, and this native Californian had never in his life conceived of a day filled so much with sunshine that the landscape would be bathed in luminescence for 20 hours of the day. Those were the good months to live there.

I really like the extent of color in this, and how it uses strong complimentary tones of purples and yellows. It gives the image a lot of life, contrast, and beauty. The image is almost cinematic in the way the harsh yellows and dark cold purples work to reflect the crisp sentiments of a London evening. This image really allows me to fall in, and be immersed in the memories I brought back with me.

From a compositional standpoint, I do see some things that could use some refinement. The first would be the left third of the image. While it is nice having the bridge extending towards the viewer, emphasizing a sense of depth to the scene, I think it would be nice to have the buildings on the very left edge of the composition omitted. It would simplify the layout of the scene, taking emphasis off the left side, and allowing the viewer's eye to traverse to the right more easily. If some of the water on the bottom was also cropped out, it could work to bring the bridge forward, making it function as a foreground object more than a middle ground object.

The end result would be an image with just bridge, Parliament, and some classical London architecture beside it. It would also enlarge the space occupied by the architecture in the image, making the skyline more easily discernible when viewed from a distance. I saw the image, and I saw it for the yellows and purples. It wasn't until a closer look that I saw its substance.