iWalk.2020.03.17 Lightspeed

The bane of any landscape photographer in these parts is the weather: three-sixty degree blue skies and blazing sunshine for three hundred days a year does not flatter the spectacular views. The recent unsettled spring weather  has provided more than the usually available number of opportunities for interesting shots. The light was changing so fast that I carried the camera in my hand, switched on and ready to fire. Even so, I missed a couple of shots: it was as though a heavenly hand was operating a lighting board with the sole (no pun intended) purpose of spotlighting individual performers in a grand scale outdoor theatrical show.

So the last shall be first, and the first last:
for many be called, but few chosen.

~ Matthew 20:16, KJV Bible

There is no deep meaning to be had from that quotation. It is only a mundane summary of how I selected the photos for the post today. The contact sheets are in sequential-time sort order, but I chose the last selection as the headline image. A sunset picture from the day before came first in the contact sheets even though a sunset normally occurs at the end of a day!

When I added the gallery versions of the photos I swapped the positions of first and last photos based on their visual content. The second part of the biblical quotation is also apropos: I shot one hundred and thirty-six frames and selected the best twenty-four. HCB would be appalled to learn that my successful hit-rate was comfortably under twenty percent. He was a stickler when assessing the work of others for looking at the contact sheets of full rolls of film. Perhaps his was the hand flicking the spotlight switches today.

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