It poured with rain for much of the day, and I was dubious about the Met Office forecast that we were due a late spell of sunshine, but as I came out of the supermarket early this afternoon I realised that the rain was easing, and the light had already improved by about a stop. I whizzed back home to store the groceries I’d just bought and then spent half an hour at my desk, by which time the sun was out and the light was looking nice, so I grabbed the camera and went off out again.
Back in Stratford I headed straight along the northern riverside path, because the best end-of-day light effects on the water are usually to be found between the theatre and the Old Tramway Bridge, but I’d only got as far as the chain ferry landing in the RSC Gardens when the setting sun behind me turned the river to blazing orange. I’ve done very little to this other than warm it enough to remove a blue cast from the bird – I was tempted to push the processing further, for added drama, but I wanted you to see just what I saw as I lifted the camera. I have a fantasy that the Mute Swan is checking in with me about the colour coordination between her bill and the water: Is it tasteful… or maybe… just a little bit too much? Personally I think it works as an accent, though she’d be pushing it if she was wearing any more orange than that.
My second photo was taken seven minutes later – the time it took me to walk from the chain ferry landing to the wharf at the edge of the Bancroft Gardens. By this time the sun had dropped behind the theatre, so the colours are much more muted, but once again I think the choppy reflections of winter trees and the dimming sunset sky work very well as a foil to the Black-headed Gull’s plumage. It’s actually my favourite of the two images, but the orange river was so extraordinary, I think I really have to feature it.
R: L2, C2, D15.
