YOUR PHOTO

A year or two ago, they exchanged the Cape for Sutherland says Chantél Fourie. Now she captures the tranquil environment’s windmills, clean nights and dramatic clouds on her Huawei P10 phone.

Bright spark

“It hardly ever rains in Sutherland, and we’d been here for about a year when these dark clouds convened. My daughter, Xanté, and I were on our way to the shops, and as I stopped at a stop sign and looked to the side, the shiny blades of a windpump caught my attention. I got my phone out, wiped the lens and started shooting.”

The clever composition immediately draws you in, and aside from the distinct blades of the windpump, the lines of composition lead your eye to the focal point: the tops of the three trees to the left of the windpump forming a diagonal line toward the blades; the grass (starting sparsely on the right) running in the direction of the windpump; and the dark bushes in the foreground that seem to direct your attention to the windpump. These three elements work well together while the dark clouds in the background make the bright foreground stand out even more. The clouds also give the photo a dramatic feel.

The picture doesn’t have that much colour. So, if you were to change it to black and white, it would have even greater impact. And when you increase the contrast, it feels as though a thunderstorm is about to erupt. Because the grass is now the lightest element in the photo, it first catches your attention – and it, along with the windpump, becomes the focal point. The grass is now reminiscent of those blackand-white versions of infrared photos where everything that uses photosynthesises shows up white.

The structure in the background is a bit distracting, but the photo remains a winner