Contrast in Venice – California

Contrast in photography is technically the difference between the lights and the darks.  I look for contextual contrast, as well.  The soft petals of this flower resting peacefully on the hard, cracked pavement of the alley is a prime example of something that catches my eye.  Let’s see what else in the proximity of this moment caught my eye.

All pictures were taken today with the Nokia Lumia 1020, using the Nokia Camera Pro app.  There was no post-processing, other than cropping/reframing, which was done inside of the same Camera Pro app.

This lovely flower was part of some shrubbery that provides shade on the sidewalk on Venice Blvd. near the canals.

This caught my eye because this seems to be a flower emerging from a flower, creating its own contrast.

In the background of this shot are the carports, for vehicles that not only barrel through and against the wind, but are powerful enough to create their own wind.  The plant life in the foreground is powerless against the wind and is usually set in motion during the lightest of breezes coming off the Pacific Ocean.

This is just a flower in front of a house on the canals.  I guess if I were looking for contextual contrast it would be that the focus of the area seems to be on the water and the architecture when the plant life in between is just as stunning.

I love big bursts of color in the middle of a city and this qualifies.  Again, I use the Pro Camera feature to reframe this by zooming in with no loss of quality.  I just wanted on bright flower in front with some others, out of focus, in the background, nestled in with the green of the base plant.  It seems to have worked.

This final image has the same flowers as the first. These are still attached and presiding over the fire hydrant for the block.  They both provide a vital service to the lives of all in the area, but they also contrast each other quite nicely.  Is there a lesson to be learned from how the gentle flower and powerful hydrant co-exist? 

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• Lumia 1020 in Venice (phonetographs.wordpress.com)