Top Ten (#3)

Photo by: Tim Bindner Photography

 

 

Here is # 3.

Technical aspects:

Camera – Fuji X100F

Aperture – F/5.6

Shutter Speed – 1/3800 sec.

Focal Length – 23mm

ISO – 320

Film Simulation – Acros+R

Location – Canton, NC (https://www.google.com/maps/place/35%C2%B023’13.5%22N+82%C2%B046’31.8%22W/@35.3870951,-82.7775516,860m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d35.3870913!4d-82.7754866 ) – This is as accurate as I can remember, may not be 100% accurate.

Date – April 26, 2019 @ 9:45am

On the third day of our trip, we have headed up the Blue Ridge Parkway when we happened by chance upon this shot.  With the trees, background, and figures within it this made for a quick, yet memorable shot.  Thus landing in my top three.

As we headed up the Blue Ridge Parkway, Mark saw two young girls lining up to take a picture of what appeared to be their grandparents hugging.  He whipped into the turnoff, I grabbed my camera and got this shot.  While I was lining up the shot, setting up my camera settings and focusing on, I was oblivious as to what my co-pilot was doing.  The girls saw Mark and me with my camera and without a word spoken he asked for permission.  Mark gave a thumbs up to the girls and they returned the same gesture to him.

This is one of my happiest and saddest shots I have taken.  Sadly I missed my wife.  This couple embracing in a tender moment in a beautiful local caused my thoughts to drift immediately to my wife.  I spent a few moments thinking of her and wishing she was there to experience with me, but alas I only had Mark.  My hope is someday Marcie and I will be able to experience this area together.

Happily, I was glad I shared this moment with Mark and these strangers.  Part of me wished we had stopped and talked to them and even exchanged information so I could give these people a copy of this picture.  The other part of me is glad the mystery will always be there.

I purposely unexposed this picture (made it darker) for a few reasons.  First was the background of those gorgeous white and black clouds.  I mean if you don’t believe in God by looking at those you are soulless.  I might add, you should have been there.  WOW!  Then there were the rolling hills in the distance.  To me, it symbolized the long life of these two.  As the hills rolled on and on, I am sure this couple had memories that did the same, like the one before my eyes at this moment.  All of us, including the girls outside the frame, was in awe of the beauty before us.  Next was the trees.  They were leafless, bending in all directions and naturally framed the couple.  The trees provided the perfect prop for this shot.  Finally, the central figures in this shot.  By underexposing the shot I provided a bit of detail, but left any distinguishing details out, again adding to the mystery of who they are.  I chose monochrome for this shot because it is my favorite art form within photography, as it adds to the mood and feel of the shots portrayal.  Any color would only distract from the purpose of this story I am trying to convey.

As we drove off and especially when I got home to spend more time with this shot, I thought about this couple.  Were the parents or grandparents to the young girls we saw?  They were older and living a glorious moment on a trip.  I shared it with them, though they never even turned around to see me, Mark, or the Jeep.  I imagined after their long life they learned to do what so many of us have not.  Stop, take a breath, look around and ENJOY the moment.  This is the antithesis of the current fast food culture we live in.  In this case, the moment was with the ones they love (minus two knuckleheads in a Jeep).

Until next time,

Tim