Photographing people outside is always an interesting thing to do. I was thrilled when I came across this idea: the subject was weaving in and out of the leaves of this tree that were falling behind her.
The idea
I got the idea when the subject was walking towards the interior of the leaf alcove. I wanted to take a picture of the contrast between her dress and the tree, but it was out of focus, and that's when the idea emerged. Her movement gave life to the image and lent a certain strangeness to the composition.
The dynamic blur gives this image a certain sense of strangeness, as if the woman is moving away from the viewer. The twisting of the body and the look back create the mood of the image.
Is she looking back at what she regrets? Or is she looking back at something she is happy to leave? Everyone may have a different idea of what this is really about, or rather, more simply, what it is not about. That's the beauty of art, I have my idea when I make a work, but my vision can be translated in many ways according to the singular experience and sensibility of each person.
A fleeting figure that the observer may never grasp: isn't this the essence of any relationship? To pass through someone's life for a bit of their existence on this small planet. Until you meet those you will know for the rest of your life, but you will only know that when it is over.
The technique
What makes this photo special is the shutter speed, which I set, with this lighting, to about 1/8 s. To get the most light in, I set the aperture as low as possible, at f 5.4 (not low enough).
The setting was the most important. Getting far enough away to get a larger image, while zooming in to flatten the foreground and background together, was the little extra to make the leaves in the back look adjacent to the ones in the front. So she is overwhelmed by this mass of green above and around her, and fades into the alcove, as if she, like the rest, is transforming to become one with the whole. The rest (the leaves) is what we know, it is what has always been there before us and what will remain after us, it is part of it because, even if it goes away, its imprint on the viewer will always be there.
In editing, I darkened the shadows, and increased the contrast to better see the silhouette of the subject thanks to the clash between the green and pink. Shooting in RAW format brought out the greens in the leaves that weren't seen as well in the original photo. This may seem obvious to many, but when you're photographing, RAW is really the best format most of the time (except when you're shooting hobby photos, as it's quite large in terms of memory space). Especially if, like me, you like to take really dark pictures and you curse yourself because you can't see half of them.
Tools
Camera: Canon 1300D
Lens: 18-55 mm
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