Thursday, March 5, 2009

Classic Idea, Fresh Interpretation



Click image to view at 800 pixels wide

Water gardens were a luxury landscape idea in the ancient world, especially in hot climates. Think the Trevi Fountains of Rome, the water gardens prized by the Moghul emperors of India, or their technical predecessors of 12th century Chorasmia. Flowing water is dynamic, both exciting and relaxing in one ever-mobile package. Water also offers photographers amazing opportunities to capture the scintillance of light through a prismatic, refractive and reflective substance, not to mention properties of time-exposure streaking and the halo effects of spray. This is the water feature in the forecourt of Sheffield Railway Station, photographed from just outside the building and looking in the general direction of Sheffield Hallam University, in November 2007. The stainless steel waterwall, the fountains and trickling terraces are a thoroughly modern interpretation of an eternal artistic dynamic that appeals to the human consciousness with light, movement and energy, but all in a precisely controlled way, creating the treasured illusion of the human conquest of nature. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

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