Capture the Color 2013

Last year, I caught wind of a photo contest called ‘Capture the Color’, just as it was ending. I’m just barely in under the wire this year, getting my submission in a whole DAY before the deadline. Whew. Check out my selected entries below. 

Using color as a storyteller might be more subtle than sitting your subject a foot away from the camera, but it can be just as compelling. Sometimes, the use of color is intentional, like when I captured these empty blue seats in Malaysia. Other times, the drama of color is realized far after the photograph is taken, like when I looked at this photo from Mexico City and noticed the awesome sea of green shop umbrellas.

However, we (I) can get so caught up sometimes in capturing a specific subject matter, or in technicalities like aperture and shutter speed, that the more subtle details- like color- are forgotten in the moment. I’m excited to participate in Travel Supermarket‘s Capture the Color contest, because it requires participants to post five photos, each representing one of five color categories- Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, and White.

I love this focus on color as subject, and it’s so great to take a fresh look at some old favorites. Check out my photos (and their stories) below, and please, share some of your own, and link back here.

Yellow

Chickens at the Fangcun market, Guangzhou, China

Vibrant colors that are often found in countries like Senegal and India come with a slightly muted, greyish hue in China. I’m not sure if it’s due to pollution or the reflection of cement buildings and narrow shadowed alleyways, but shoot, it’s GRAY. Chinese Markets are the best example of this muddled symphony, a chaotic yet stifled blend of colors. I liked photographing the drab grays and greens of Chinese markets, but sometimes, a sliver of natural light would fall in juuuust the right crevice, and something beautiful would unveil itself- like a packed cage of chickens, jolted with a burst of unexpected color.

White 

Two men crossing in Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia

I have a secret. Sometimes I’ll just leave my camera slung next to my hip, finger on the shutter release, clicking away as I tour a city. Sometimes I’ll have nothing but crooked horizon lines and off-centered subjects. And sometimes, I’ll get some amazing snapshots that represent exactly what I saw at one moment- like this one. I love the white clouds, behind the huge stately white building, with the white car parked in front, and the movement of the two men dressed in black.

Green

Late night snack: Eel Noodle Soup, Tainan, Taiwan 

This photo is exactly why I wanted to participate in the color contest. If it weren’t for this contest, I might not have thought about how GREEN this photo is. It’s always been one of my favorite images, in the way I was able to capture this little old man, who hobbled up to his counter and took a seat amongst a sea of plastic stools. The fact that he’s wearing a blu-ish purple-ish shirt, the complementary color of green is just too fortuitous. I had to include this photo in the ‘Green’ category!

Blue

Fresh Air, Pt. Reyes National Park, California

After the gray skies of China, I was welcomed home last summer to blue, blue, blue skies. It’s funny how quickly we become adapted to our immediate surroundings, right? I’ll never take blue skies for granted. Before we left California last May we took one final trip around the San Francisco Bay- a place that we both will forever call home. On that day, the sky was bluer than I had seen it in a long time, so blue, that it in fact makes the stark rocky seacliffs take on an icy blue hue of their own.

Red

Prayer, Jama Masjid Mosque, Delhi, India

This is one of my favorite photographs from India – although, I have about ten photos from India where I find myself making that same statement. Oops. India is just a photographic city, bursting with rich reds, oranges, and turquoises on every street corner. The rippling of the red carpet, here, at Jama Masjid Mosque reminds me of the waves of an ocean, rippling towards the camera. And among this ocean of carpeting that white dot of a man, kneeling so his shape almost forms a temple in itself, is such a beautiful contrast.

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The contest suggests each participant to nominate fellow bloggers to enter the contest. But since it’s nearing the deadline, I don’t want to put any pressure on any specific individuals…However, if you’re a blogger reading this, I urge you to dig up some photos to submit before tomorrow ends!