red and blue (and yellow)

Sometimes we publish pictures that aren’t quite what we wanted. But time and blip wait for no man.

It’s about 9 in the morning and I’m sitting in the garden with a coffee just mulling things over. Anniemay has hung the washing out and put up a big red parasol over the garden table. This latter is an annual event - the one day in the year when the sky is blue enough and the sun hot enough to justify the effort that goes into it. The parasol is raised by a cord, hand over hand - a bit like hauling the mainsail on a yacht (I assume - not having a yacht to hand) - until it’s high enough to push a brass pin into the upright pole and secure it.

My eye is drawn to the juxtaposition of the red and the blue of the sky. I get my camera and take a few snaps of the shapes and colours. The one I like most is a simple rectangle made up of two triangles - a red one and a blue one - but there’s no context to show what it is.

Then I notice the washing line and Anniemay’s red gym-top hanging out to dry. The only way is to lie on the ground and attempt a couple of sit ups to try and frame the shot. The camera is tilted and at arms length and the sun in glinting on the screen. I never was able to master sit ups and the shot is more by luck than anything else. It’s not bad - but for some reason I want the yellow peg to be in focus and try again. The breeze takes the top in and out of frame and every single picture is different. The shadows change, the point of focus changes and the lines of the dryer are not where I want them.

In the end I go with the first attempt. Which is fine; if I’d have got it perfect first time there would have been nothing to write about.