Through darkness, we come to understand what light means to us. I would even go so far as to say: without darkness, there is no light. In physical terms, of course, that makes no sense: darkness is the absence of light. In photography, though, an image takes shape through contrast, sometimes subtle, sometimes stark. Without contrast, there is no image. Even Malevich’s “Black Square” needs something to stand against: its frame, its surroundings, the context in which we view it.
Here, I darkened the foreground and sky more than I normally would. In doing so, I worked against the grain of the image, something I usually try to avoid. But this time I wanted to do as the Stones say: “Paint It Black”.
