Spotlight #1 - The white in the black

I'm introducing a segment where each week I choose one photo and talk about it. 

Simple enough. 

The pictures are ones that I truly find amazing - either mine, or anywhere off the internet. Credit will obviously given to photographers whose pictures I'm using. 

This week's picture is one that I found while going through my ridiculous stockpile of photos that I have spread out across my hard drives. 

So why is this picture so special?

Honestly, I can't tell you the one thing that really made me go "wow."

This picture was one of several I took when I was in Sri Lanka a few years back, and is just a generic landscape shot. 

I took in colour, and switched it to what you see now in the post-processing phase. 

It was as I was editing it, however, when I really felt it.

The vastness of the sky, and the streak of white that cuts vertically across it. 

Something in me just went "holy fuck, this is it!" and I knew that I had to leave it in black and white, with the contrast, brightness and everything else tuned to exactly what it is. 

When I look at it, I see a dystopian land that has ravaged everything, but yet there's some serenity and peace to it. Life is simple, plain and continues to move on. 

That could be pretentious as fuck for all I know, but it's a feeling I can't change. 

I would love to hear what you think, though!

Do you have pictures that you would like to contribute to the Photo of The Week column? Share links, pictures, screenshots, whatever you have. 

Also shoot a comment below or get in touch with me directly here, here, and here. 

Cheers, and see you next week!

Why no watermarks?

I've already had tons of people pointing out that my pictures don't have a watermark. 

There's a reason for this. 

It's simple.

Watermarks butcher pictures.

It doesn't matter how small the text is or how funky the logo is, when I see a watermark on a picture, my immediate, instinctive reaction is that the photographer is more worried about the image itself than the emotion captured within it. 

I understand that in this day and age, misuse of copyrighted property is huge.

There's an element of risk to not add my own watermark to my pictures. But I prefer the pictures being raw and unadulterated. 

Obviously, every single one of the pictures on this website is copyrighted and is my property. And I do feel the need to mention that.

But I cannot control other people's actions. I can only focus on myself. 

And I'm going to make sure that none of my pictures ever has a watermark.