Hues from the East
(Published in Bout de Papier, Vol. 23, No. 1, AUGUST 2007, Ottawa, Canada)
 

- Photos and Text by Liza Linklater

I shoot in black-and-white and colour, and while I prefer black-and-white, my eye is often drawn to colour. These photos were taken in various Asian countries and I was lured to each scene either by the colour, the design, or both. I hope you’ll enjoy looking at them too.

Photography has often been thought of as an objective medium, one that records what we see. In a way this is true. But the world around us is quite a chaotic place. When we travel our eyes take in images from everywhere and the very act of pointing a camera in a certain direction indicates selectivity.

Photographers, and people generally, look at the world through a filter of their own preferences and personalities. We continually come upon visual delights that surprise and inspire us. In photography, often composition and colour can help organize our vision. Moreover, travel primes us to notice colour anew. Colours take on new meanings because of their associations with places and cultures.

In Asia, there is also an overwhelming frenzy that we must sift our way through in order to find simplicity and clarity. We can achieve this lucidity in our vision by seeking out close-up vignettes, or still lifes, which isolate visually revealing segments of a scene. Vignettes frame a portion of a whole, separating them from their surroundings as if they are suspended in space and time. Often the subjects for vignettes are quite mundane, but because of composition, colour or light they can be quite captivating.

●    Liza Linklater is a photographer and writer who has been on two postings to Bangkok and one to New York City. She leaves this summer on posting to Manila and is looking forward to continuing her photography throughout Asia.