Is serendipity also magic? Not quite, in this case, which was the result of me looking over the parapet of the Pont Alexandre III one night in 2009, during one of the many Art Sales shows based at the Grand Palais.

AliceAlice

Magic and Weird Colours

The rabbit scene below entranced me immediately, but the really serendipitous thing was the arrival of “Alice”. The power of the subconscious over normality is amazing, since I instinctively reacted to the scene in response to my childhood reading of Alice In Wonderland and subsequently seeing filmed or animated versions of the story.

The presence, positioning and stance of “Alice” are important. She seemed so vulnerable, with her left foot a little askew, handbag gripped under her arm and her hand posed thoughtfully on her chin.  One of the purple rabbits seems to be sneaking closer to her from behind, going in the opposite direction from all his friends in the herd (yes, a group of rabbits is a “herd”). On careful inspection, she is, in fact, rather prosaically making a cellphone call.

A rainy November night created the dramatic effect of glistening ground and yellow light enhancing Alice’ silhouette. The weird colours of the rabbits seemed to glow in the night, just as “Alice” appears to wilt and fade into the darkness, creating a sense of menace from her shrinking in size that drove the original story.

Acceptable Imperfection

The craziness of the giant rabbits and their garish colours, lit by floodlight on a rain-swept evening made for a successful art installation, but the positioning of a passing human being was the visual trigger for making a successful photograph.

I wrote last week about acceptable imperfection, given the existence of compensating artistic value in the image. This photograph was taken with a camera body that is now several iterations behind today’s versions. Its 1250 ISO capture has a severe level of “noise” and the 1/25^th second shutter speed resulted in blurring “Alice”.

Nevertheless, these enhance, rather than deteriorate, the mystery and dream-like nature of the photograph. If it had not existed in the initial capture, it might have benefited from being added in post-processing.

Shoot – Don’t think!

I had to frame and shoot this within seconds of noticing the rabbit scene. I had no idea who would move in or out of shot. This image with “Alice" is, in fact, the second of  6 disparate shots with differing passers by, all of whom were scurrying for shelter in the rain. When I pressed the button, I knew that this was “the one”.

Technical

I was balancing the telephoto on the parapet of the bridge, trying to steady the equipment and judge movement of potential human subjects with my peripheral vision.

Camera: Nikon D300

Lens: VR 70-200mm zoom f/2.8G

Focal Length: 170mm

VR: ON

Focus Mode: AF-C

Aperture: f/3.2

Shutter Speed: 1/25s

Auto Focus -Area Mode: Single

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Exposure Compensation : 0EV

Metering: Matrix

ISO Sensitivity: 1250

Hand held

Copyright Paul Grayson 2014