Rainbow mills
- 📍 Location: Kinderdijk, Netherlands
- 📅 Date: 2024
Two windmills at Kinderdijk under a rainbow that spans the whole width of the frame, with the canal in front of them and a bank of reeds and yellow flowers along the bottom edge. Where the companion frame from this evening kept one mill and a fragment of colour, this one steps back and lets the arc complete itself.
The composition is horizontal and deliberately low. The mills are placed on either side of the centre so the rainbow has somewhere to land, and the reeds in the foreground are left slightly unsharp to build depth without competing. The water occupies the middle band and does the connecting work.
A rainbow is a matter of standing in the right place at the right moment and nothing else: the sun behind you, the rain in front, an angle of about forty-two degrees. It cannot be waited for and it cannot be arranged. It can only be recognised fast enough, which here meant two or three minutes of hurried walking along a dyke.
Kinderdijk has been draining this polder since 1740, and the whole country visible in this photograph exists because those mills turned. A rainbow over them feels like an unnecessary flourish on an already improbable landscape.
I wanted an image where a famous view is given back its weather, and where the most fragile element in the frame is also the widest.
Limited-edition fine-art print from the Skywaven Studios collection, available in several sizes, papers and framing options.
