Bright canyon
- 📍 Location: Gorges du Verdon, Provence, France
- 📅 Date: 2021
From the rim the Verdon is a single turquoise line drawn through a mass of dark green, and nothing about the colour needs help. I shot from high on the northern side with a long lens, compressing the slopes so the canyon reads as a stack of ridges rather than a hole in the ground.
The vertical frame is the point. A horizontal one would have made this a panorama of a mountain range; upright, the river becomes the spine of the image and the walls press in on it from both sides, which is much closer to what standing above it actually feels like.
I waited until the middle of the day, which is not the hour one is supposed to choose. Here it was right: only when the sun is high does light reach the bottom of the gorge and set that mineral turquoise alight, and at any other hour the river is simply a dark seam.
Look closely and the water is dotted with kayaks and small boats, each one no bigger than a grain. They were not in my plan and they make the photograph — they are the only thing in the frame that says how far down that is.
Limited-edition fine-art print from the Skywaven Studios collection, available in several sizes, papers and framing options.
