Pine and hills
- 📍 Location: Monts d’Ardèche, France
- 📅 Date: 2021
The heather had come out across the whole shoulder of the hill and turned it a dusty purple, and one pine stood on the crest with nothing else near it. Behind, the ridges went back in pale grey ranks until they gave up in the haze.
I placed the tree high and to the right, on the line where the heather meets the sky, and gave the bottom two thirds to the slope. The eye starts in the flowers, climbs the hill and arrives at the only vertical in the picture, which is where a photograph of a rounded landscape needs to end.
Soft warm light, slightly against the sun, which does two useful things: it keeps a thin rim on the top of the heather and it thickens the haze between the ridges. Both are what give the frame its depth, and neither would exist at midday.
The Monts d’Ardèche are old volcanoes that have been worn down into something gentle, and they are not spectacular in any obvious way. Photographing them is a matter of waiting for the light to make the layers visible, and then having the sense not to add anything.
Limited-edition fine-art print from the Skywaven Studios collection, available in several sizes, papers and framing options.
