Eye Candy – a photographer’s “gift”

The term “eye candy” has different meanings to different people but it generally means something sweet to look at. As a photographic artist, I am always on the lookout for something sweet to look at. Sometimes I go out seeking something specific. I may have passed a site many times and finally decided to go there at a specific time of day to capture it. Other times, I might be just doing my every day errands and then, right there in front of me, totally unplanned and unexpected “it” is staring me in the face, bold as ever, begging me to capture the moment. When I have my camera in hand, ready for the moment, that resulting photograph is what I call a “gift”.

I received this gift late in the afternoon on May 4, 2011 as I was driving along Georgia Hwy 9 between Alpharetta and Cumming on my way back from a photo shoot of a young family. The scene above caught my eye. There was no place to stop. I turned around and looked again. Finally I found a small driveway I could pull into and walk to make this photo. Most people would just keep driving by because there was no place to pull over. Being the determined photographer, I found a way.

The late daylight cast a warm glow over the field of yellow flowers back-lighting these black cattle feasting on their gift of spring. The sky had nice clouds and all the trees were lush with tender spring leaves. The timing couldn’t be more perfect. I made three bracketed exposures to create this HDR photo.