Contrast, Harmony and Balance

I took this picture while in stride, hiking down to the Narrows in Zion National Park via the Riverside Walk. My parents were going through my photos and discovered this shot; loved the image and decided to print and frame it - so I decided to analyze this image. I know it’s not perfect but I see a lot of contrast, balance and harmony.

 Contrast - I love the contrast between the dark rock walls - as they funnel in toward the soft blue sky. The clouds provide softness, resembling a cotton ball. These forms of clouds have many small cloud pieces floating around the larger, as if once joined together; making the cloud look like a large cloud being pulled apart and a simple touch could make the whole thing vaporize. The flowing water with the still grass and trees around the Virgin River shows just how every piece of nature is intertwined with other aspects. If you look closely at the bottom right you can see were human attempts were made to keep the bank at bay. At first glance I was disappointed that I allowed the wire to be in the shot - I did not like seeing it because of a clear violation of such beautiful natural scenery - but I have learned to appreciate the contrast of man struggling with nature to attempt to control the banks so that access to visitors of the park can enjoy the contrast of a “permanent” structure fighting against the ever changing landscape.

Balance - The picture is asymmetrical, yet filled with symmetry as well.  The rock walls - on both sides - provide imperfect balance as the jagged tops do not line up with each other perfectly until the two walls seem to become one. The river also provides balance as it flows from left to right and curves back left becoming narrower as well, leading your eyes to the majestic split canyon. Two large trees on each side provided balance with just a little “dull” bark color in view amongst the more vivid colors of nature.

Harmony - Going back to the grated bank of the river (lower right) is where I find the most harmony.  As humans explore try to gain easy access to an area, when everything goes well the harmony and unmatched beauty of natural landscape is impossible to compare.  Even when flashfloods or other natural events wipe out or change any area, the harmony of wiping away the old with the contrast of the forming of a new environment gives to life’s harmonies of balance.