Itching Image: Lady In Red

Lady In Red © Knut Skjærven

Yes, another itching image and  a new itching template. If that is the right word for it. Template or model or principle.

I call it Lady in Red. As the photo above.

It is meant to be a reference to all those images where colour plays a particular role and makes a photo stand out.

The particular role it plays in this photo, is that, even if this is an unmanipulated, straight colour photo, the red plays a dominant role. It is almost alone. That is the itching part. The one that we are going to stress.

Clearly the lady stands out: red dress, red shoes and even a red notebook. Maybe the red coved of an iPad.

Add to that that the car is braking, and there is a red light to suggest STOP. In the background the red coat of a person on a bike, part of a huge read poster even further back on the right hand side. Closer: more cars, more reds.

In that respect this photo is seemingly unique considering that no one could ever have foreseen this happen and the red colour to burn through like this.

Consider the situation! This is taken at the top of Unter den Linden in Berlin. Close to Hotel Adlon and Brandenburger Tour. The lady, who is staff at the hotel, discovers that the trunk of the large BMW has not been closed and she runs after car to close it. Luckily there is a red light ahead and the driver must hit the brakes to make a stop. That lights up the rear of the car.

The lady in mid air.  Red.

To be present at that very moment and press the shutter in that very split second, is more lucky than winning the lotto. And one of the small marvels of street photography. The fascination is that this can happen at all.

Let’s cut the story short, though.

The photograph is chosen to illustrate those situations when colour comes to play a particular role in a street photograph. That is its sole mission in this post. Red or no red, lady or no lady. Shoes or no shoes.

There are other attractions in this photo too, but let them pass in this context.

Good luck hunting ladies in red. Even if they turn out to be only blue.

No, I never won the lotto. Not big time.

© Knut Skjærven. All rights reserved. Text and photo.

Copenhagen, March 20, 2013.