Snow Melting Oil
©2006 Craig Ashby
Digital Photograph

Snow Melting Oil is a photograph title for the only bit of color you get in an otherwise monochromatic shot. It’s almost like selective color. But no trickery here.

Selective color is a funny thing. It’s actually looked down in by a lot of people. Seen as gimmicky and so obvious. Hey, let me make sure you remember the little girl in the red coat.

Oddly, Steven Spielberg used it in Schindler’s List. A movie heralded by many as his best. Funny how things work like that.

Bokeh is another thing that is highly used but a little over. Out of focus lights dancing about the screen are quite the norm. The nineties saw a profusion of this.

But like a famous song said, “Sex, drugs and rock and roll. It’s over. It’s over.” And it is. You can’t rely on such an easy level of trickery anymore.

The question is does it serve the work? Or is it pandering to an audience that needs dazzle to carry the hype? Trust me when I say you are living in the spectacle and it’s all just hype.