Colour harmony through contrasting colours

Red and yellow

I just love the music of the flowers in this photograph... It's bright and brassy, loud and cheerful. The colours just shout out at the world 'Here we are: look at us!' I also really like the sheer intensity of the red and yellow. What is the purpose of the strong pigments? Why the delicate white trimmings? The whole effect reminds me of Flamenco dance and song. This is how the Andalusian dancers spin in their powerful interpretations of the songs they accompany.

Red and green

This image was taken during the Bedford River festival, held this summer. Fire officers and paramedics hang out together, waiting for the parade of floats to begin. They wear their official roles lightly and with a cool nonchalance. They exude calm, but we know that in an instant they would leap into their vehicles and speed away to the next emergency, were they called to do so. Here, colour denotes professional skills and specialisms. But what ever colour they may wear, however intense the hues seem and however strong the saturation of their uniforms, we know that they, like fireworks, are always primed and ready to go.

Red, green and blue

On this off-white background, reds, greens and blues move together like some kind of animal herd. We see these colours in contrasting placements, painted by my grandson's hand under the guidance of staff at his nursery and exhibited on the fridge door in his home. So far so regular. But in fact the making of this image has an ancestor that is many, many thousands of years old. You will find these paintings in caves deep under French mountains and on rocks in ancient Africa. On the fridge, the work was created by glorified finge-painting. In the caves and on the rocks paint was blown over the outstretched hands of people. Adults and children. And still they do this. The photograph captures this river of history, this choice of warring colours, this simple message: 'We were here - remember us...!'

Red and blue

We are almost in 'accent country' here. But I have kept this photograph in the 'harmony through contrasting colours' section because of the story being told. The blue crouching figure stands out against the bright red of the vehicle. There is also a suggestion of a balance between the figure and the two wheels. And the story...? The figure is a Formula 2 racing driver, warming up for his stint on the track. The vehicle is a huge transporter that carries up to six cars or more. Who knows how it ended for this racer? All I know is that there was a tension in the air in this moment.  To quote the name of an album of Brasilian music, it was like 'A Calm in the Fire of Dances'...