As soon as Darren announced this month’s theme as “Tranquility” several different ideas occurred to me, along with a couple of possible approaches. Indeed, I quite relished the idea of getting stuck into it.

A strong contender was to go the obvious route with some sort of landscape or “rustic scene” type shot.
But I fairly rapidly rejected that on the basis that it is so obvious… and that I’ve already done loads of shots of that type that could easily qualify.
And that really wouldn’t have been in the spirit of the project, now would it? So something a bit different, a bit more challenging was called for.
Consequently I decided to go the route of what I suppose could be called a sort of studio shot… if I had a studio to shoot it in!
In other words, a “set piece”, indoors, using props and lighting effects. Essentially, the sort of photography I actually don’t like or enjoy doing.

Fortunately it turned out that what I had in mind didn’t require me to obtain quite as many “props” as I’d initially thought… basically just a couple of suitable light sources and some background material. Just as well really cos I’m being especially careful with the dosh at the mo’!

Anyway, having assembled everything I began to be filled with deep reservations, beginning to suspect that what I’d end up with wouldn’t in the least match what I was visualising.
All of which proved to be needless concern for, “come the day”, the only thing that really let me down was the lens, introducing some unwanted fringing that I could really have done without. Minimised the aberration as much as possible in Lightroom, and I’m now determinedly engaged in the happy task of persuading myself that the residual is a feature rather than a flaw! Heh heh.

The end result of the session is a shot that’s loosely based on a chalk drawing I did back in the early 90’s, the essential difference being that in the drawing I’d used a joss stick whereas for the present pic I’ve used an incense cone.

So, what does “Tranquility” mean to me?

Well, I’ve always perceived it to be a mental and emotional state, best summed up perhaps by terms such as inner quiet, contentment, placidity, maybe even serenity, certainly a quality of peacefulness and acceptance. An absence of turmoil.
But not necessarily inactivity. For along with this “inner quiet” I also see an awareness, maybe even an alertness, and an ability to respond, to react.
Which distinguishes it from similar states that, without such alertness, are more closely somnolent, trance-like… at the very least states of rest.

Water, still pools and lakes, also suggest tranquility to me. Also perhaps something static, calm, set amidst motion or turbulence.

So there you have it folks… my take on this month’s theme.