I wanted to begin the new year, with an image that would transmit a sensation of freedom.

A few weeks ago, on a weekend stroll along the Menton beach, I noticed this gentleman, entangled in strange bright fabric and lots of strings. He was trying to secure with some stones a kite – finally, he extended the strings, and with a single energetic move, freed the kite from the stones and let it be captured by the strong wind. I was at a sizable distance away, and had in hand a camera with a normal lens. It looked, like his kite dance would make an interesting photograph. When I finally edited the image, this is what I got:

I have realized, the image was too bland, and the man flying his kite has disappeared in the surrounding landscape. Fortunately, the shot was made on a 6×4,5 negative, therefore I had some room to crop – but how?

This is how a typical landscape shot gets cropped: the horizon line runs along the longer side of the rectangle, but in this case, I thought that the most important feeling I was trying to transmit, got lost in the process.

I think, this final image is most successfully bridging the gap, between how I felt when shooting this scene, and what can be seen in the final picture. The capacity of the photographer to convey in a photo, in an unmistakable way, the  emotion he was experiencing when clicking the shutter, is a difficult art, which we have to learn through years of practice.