Weekly Photography Prompt: Vermillion

For week of 2024-03-02 to 2024-03-08

Autumn Clouds by Stuart

Create and share one or more photos inspired by this week's prompt, "Vermillion" on your Aminus3 website, Substack Notes, or linked in the comments on this post.

You can also add the tag:
#Am3-prompt-202410

Be Inspired and Learn Something New

Stepping through the gateway from last week, from February into March, this week we are going to celebrate that Mars energy with a color.

Vermillion.

Passion. Rage. Energy. Good fortune.

This reddish hue and its variations have been used in art from antiquity to the present.

Although those early years were more perilous when vermillion pigment was created from mercury-sulfide (cinnabar), which is toxic to handle.

These two artistic “workshops” are separated by two thousand years.

Fullonica of Veranius Hypsaeus Pompeii and L'Atelier Rouge by Henri Matisse

For millennia, vermillion red and cinnabar have played a significant role in Asian culture. The lead photo above by Stuart Gibson of the Isei-do pagoda in Kyoto, Japan is a good visual reference. You can also find more of his vermillion creations tagged on his Aminus3 website.

This rich red-orange vermillion color is also a signature of the American Southwest and can be found in a number of famous landscape photography locations.

() by Ramesh

What does Vermillion represent to you, and how can you feature it in your photos this week? Give it some thought and create some images.

Last Week’s Prompt Photos for “Gateway”

From rustic doorways to fantastical landscapes, the Gateway photos shared over the last week stayed true to the transformative nature of this theme.

There were so many amazing images to choose from, it was hard to narrow down to a few to highlight.

Don’t forget to go check out the full gallery of Gateway photos to see them all.

As a bonus this week, while writing this up, I decided to practice the power of sequencing. I have been enjoying the discussion around selecting / arranging photos (sequencing) here on Substack, popularized by

Susanne Helmert

, and featured in some other recent posts such as those from Ross Duncan and Gill Moon.

There are so many ways to match images, visually and conceptually. I find that the simple act of looking over photos and matching them up can be an almost zen like experience. I have even written an app to stream and select images that I am prepping to share with you soon.

One of my favorite visual narrative structures is the triptych. It is pleasing to find the perfect three images that fit so well together they almost seem like poetry.

Photos by Horacio, Marie-Line, and Giulio

Photos by mo, Darkelf, and Ron

Of course finding two complimentary images works well too.

Passage réversible intérieur-extérieur by Thami and Exit by Elaine

Old Gateway Venice by Henny and Le vieux cimetière by Mhelene

See all the photos shared for last week’s Gateway prompt.