Golden Afternoon in Williamsburg – Colonial Carriage Ride Art

Description

This print captures a truly golden moment on the streets of old Colonial Williamsburg. I was out taking photos during the golden light of late afternoon when I heard the horses hooves coming. I moved to the side of the little lane and waited for this carriage full of tourists enjoying their timeless carriage ride to pass. I thought at the right moment, I’d have a great scene framed in this print.

I really love the golden light of this photo and the long shadows casting across the little lane. This is truly a moment where the sun was painting a gorgeous scene for me and my camera. It reminds me very much of a little country lane rather than a town anywhere in modern day America. it has a real old-fashioned quality to it with the old carriage between the rows of fences. A very strong vintage village feel and tinged with a bit of Americana – a classic olden days charm that is probably more a place in our collective imagination than any real place.

Mostly I just love how everything in this print ultimately frames the carriage – the trees, the country lane, the fences, even the light and shadows bring our eyes to the center and that quaint carriage ride through a golden day in Williamsburg.

If you’re curious, the title of this piece comes from a line in one of my favorite poems. A.E. Houseman’s Loveliest of Trees.

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.

Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,It only leaves me fifty more.
And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.

A beautiful reminder to live in the moment…