The Photographer's Eye: Graphic Guide

MUTED

Shaker Meeting House, Sabbathday Lake, Maine, 1985

Rich colors, like strong flavors, hit our senses full on, but for the same reason that they give us plenty to react to, they quickly become too much for comfort. Visual excitement, which is what they deliver, works best for most people when part of a balanced diet—and this is where plainer colors come in. Here, we’re back with the Shakers, last visited on pages 60–61 and for much the same reason. The entire subject of Shaker design and architecture revolves around their religious principle of simplicity, restraint and the avoidance of anything decorative. Shaker colors tend to be muted, ...