No. 045, in ten platesMan on the Hill
Ten wide hills at golden hour, each with one small person deciding which way to walk.
Man on the Hill looks as if it was shot on old film stock and left in a warm drawer: heavy grain, a soft vignette, teal skies fading to gold at the horizon. The skies are enormous and the people are not. A single figure, rarely bigger than a fingernail on screen, walks, climbs or simply stands on open grassland, and that sense of scale is what holds the ten plates together.
Most of the walkers have their backs to us. One heads into a golden meadow; another trudges uphill with a boxy load strapped to his back; a hiker with a pack pauses in tall grass facing blue ridges. On the Rim puts a tiny man on the crest of a stubble field beneath a deep teal sky and a sliver of moon. A few plates break the pattern: in Running at Dusk the figure comes towards us across a flat field, a seated man faces a cluster of balloons on a hilltop, and Walkers on the Ridge scatters several hikers across a bright, steep slope.
The horizon usually sits between a third and a half of the way up, leaving a smooth gradient for the clock. On the Rim and The Long Path have the darkest upper skies, which keeps white type sharp; the paler olive and gold skies are softer. The foreground is dark grass, almost black at the bottom edge, so the dock and Home Screen labels sit on a deep base in either appearance.
These suit walkers, film photographers, and anyone who needs reminding that most problems look small from far enough away. Two of the ten are free in full resolution; the remaining eight are premium.
The hill is the subject. The man is there to tell you how big it is.
Try each one on before you save it.
Tap any plate to hang it on the Lock Screen, then switch to the Home Screen to see it behind your apps. This is the same preview the app gives you, on your own phone, with your own clock.
Every plate here can be ordered as an unframed matte print, from A$59 with free shipping. Or hang three side by side: any three plates from Man on the Hill, 8 × 16 in each, for A$179.
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Plate IOn the Rim -
Plate IIWalking into the Light -
Plate IIIThe Long Path -
Plate IVRunning at Dusk -
Plate VBalloons on the Crest -
Plate VIBackpacker -
Plate VIIBetween Two Trees -
Plate VIIIThe Load -
Plate IXUp the Slope -
Plate XWalkers on the Ridge
How Man on the Hill wears.
Wistful, open, warm, solitary. Grainy film-look landscape photography, sized for every iPhone up to 2160 × 4800.
On the Lock Screen
A long teal-to-gold gradient leaves the clock on clean sky, with the walker far beneath it.
On the Home Screen
Near-black grass along the bottom gives the dock and labels a dark, even base.
Full resolution, every model
Each plate is delivered at the exact size of your iPhone's screen, up to 2160 × 4800, so nothing is stretched or soft at the edges.
- Deep teal#204040
- Faded teal#608080
- Sage haze#A0C0A0
- Harvest gold#E0C080
- Burnt umber#604020
Free plates, and the rest.
Open Man on the Hill in pxCream and preview any plate on your Lock Screen first. Prices come from the App Store in your region and are shown in the app before you buy.
Man on the Hill
Two free platesFree
Full resolution, saved straight to Photos.
A single premium plate10 credits
Yours for good: re-download it any time, on this iPhone, at no extra cost.
pxCream UnlimitedMonthly
Every premium plate in Man on the Hill and the rest of the gallery, for as long as you subscribe.
On the App Store · iPhone only · No account needed
About Man on the Hill.
Is there always just one figure?
In nine of the ten plates, yes. Walkers on the Ridge is the exception, with a handful of hikers strung out along a sunlit slope above forested valleys.
Which plates are best after dark?
On the Rim and The Long Path. Both have deep teal skies at the top that keep a white clock crisp and dim nicely in dark mode.
Are any of them locked?
Eight are. Walking into the Light and Walkers on the Ridge are free; the others unlock for 10 credits each in the pxCream app, re-downloadable forever, or all at once with Unlimited.
Something else? Support answers within two business days.
Man on the Hill, in your pocket.
pxCream is on the App Store for iPhone, with Man on the Hill and the rest of the gallery inside.