Sunday, July 1, 2007

Composition


I thought I would add a small exercise on thought and composition. Ok, it's been discussed and lectured to death, and there are untold numbers of examples on the Web, in books, and displayed in presentations and classes. So, why is mine any different? It's not but simply a mental exercise I went through while working on some images I took with Agfa's Scala black and white transparency (slide) film. I love this film and still have over 40 rolls left to shoot and have to ration it out since it's out of production.

Anyway, while on a walkabout in Seattle before a medical appointment I spent some time in the city park in Capitol Hill near Seattle Community College campus. It's the old water supply system land they turned into a park. While walking and photographing I saw this woman sitting there and took a photo of her. I hate bothering people while photographing, I'm not one of those in your face or get close street photographers. I prefer to use a longer lens or just stay far enough away to be unobtrusive to the subject.

Also, she looked to be concentrating on something, and the last thing someone wants is a photographer taking their picture. Anyway, while working on the image, I cropped it down to just her to see how it turned out and how it changed the image. Now compare that with the original below, and you can see how it changes the whole view and image. So, which do you prefer? Or, what do you see with each of them? Something different about the look and expression?



And sadly, I wish I had asked her name and what she was thinking. Such is a moment in life and a life.

1 comment:

  1. The first, more cropped version offers a more conventional approach to composition. I rather prefer the second one, but for reasons perverse and idiosyncratic. I notice a pattern in my own work and my attraction to the work of others. For one reason or another I respond to images where the subject is isolated to one degree or another. The original version, with its greater surrounding space, lends itself better to the subject's contemplative mood.

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