[Leica] IMG: composition

[philippe.orlent at pandora.be (Philippe Orlent)]

Well Ted, it will be an honour.

First, I want to thank you, and all those that responded.
I somewhat predicted the outcome, but it was an interesting  
experiment proving that the audience doesn't always agree, even if  
you like a shot. And, in the end, and unless one would like to spend  
his life in complete excile, the audience is the most important.
I will not go into describing of what makes an audience, quid  
quantifying and qualifying 'target groups', because, just like  
statistics, it can prove about any axiom. Which is a contradiction  
anyway.
But let's not wander off.

About the first posted, then withdrawn, then reposted image (and only  
for comparison reasons).
Yes, it has smooth tonalities, yes it captures the boy's aiming, yes  
it captures a typical boyish action, yes the composition is OK.
But i find it terribly dull. And not at all capturing the essence of  
kids. Being: never a moment of rest when awake.

Which brings us to the second -and my preferred but very rightly put  
into question- image.
Before I try to explain why I called it 'composition', which IMO it  
is more than anything else, something about how it originated.

It was shot on a photographically very productive weekend when we  
went visiting one of my 2 brothers. Both of them have only boys, and  
it is always interesting for me to observe them, having 2 daughters  
myself (and coming form a nest with 3 boys).
My youngest brother lives close to the Belgian coast. All Belgians do  
BTW: max distance from any place in Belgium to its -only- coast is  
about 120 miles. But he lives in Bruges, and that's just a 15 min  
drive. So when we're there, and the weather's fine, off we go.

Boys and sand are a magical combination: they immediately start  
digging, building, making camps etc. It takes them hours, and never  
they pause.: always acitve, never a moment of rest. It must be a  
Jungian thing...
Being used to my daughters, who BTW were gently playing on a beach  
towel, or just sunbathing, this was like my own youth coming back to me.
One difference though: being used to our girls, I found it quite  
'exhausting' to constantly follow the 2 boys in their action :-)
This lead to a mental state of looking, but not very attentively.
In such case, the eye tends to focus on the background (infinity  
focus, so to speak): every foreground motion will be noticed, but  
OOF. Until the OOF motion gives alert signals: then the eye will  
refocus.
In other words: looking to this scene through my VF, my mind wandered  
off, and I shot it almost inconsciently.
When revising it later on, the shot grasped my attention: it captured  
exactly what I was seeing (and feeling) at that moment.

I judged it interesting, because even in that case (completely OOF in  
classical terms of speaking), it not only captured what I saw, but it  
also exactly showed what the boy (Jules is his name) was doing, with  
a minimum of information.
Which, for me, in about any form of visual reproduction, is  
paramount: give as much information as possible, with a minimum of  
elements. It's so much more exciting to leave the (exact)  
reconstruction of a scene to the viewer instead of giving him so much  
that his personal interpretation becomes irrelevant.

Secondly, when revising, and knowing that it was shot inconsciently,  
I found it remarkably well balanced. Which is also a big thing for  
me, because I have too much a tendency to (painstakingly) compose,  
thus literally construct an image (one of the reasons why I love an  
M, BTW: it just forces you to shoot pensatively). And I'd love to get  
to a point where composition comes naturally. Because it will make my  
images more natural. I think.

That's why I called it 'composition'.

I tried to show what makes it into (IMO) a composed and balanced  
image here:
<http://www.fullflavor.be/_POR0869_comp.jpg>

What it all boils down to: it is full of repetitions (tone and form),  
parallels, and balanced proportions.
Which is pretty remarkable for a completely intuitive shot.

So yes, I'm pretty proud of it, and I hope later on it will prove to  
be a benchmark in my photography. Ahem.
BTW: some liked it too. Strangely enough offlist ;-)

Hell, maybe I should become a Lomo adept again? ;-P

Philippe


Op 30-jul-07, om 23:50 heeft Ted Grant het volgende geschreven:

> Philippe Orlent showed & asked:
> Subject: [Leica] IMG: composition
>
>
>
>>>> That's what I consider it to be.
>
> I won't pull this one back like I did with the former posting, rest
>
> assured.
>
> But I'm suspecting that I might be one of the few that like it.
>
> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/phorlent/_POR0869.jpg.html>
>
>
>
> Philippe mon ami,
>
>
>
> Before I offer a critique, a question? As I'm sure others may wish  
> to know
> also. Would you please explain why you cropped or shot or why you  
> like the
> composition in this manner as it is?
>
>
>
> In that fashion we the viewers will understand how you see and feel  
> about
> the picture. Certainly more so than one word "composition." Thank you.
>
>
>
> ted
>
>
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>