Wednesday, February 9, 2011

An Uncertain Majesty

Title: "Palm Bifurcating Frame, Filbert St. Steps"
(click on image to view larger)
  
It's interesting to work with these negatives several months after the images were made. In looking them over, I found what was for me a rather high proportion of images with the subject firmly centered in the frame. I usually consider placement carefully when composing an image, and I have no reason to think I wasn't working carefully at the time. I have always had a strong affinity for the square format - back when I was painting in watercolour and acrylics, the vast majority of my work was on square fields. Many painters dislike the square format, but my feeling was always that once I made the first mark on the paper or canvas, the square had inextricably been divided into rectangular spaces. I think with these images from SF, I was simply finding that middle placement of a subject works well with a square frame.

2 comments:

J. M. Golding said...

I recall hearing a rule at some point that one isn't supposed to put a subject at the center of the frame, but I've noticed that that is often a compelling composition. This is no exception.

Lumen said...

Its a nice and interesting composition. I love this holga view on life and things.