Exercise: Fitting the frame to the subject

Looking through the viewfinder:

The object of the first exercise, is to highlight one's  awareness of looking through the viewfinder. The viewfinder or the frame in the camera is the equivalent of a blank canvas.  In the preface "Looking through the viewfinder"   we are asked to raise the camera and look around the room with it - keeping the images in focus.  Once the shutter is squeezed that image transcends to a photograph. The discussion in the materials  interestingly points out that many people, when asked to do this, find nothing special to view/photograph.  In the early stages of photography it is quite a skill to be immediately able to use the viewfinder as an extension of the eye.   This is correct for me, I still find that composing an image is a cognative struggle.  One of my goals in this course is to change this approach and to train one's eye to see and evaluate potential pictures anywhere. 

Exercise 1: Fitting the frame to the subject

The first exercise challenges our perception of the "frame", as Freeman states(1)  the frame plays a dynmaic role in the composition of a photograph and the process of photography is one of selection from real scenes and the influence of the viewfinder should not be underestimated.

We were asked to take photographs of something compact in shape with a view to experimenting  and  placing the image in the frame.   I decided on a local fountain at Mission Bay and was interested to see how I could present or fit the image into the frame. 

Photograph 1  conventional view

My aim was to approach the subject and compose an image without too much thought. I took the standard shot of the fountain in the centre of the frame. It is quite an unremarkable shot, the best thing about this image, is the peep of sunlight in the upper left corner. I quite like the diagonal too which starts in the bottom left hand corner.

 Photograph 2 placing the subject within the landscape

I sort of struggled to find a different perspective from the first photograph.  I have tried to impart a vision of a fountain in a park, ie, placing the image in the landscape.

 Photograph 3 - shot to fit the frame

I closed in a bit on the image of the fountain to get the subject fitting tightly into the fram. Again, on reflection, there still isn't much difference between the three first shots. They are simply photographs of fountain in a park. This is the lawyer in me.. maybe Iam missing something, and this to me is the most important point of participating in the course.....to gain a "photographer's eye". 

 Photograph 4 cropped so edges visible

I framed a tighter shot with no edges visible and my gaze is drawn to the centre of the fountain - where the serpants and inner fountain are the dominant features.

Photograph 5 Vertical shot of one part of the fountain

This is my favourite image, I prefer the vertical arrangment. The contex is still very clear, i.e, that this is an image of a fountain. 

Photograph 6 fountain occupying a small part of the frame

This image shows the fountain in the distance, as it disappears in the park surroundings. It is not quite clear whether this is an image of the foreground with the seagulls as a focal point or not. For me this image does not work.

When I printed the results, I realised that photograph 1 and photograph 2 are very similar in the frame. I am not sure how else to have photographed the fountain in the landscape.  One possibility would have been to move slightly further away, and try and get more of the park setting in the background but then I would have ended up with an image similar to the final photograph.

In conculsion

This exercise has increased my awareness of the  space surrounding the subject as I have tried to  fit the subject to the frame. My favourite images are Photograph 4, the cropped version showing no edges and Photograph 5 the vertical image of part of the fountain.  I think both of these images are far more interesting because they do not tell the whole story, they draw the viewer into the photographs. There is a tension of dynamics in "4", a triangle or pryamid, caused by the spray of the fountain dissecting the image and from its top point, you can imagine diagonals coming down from each side to form a pryamid. I might be talking a load of rubbish, but this is what I see at this point in time.  I like the compact space of "5" and feel as if there is circular movement in this image.

NB:On further reflection..the fountain may not have been a "compact" enough subject - tomorrow I plan to shoot something more solid at the Auckland Museum.

(1)Freeman,Michael, (2007). The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos, The Ilex Press @ p9,