This week's assignment is an exercise in "seeing." More specifically, "seeing" a beautiful composition amongst the clutter of our everyday lives. Although Lars submitted his
Time image a little bit too late to be considered during the voting for the Near, Middle, Far assignment, I thought this image was an excellent example of isolating a beautiful composition from a larger scene.
I've been surprised in the past, when while reviewing our images in the evening of a photography workshop, one of the participants will say "hey, where was that scene? I wish I would have seen that." I'm surprised because that participant stood beside us for many minutes as we composed and photographed the scene, yet they obviously didn't see the same potential in the scene, since they didn't bother to set up their camera or take any pictures.
The ability to look at a scene and visualize how a pleasing composition could be constructed from parts of the scene is a skill that is developed over time, and just one more skill in our repertoire that takes practice, practice, practice. Many of the best photography texts compare a good photographer to a good "visual editor," and explain how a good photograph is often created by
removing extraneous detail from the composition.
The image below was taken while driving through an industrial area outside of Aspen, Colorado. There was a rusted metal building on one side of the scene, and a sandpit and earthmoving equipment on the other side. I was traveling with another photographer, who looked at me with a puzzled expression as I pulled the car over to the side of the road and began to set up my camera equipment. He continued to look puzzled until I invited him to look through the viewfinder. It wasn't until he looked through the viewfinder of the camera that he was able to visualize the scene without the rusted metal building and old earthmoving equipment.
One of the many ways that photography enriches my life is by encouraging me to look for and appreciate the small scenes of beauty hidden amongst the otherwise uninspiring scenes we encounter every day.
The assignment for the week of 1 - 7 September 2008 is "Seeing Simple Beauty." Try to consciously look for small things of beauty within scenes that you encounter in everyday life, and photograph an "intimate" composition isolating that beauty from the larger scene. Please post your images in the "Seeing Simple Beauty" album in the Weekly Assignments category of the Gallery no later than midnight Mountain Time (GMT -07:00), Sunday, 7 September 2008.
Keith
