I've been reading more articles on composition lately, and trying to practice. There are lots of words written, even complete books, on making "mundane", everyday subjects into compelling photographs. I have lots of mundane subjects around my house, so as part of an exercise in a Thom Hogan blog post, I followed directions and came up with the following set of photos. I appreciate whatever any of you would care to contribute. One thing I read recently that has stuck with me was the question: "What was the last thing you photographed? (Hint - the answer should not be a noun)". The context there was that a photo should convey some sort of emotional aspect, i.e., "tranquility".
1. "aged". My intent here was to capture the texture and sense of age in this statue. Technically, I think I should have used f/4 rather than f/2.8 so the tip of her nose was in focus along with the eyes and cheekbones. I think the background would have still been sufficiently out of focus. But I'm mostly interested in the non-technical. Does anything jump out at you as "I would have done this differently."? More centered? Less centered? Farther away? Other suggestions that might better convey "weathered"?
2. "happy" This caught my eye from inside the house as a bright spot in a rather dark setting (it's been sitting under our deck for weeks). The sun-yellow color and cartoon-like depiction of the sun just needs a smiley drawn in. If this photo were on a page of images that you were scrolling through, would you stop for a longer look? Click for a larger view? Or is a mundane subject a mundane subject?
3. "morning sunlight" It's not cold outside yet, and the leaves have not started to turn here, but this scene made me think of a crisp fall day when the sun is still warm but you can feel that summer is fading. Would you get that from this photo without someone telling you first? Personally, I think probably not, it's just a pile of wood after all. But that's what I was going for.
morning sunlight by Mark, on Flickr
4. "autumn is coming" This was my favorite from the morning's exercise. A few leaves have fallen and were caught on the hammock. The sun was highlighting the hammock and cushion, and the background is in heavy shadow. This was taken at f/4, 1/640", and ISO 64. The foreground is very bright with all the white netting, and even with matrix metering the background is very dark and underexposed. I like the contrast and the lines radiating from the top. To me, this is a photo of the line between summer and fall. I'm curious, though, whether this does anything for anyone else.
autumn is coming by Mark, on Flickr
I have never considered myself artistic and developing that aspect of photography is a real challenge for me. I enjoy challenges, though, so I'll probably bother you all again and again with similar postings. Part of my brain can easily look at all of these photos and go "ho hum, boring stuff around the house". Another part can assemble words such as those above in an attempt to attach some significance and meaning to boring stuff around the house. I'm afraid that part may be stretching things a bit... I would love to hear your reactions. That tells me which part of my brain was correct. If you feel like typing a little and have some suggestions on how to improve one or more of these, or can contribute some of your own examples of how to turn mundane subjects into compelling photos, please do share. I have an overabundance of mundane subjects.
Thanks for coming this far and suffering through so many instances of the word "mundane".
Mark