A lonely passenger waits for a bus in Panama City, Panama. (©Omar Upegui R.)
I recently finished reading and re-reading the first chapter of my new photograph book, Langford’s Starting Photography. The title of the the first part is, Picture Making. It explains in plain layman’s terms the general principles of photography that has nothing to do with the nitty-gritty techniques of photography. Everything is explained in common-sense photography.
At the end of the first chapter, Langford, suggests several projects to apply lessons explained earlier in his book He explains, “This first part has been concerned with ‘seeing’—with not taking simple everyday objects for granted, but observing them at mixtures of shapes and forms, with various color and pattern characteristics, and set against a background.”
In Developing a Personal Approach, Langford requests, “Throughout this section of the book, we have concentrated on looking at how controlling the elements of art and design (color, texture, pattern, line, contrast) produces strong photographs. Make a series of five photographs which feature each of these elements in turn.”
On my first assignment I went for lines—vertical and horizontal lines. I framed the subject within vertical and horizontal lines. Straight vertical lines convey the feeling of strength and straight horizontal lines convey a sense of solidness and tranquility.
In the photograph above, you can visualize a strong vertical line on each side side of the structure where the young woman is sitting down and several horizontal lines of the road in front of the subject. Automobiles are sliding gracefully along these horizontal lines. It’s a simple composition to express the feeling of waiting for a bus that never comes. It’s like being imprisoned between vertical and horizontal lines, thus the title of the photograph, Waiting Within Lines.
I’ll be posting my photographic progress—if any—in the posts to come. My next assignment will be about a fast-changing active situation—fire. Until next time, Good Day.
No doubt you will learn more than you might want to know but only kidding, of course. My couple of things I always think about or it is always in the back of my head is tone, light, shadow and texture.
From art and design I always know the subject can be pointed to as in the perspective of a fence, tree line or railroad tracks. And that the object, whatever it is, will occupy a specific part or place in the final composition. And I don’t think too much about that because the composition comes in cropping the photo I end up using. I can crop and put the subject anywhere I have room to crop.
The most important to me is morning light and evening or late afternoon light as the quality of the light is then best and the shadows cast spread out and away and are not like those of the Noonday sun — straight down.
I really like your shot and I hope you come back to my blog so I will return the visit and see what you have posted next.
Hi Abe:
Thank you so much for your authoritative comments on photography. Everything you say means a lot to me. You and Don Ray are my references as far as blogging and photography is concerned.
You bet I’ll be visiting you showing you so you can take a look at the new stuff. The next photograph will be about fire.
Thanks again.
Omar.-