all photos ~ (embiggenable)
I RECENTLY CAME ACROSS A SITE WHEREON THE AUTHOR announced that he was re-writing an e-book, re: Aspect Ratios and Composition.This caught my attention for a number of reasons, most notably the fact that, iMo, the photo universe needs yet another “expert” spewing out more cliched / convoluted ideas-or worse yet, so-called “rules”-about “composition” like it needs a proverbial hole in its head.
My reasoning for this position is quite simple, although, for many, it is also quite radical; bluntly written, I believe that there is no such thing as composition. It is, in fact, a bourgeoisie concept fabricated for those who cannot picture their way out of a wet paper bag. Consider this idiocy from the aforementioned site author:
“…3:2 is a difficult ratio to compose in, and it perhaps the no. 1 reason for many folks struggling with composition…..I see the same compositional errors time and time again….I advocated for cameras that allowed the user to work in ratios that are a little easier to work in (4:5 and 6:7 for instance).”
To my way of thinking, re: photography (or any fine art), there is so much wrong in the above excerpt; ideas such as “difficult ratio to compose in / ratios that are a little easier to work in”, “compositional errors”, and “struggling with composition”.
Re: “difficult ratio to compose in / ratios that are a little easier to work in”: Pure poppycock. Most fine art picture makers do, in fact, have a preferred aspect ratio within which they frame segments of the real world. However, the idea that, say, a 1:1 aspect ratio is easier or more difficult to work in than, say, 4:5 (or pick any other ratio) is absurd. Most settle into an aspect ratio that suits their vision and work in it without any “struggling” involved, thank you very much.
Re: “compositional errors”: there is no such thing as a compositional “error”, there is only unstructured seeing which yields up a degree (more or less) of visually discordant form. A result dictated by the fact that a picture maker has not identified his/her innate manner of how he/she, literally and figuratively, sees the world.
“To compose a subject well means no more than to see and present it in the strongest manner possible…Good composition is merely the strongest way of seeing…” ~ Edward Weston
Re: “struggling with composition”: struggling is inevitably the result of thinking, when making a picture, about so-called composition in terms of “rules” rather than being guided by the innate dictates, aka: feel, of one’s authentic vision….
“…. to consult the rules of composition before making a picture is a little like consulting the law of gravitation before going for a walk…. I always work better when I do not reason, when no question of right or wrong enter in,-when my pulse quickens to the form before me without hesitation nor calculation.” ~ Edward Weston
Hope you see what I mean.