Composition

Today, I plan to talk a little about composition and link up to The Kat Eye View of the World and her challenge regarding, The Rule of Thirds.  Kat wrote an excellent description of the compositional "Rule of Thirds", which you can read here.  The Rule of Thirds is commonly used by photographers.  My college training was as a painter.  When painting landscapes, we worked with slightly different space divisions.  First of all, we divided our canvases in half - both vertically and horizontally, marking with pencil or charcoal.  These divisions were reminders of places NOT to place prominent features - horizon line, center of interest, etc.  Next, we divided each half in half again (now our canvas had a grid work of 16 squares or rectangles marked on it).  Ignoring the half way division lines, we had a grid that was similar to the Rule of Thirds - the space divisions being only slightly different.  This painters' approach to dividing space is a bit more dynamic than the Rule of Thirds, but also presents more of a challenge when seeking a balanced composition.  Either way, the basic idea is to divide your space into visually interesting, unequal elements, and place your focal point(s)in a strategic spot(s).  There are other elements that come strongly into play, such as value, color, and color intensity, which can dramatically alter your linear arrangement.  But these are topics for another day.....

In my photo, Pine Row, the foreground pine on the left-hand side, falls on and to the right of a vertical third division.  The next tree, off to the right, falls on the other third line.  This composition also includes a dramatic diagonal line (pine row), strong linear perspective, and bold value contrasts.  My vision or objective was to capture a composition that would marry well with the brilliant, bold sunlit day and show off the grandness of these tall trees.  Hopefully, mission accomplished!

For me, the interesting difference between painting/art quilting and photography is, as a painter and quilt designer I can move rocks, trees, even mountains:), to achieve the composition I desire, while as a photographer I have to move and position myself to try to get that "perfect composition".  But regardless of the art-making medium, the same rules and art concepts apply, just the "game" and strategies may differ.