A friend recently wrote:
“I’ve been composing in my head a letter to you re the wall art at this hospital, you having mentioned that some photos of yours were chosen for display in a hospital. The ones on view in this hospital are ocean/beach scenes for the most part. Nothing obviously dramatic or particularly stunning, pretty run of the mill wall landscapes. But the more I looked at them the more and more puzzled I became, because they had a certain calm magic about them, with a consistent compositional technique that I think produces their power. I’m reminded of, say, Vermeer and his quiet paintings. I want to think a little more on them and will find the time to write you my thoughts on them. Soon? I hope. In the meantime I’m attaching a photo of one of them, maybe my favorite.”
I replied:
So sorry your wife is still in the hospital. I have a friend who had Stage 4 Lymphoma but, once they diagnosed it, the doctors cured it with some kind of targeted immunotherapy. He has been cancer-free for years now. Hope your wife has a similar outcome!
Thanks for sharing that photo. It does have a calm dramatic power. I have been thinking about composition a lot lately, especially rules such as the Rule of Thirds and Lines to Corners. The photo you shared has two strong lines to corners, to the upper and lower right corners. Not exact, but close. Following those lines from the corners into the scene, they point to an empty spot on the horizon 1/3 from the left-hand side of the photo. That is the Rule of Thirds in action. Using the Rule of Thirds, objects are placed 1/3 from the photo’s edge. In this case the object is the empty horizon. That is what this unknown photographer wants us to focus on. He uses Lines to Corner and Rule of Thirds to get our eyes to dwell there rather than on the lifeguard station or the beach.
Above is my geometrical analysis. What surprised me is that the letter “K” appears. The vertical line is 1/3 from the left. The subject of this photo is that infinite point on the horizon where the lines from the corners point. That may be one reason why you like this photo. It draws our attention to a distant convergence. Or maybe you like the photo because you are especially fond of the letter “K”.
I did a reverse Google image search and found similar lifeguard stations in Hermosa Beach, California. I then searched for “Hermosa Beach Lifeguard Tower” and found lots of photos of the same subject. What I find remarkable is none of these photos has the geometric elegance of the one you sent me.
Here is a photo I shot in 1984 of Paco Sutera and his child. Two diagonals to corners (of the child’s body and the man’s forearms) cross each other 1/3 from the left. The man’s torso is 1/3 from the right.
Click here to see more of Danny’s posts about taking better photos.