08-JUN-2006
Flamingo Roost, Clatskanie, Oregon, 2006
This quartet of Mexican plastic flamingos incongruously lodges in the rafters of a roadside tourist shop in Clatskanie. I built this image around entirely around repeating rhythms, which create a pattern of implied movement. The horizontal row of flamingos alternately hold their heads high and low, so I’ve offset them to the right hand side of the picture, which seems to get them moving. The rafter beams also flow horizontally, while the vertical ridges in the roof repeat the vertical thrust of three of the flamingos. I was drawn to the scene because of its incongruity and geometry, and used that geometry as the basic structure of the image.
10-JUN-2006
On the dunes, Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, Florence, Oregon, 2006
I organized this image around three layers. The foreground layer is a mass of dark grass that anchors the scene. The footprints around that grass echo footprints that extend into the other two layers as well. The subject layer is the middle ground. A woman incongruously carries what appears to be a violin case with her as she leaves the beach. Her trail of footprints leads back to a hiker carrying a staff. Another trail of footprints extends to a ridge of grass extending into the background, leading to two more people in the distant background. A large slope of green grass flows down from the upper right hand corner, rhythmically repeating the foreground layer. The entire image hangs together, linked by clumps of grass, and the movements of people on the dunes.
11-MAY-2006
Desert plant, Phoenix, Arizona, 2006
As you will see from the many other examples in this gallery, there are many ways to compose an image. In this case, nature itself has organized the image for us. All we need to do is find the most expressive spot from where we can photograph this work of nature. This plant is comprised of a series of symmetrical leaves, fanning out from the center to create a radial composition. Radial compositions are those in which key elements spread out from the middle of the frame towards the corners and edges. I center this symmetrical subject by standing over it at a slight angle. I use my spot meter to expose on the brightest leaves, and the rest of the image becomes darker and more abstracted. The radial composition gives the image a sense of latent energy, even though the subject itself is static.
31-MAR-2006
Naxi woman, Baisha, China, 2006
This woman has been bent by the heavy burdens she has carried on her back since youth. In the Naxi culture, women seem to perform the hardest and most demanding tasks. I saw her approaching from a distance and composed the structure of this image in my mind beforehand. I built the image around a diagonal drainage ditch that slashes through the center of the image. I saw how it linked to two horizontal elements – the shadow of the building in the background and the log at right. All I needed to complete the idea was a third horizontal element between them. The angle of the sun would provide just that as the woman stepped across the ditch and moved into the right hand side of my frame. Her shadow extends horizontally back towards the ditch, rhythmically repeating the other two horizontal elements flowing off of that diagonal ditch. I chose to organize my image in this way not because it looks nice, but because it helps the picture work more effectively as expression. This composition reinforces the central idea of this picture – a life of burden and obstacles. She had to move thorough the darkness of that shadow, cross a ditch in her way, and now must deal with that log. Her body appears to be weighed down with burdens, and her path has not been an easy one.
28-MAR-2006
Changing of the guard, Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial, Taipei, Taiwan, 2006
The guard is changed at Taipei's memorial to the former leader of the Republic of China. After a long civil war, Chiang left Mainland China to the Communists and brought his Republic of China to Taiwan. His memorial features an enormous seated statue similar to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. Several times a day, the honor guard is changed with great ceremony and precision. Setting the focal length of my zoom lens to 300mm, I was able to flatten perspective so that the four guards are fused into one element, a series of rhythmically repeating shapes that carry us into the image. I carefully selected my vantage point so that the marble molding in the background repeats the curve of the helmets in just the right spot. The marble wall is as much about order and precision, as the row of disciplined soldiers. Chiang was soldier himself. He would appreciate such discipline and the effort it takes to maintain it.
01-APR-2006
Lunch, Shigu, China, 2006
Shigu is a village about an hours drive from Lijiang. It stands near a great bend of the Yangtze River. It was here that Mao's Communist army crossed the Yangtze as it veered north on its famous "Long March" in October 1934. Mao avoided defeat in the Chinese Civil War, and saved his army. There is a monument to the event on a cliff at Shigu. Not far away, this threesome shares some rice and tea. I composed this image as a geometric echo – the three men, all wearing dark clothing, are as balanced in their placement as the table, stools and restaurant sign are behind them. I usually stay away from centered compositions. I find them formal and often static. But in this case it works because of the way the balanced furniture and restaurant façade complement each other.
06-APR-2006
Guardian, Jingjiang Royal Mausoleum, Guilin, China, 2006
Eleven generations of Guilin’s rulers are buried in more than 300 tombs behind this figure. I put this image together as a series of layers – the statue, the trees behind it, and the wall behind them. The foreground layer is the subject – the body language of the sculpture is eloquent, and the texture timeless. The curves of its shoulders and arms seamlessly complement the diagonal slopes of the trees beyond. The coarse texture and rich color of the trees contrast strikingly to the smooth textures and flat color of the sculpture. The wall in the background adds a third layer of color, and in its brickwork, an order of its own. Taken together, all three layers express an aura of timeless serenity yet also as sense of shrewd authority. I use composition here to simplify, blend, and amplify this message. It does it well.
24-MAR-2006
Aboard the Kobe-Kyoto Express, Kyoto, Japan, 2006
The one hour commute from Kobe (by way of Osaka) to Kyoto was similar to rush hour rides elsewhere. Every seat was taken, and so were most of the straps. I shot this from my seat, holding the camera low and using my flip up LCD viewing screen to good advantage. I organized the image on an arc, beginning by emphasizing the woman at lower right, and then moving up and across the frame from there. The image came together for me when the woman at left lifted her head to look up, her gaze rhythmically repeating the upward thrust of the train's ceiling just over her head.
05-APR-2006
Twin Bridges, Guilin, China, 2006
Elegantly curved twin bridges separate Banyan Lake from Rong Lake and help give Guilin its identity as one of the most scenic cities in China. This image had to be built around the thrust of its composition. The light was gray and flat, and there was so little color in the scene that I converted the image to black and white, strengthening the image by abstracting it and making it seem timeless. I chose to use classically centered composition here to echo the symmetry of the bridges, the arch of the overhead trees, and the scenic lake and mountain setting beyond. I waited for two people to simultaneously cross the same bridge and released the shutter as each of them was leaving the frame. They create tension by pulling the eye out of the picture, contrasting strongly with the centered composition.
10-FEB-2006
Duet, Barstow, California, 2006
A pair of enormous three-dimensional flying red horses – an advertising display from a long since departed gas station – soars above Tom’s Welding and Machine Shop. It is part of a huge collection of nostalgic automotive memorabilia that the shop’s owner has assembled over the years. Rather than shoot the horses from the front, I walked behind the display and found an angle where the hoof of one horse is almost touching the leg of the other. I did not shoot the entire display – only the forelegs and part of the body of each horse. The sun strikes the sign neither from front or back – it illuminates only the thick edges of the display. I cherished the presence of the horizontal bar supporting both horses – it links them together, yet at the same time keeps them apart. The key to this composition is the space I was able to leave between the hoof and the leg. I left just enough to make this image crackle with tension, and convey the point I wanted to get across: energy.
12-FEB-2006
Junkyard, Barstow, California, 2006
A giant crane poised over a Barstow junkyard is wreathed in contrails from morning jets flying out of LA or Las Vegas. The crane is a wrecker's tool, used to create new wealth out of old goods. Barstow stands upon the remnants of Route US 66—the first highway to link Chicago to California. If there is an emblem to symbolize the end of the era that created the need for a Route 66, it could be right here. I made this image because the two most important compositional elements were already in place for me -- the diagonal crane and a diagonal jet contrail dissolving in the sky. All I had to do was to move my camera into a position where the contrail and crane would merge in the sky – a linkage of symbols for the air age and industrial age. I used my spot meter to expose for the contrail, allowing the crane and the junkyard below it to become an abstract silhouette. A crowning touch was offered the other horizontal contrail at left. It flows into the diagonal contrail and crane, and its horizontal successor emerges from the other side as a long black bar on a junked truck. As a result, this image has two strong rhythmic repetitions within it – the primary diagonal relationship, and a secondary horizontal relationship.
07-FEB-2006
View from Kolob Terrace Road, Zion National Park, Utah, 2006
Whatever success this image may have as expression is due to its composition. I anchored the photograph around the double line on the road. It functions as a “leading line” – drawing the eye deeply into the image, and then suddenly vanishing as the road drops away down a steep hill. We are pulled over the hill and led to the majestic red sandstone cliff at its base. That leading line gives this image a three dimensional effect by stressing implied depth perception. The deep brown road (yes, the roads in Zion are reddish brown), flanked by green bushes, fills almost half the image, while the huge cliff at is base reflects the pinkish glow of the setting sun remaining in the sky. The faint pink clouds in the sky are laced with horizontal lines that echo the horizontal grooves on the face of the cliff. Even the distant background adds context by including a group of purple mountains flowing to the right hand edge of the image. Everything in this image is working together to stress to idea: the glory of Zion National Park.