monochrome photography

We tend to think…

“We tend to think of human beings as falling into two groups: those who are similar to us and those who are different. We allow political boundaries to obscure our interconnectedness. What we often refer to patriotism is actually a barrier the prevents us from seeing that we’re all children of the same mother. Every country calls its nation a motherland or a fatherland. Every country tries to show how it loves its mother. But in doing so, each country is contributing to the destruction of our larger mother, our collective mother, the Earth. In focusing our human-made boundaries, we forget that we are co-responsible for the whole planet. …

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Nikon D750   f/4.5   1/200    85mm    100 ISO

“Every one of us, regardless of nationality or religious faith, can experience a feeling of admiration and love when we see the beauty of the Earth and the beauty of the cosmos. This feeling of love and admiration has the power to unite the citizens of the Earth and remove all separation and discrimination. Caring about the the environment is not an obligation, but a matter of personal and collective happiness and survival. We will survive and thrive together with our Mother Earth, or we will not survive at all.”

~Thích Nhát Hanh (Love Letter to the Earth)

a photo study: rule of space

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Nikon D750   f/4   1/160    190 mm   I00 ISO

Ted Forbes notes that the rule of space offers the photographer a way to create a sense of motion, activity or conclusion within one’s composition and that it simply involves creating negative space that relates to the subject within the image.

For example, if you place negative space outside your subjects head in a portrait, you imply maybe there is thought going on – particularly if you direct your subject’s eyes toward the negative space.

Or if you have a picture of a motorcycle zooming across the desert. Placing the negative space in front of the motorcycle creates a sense of direction or implication of eventual destination

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Nikon D750  f/4.2   1/400   45mm  100 ISO

It is my thinking that Ted Forbes’ discussion dovetails nicely with Raj’s Xdrive photography lesson about a photograph speaking.

a “good picture always speaks out its story…The story the picture is trying to broadcast is nothing but your vision or an intent or a message you are trying to convey to the viewers.

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Nikon D750   f/14   1/80   32mm   100 ISO

Thank you for taking the time to visit; and as always, I would love to read your thoughts about the interconnection between story and space as photography composition tools and any images you would like to share.

Hope you enjoy Ted Forbes’ Rule of Space video.

this is, because…

ruleofspace-1web copy

This is, because that is.  This is not, because that is not. This comes to be, because that comes to be. This ceases to be, because that ceases to be…This is like this, because that is like this.

~Thich Nhat Hanh, The Heart of the Buddha

time-lapse of an apple blossom transforming