Reading - 'Basic Photography of...'

In this blog post I will be going through some David Prakel's texts on composition (+applied) and space. These are some of the main points I found most helpful or in lightening in the readings:

In this readings Prakel discusses the importance of how a photo is composed, from the framing, placing of subject, size, etc. He discusses how these things can alter how the viewer sees and takes in the images. A quote stating 'Important details must be detained' when referring to cropping as Prakel feels that the size of the image is a direct representation of what the photographer is trying to say, so if we exclude certain things from an image the viewer can bring there own views to the work. Much like film a photo should not hold a subject/object that has no relevance or effect to the overall message or view, this clutters the focal point and takes away from a strong image. The reading also goes into the idea of summitry and how general summitry lines can be altered to add interest to work, by placing thing off kilt or having one part of frame full while the other half is negative in space. 

The reading on applied composition discusses how some of the rules of "photographic composition are...invalid, irrelevant and immaterial" as photography is open to all, who can decide how they frame there work, however it is helpful to know the basics in composition as they can help elevate a piece. The reading goes on to list the different kinds of photograph and what a photographer may do to capture the subject best.     

These reading proved very helpful in highlighting the impotence of understanding photographic form as well as breaking down the different ways of photographing different subjects. A quote from the reading that I really liked is by David Bailey, he suggests that you need a lot of imagination to become a photographer 'you need less imagination to be a painter, because you can invent things', as an artist I do not completely agree with this but I do agree with the idea of imagination being key to a good photographer as you must mould your tools and subjects to mean something without (in most cases) the ability to invent or remodel a subject compliantly, instead we re-imagine and add a creative twist to something that already exists.