Pre-Writing Assignment 1

My background with photography, albeit brief, was rather informative and gave me some insight into the aspects of a photograph others may look past or write off as coincidence, when in all actuality, a photographer takes all aspects of their shot into consideration. I took a class called Photography Basics my senior year of high school and it was taught by one of the most interesting teachers I’ve ever had named Mr. Reeder. My senior year was sort of a rebellious time for myself and I often skipped class and frequently just sat in on Mr. Reeder’s classes thus exposing myself to much more than my 90-minute block right before lunch. I came to learn that a great shot is much more than the content of the photo but rather how that content is presented in order to captivate the viewers.

For someone who’s just beginning to take photography seriously, it becomes obvious what elements are fairly easy to control. Some of the more basic photography skills include the framing and cropping of a photo and what the lens is capturing. The framing of a photo is how the photographer can control what they want the audience to see and as Compose Design Advocate states it, “focuses your attentions on parts of a situation”. Framing a photo comes from your placement and angle from your position as a photographer in comparison to the subject matter.

A key concept in photography that photographers utilize in order to grab their audience’s attention is the idea of vectors of attention. There’s a tool in taking photos that artists have to be aware of that is known as the Rule of Thirds in which the shot can be checkered off by thinking about six lines cutting the photo into thirds in two different directions, both vertically and horizontally. This principle can create those vectors discussed in Compose Design Advocate in that in it creates “lines of direction for our eyes to follow”. Another photography principle that connects with vectors of attention would be the idea of converging lines. The lines of a photograph naturally key on elements of a photo and as an audience we address these first when we view a photo.