Exercise 4: Fitting the Frame to the Subject

I wasn’t planning to shoot this assignment at a hospital, but since arriving in the US three days ago there hasn’t been much time for work.   My father had to be admitted to the ER yesterday for a non-fatal condition.  Several family members were in attendance and while we waited for the doctor and for tests I slipped out with my camera for a walk and found a lovely park on the hospital grounds.

The purpose of this assignment, and those of this chapter, is to explore how the frame influences and shapes the subject.   Our AOP course author Michael Freeman has written a parallel commercial text called ThePhotographer’s Eye, in which he goes into a bit more detail on these subjects than in the course notes, particularly issues and concerns of theory.  He notes that even the most fundamental photographic situation, of one clearly defined subject, presents two options:  to shoot close and fill the frame with the object, or to pull back and include some of the background.  This choice may be determined by the photographer’s intention. If the object is rare or of unique interest, he may want to show more of it and less of the background.   If the context provides information for appreciating the object, he may want to include some of the setting.  

While walking through the park I found the planners included a number of benches, presumably for patients to sit and enjoy a bit of the natural surroundings.  I shot a number of benches, but I think the first one perhaps best represented the requirements for the exercise.  In my first shot I was trying to include the bench in its surroundings (while trying to crop out a bit, as you’ll see in the fourth image). 

The exercise then called for a photo in which the object fills the frame.  I tried keeping the top of the bench parallel with the top of the frame.

The third shot called for the object to extend beyond the frame.  I aligned the front right leg with right angle of the frame.  

The final shot required pulling back to include as much background as possible, which as you can see requires including the overflowing garbage can facing the bench.

One last shot I took and not required was a vertical capture. 

I can’t say that I like any of these photos.   As I have found on other photography courses, you sometimes end up shooting whatever subjects might be available simply to complete an exercise.  On occasion, you discover something unusual, some new perspective you didn’t see or appreciate until working with subject, or even until writing up the exercise.   If I had to choose a photo from this set I found most appealing, I would go with the first, or the vertical.  The bench itself doesn’t seem particularly noteworthy. 

One aspect of the exercise that remains unclear is whether to shoot at the same or varying focal lengths.  Freeman asks the photographer to work with a small object in order to be able to move in close, suggesting a fixed focal length.  On the other hand, his example with of the Hong Kong ferry was obviously shot at varying focal lengths.  I chose the latter approach.  

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