Kokoro - Wandering Through a Photographic Life

Backstage Kokoro

A "behind-the-scenes" look at selected images in my Kokoro project —
Content, photographic notes, EXIF data, creative process, miscellaneous commentary, and original digital captures. And now with additional audio comments about selected images!

From Kokoro #036 - Life Itself, Part 2

For me, more often than not, a good photograph involves visual syncopation — a sweep of eye movement from edge to edge, and round again. There is a place for static compositions, but they are rare, at least in my work.

This image was composed specifically with visual syncopation in mind, from the lower left clump of bushes, sliding up the illumination line to the tree, then bursting up into that magnificent cloud. The three elements create a rhythm and a circular eye movement. But then the fun begins!

In music there is a term for a quick, staccato note that bursts from the background — called a "stinger." Photographs can have that same sort of staccato in small details that catch our eye in the second pass, emerging from the background — i.e., the non-primary compositional elements — and appearing as a surprise. These element encourage the viewer to explore and look more carefully. In this image, did you see the clumps of bushes on the far hill, the cluster of trees at the very left edge of the image poking above the horizon line, the broken tree trunk above the rock in the lower right, and the two bushes just left of the main tree? These are the detail "stingers" in this image. I love when these elements occur and always wish I had the talent to ensure that they do. In the spirit of true confession, they are often surprises that I don't see until have time to enjoy the finished print — one of the pleasant aspects of photography that is denied the painters who can rarely be surprised by their own work.

Original digital capture (downsized for the web)

1/400 sec at f / 9.0, ISO 100, Panasonic DMC-G2, LUMIX G VARIO 14-45/F3.5-5.6, 26 mm

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