#9 [Composition]

Before closing this absurdly busy Sunday, a bit about photography and composition. Time to have fun!

Sometimes I have many pictures to post and to talk about. Sometimes not. Today I decided to post two because they are pretty much related to composition and what burns me into the desire to photograph.

I have been to an Iaido competition. If you are not sure about what Iaido is, you can look at Wiki.

One thing I assure you:  is the most boring sport on the face of earth. But Bigson loves it and practices it with passion for many years now, so he always brings home a medal and myself, as a proud mother, try to stimulate him by attending the events, which take never less than five hours in absolute silence.

I brought the camera. And meanwhile another 10 guys with big lenses and Marks 1Ds IV as any housewife in the Netherlands can afford to pay  5.000,00 euro for a camera. But really, I find it absurdly boring to take pictures of this sport. I find boring to take pictures of any kind of sport.

Ok! I said it! Sport photography is not my style.

Anyway, I wanted to photograph Bigson and I wanted to do it on a different way. I am full of his pictures on the practice, which are always taken from his back, because me, as a mother, is not allowed to stand in front of the room, as the other housewives-photographs-friends-of-the-league.

This place where he was practicing had a very low tribune and because I was fed-up of the back poses I did not bring the long zoom lens. I only had my lovely 50mm with me. I was traveling light.

And don't forget this great composition tip: whenever you have something to step over and take a picture from up looking down, do it! Your subject is flattered because he looks at you high and that makes the entire body straight up. The face, specially the feminine faces, also get straight, diminishing the imperfections (= W.R.I.N.K.L.E.S.)

What I like on this pic, is the contrast (remember? contrast is ALWAYS good!) of the dark clothes with the floor and faces. The top of the sword(s) gives a bit of context to the picture. I also worked it out to use the contrast of the dark clothes of people behind Bigson and used it as a frame to his face.

But there was something else catching my attention and it has nothing to do with all the guys playing samurais here and there... behind the tribunes, facing a big window, there were huge piles of cushions (the ones people spread on the floor of the gym). They where gray/red.

One thing: your camera (any camera) loves gray. When a camera sees a gray surface, it is able to produce good pictures, because the camera is able to expose correclty based on the light reflected by the gray surface. And in this particular case, the few red cushions made a nice contrast. This picture is a pattern exploration.

I love to photograph patterns. You don't do much of them though, but they can work as a rest point into an album, or a background or they can play a nice role as a toilet poster or they can tell a story on a travel picture.

On the pending list: to produce a nice film, with Japanese lounge-rock, with the films I shot during the competition. Coming soon!

Summarizing the lessons learned of today:

1) Don't force yourself to photograph whatever you don't like.
2) Step above your subject
3) Explore patterns