Glass half empty or glass half full?

I suspect we’ve all been in one of those situations where we’re labelled as a pessimist or an optimist depending on how we answer the question above (or, worse still, how someone assumes we might answer it). In my experience, it tends to happen while on one of those team building exercises or during an annual appraisal. I have to confess that I rather like being asked this question because it provides me with an opportunity to put a spanner in the works by answering — my glass is always full!

More important than this, though, is being able to demonstrate that such a response is not pure mischief but is based on a genuine philosophy that, in turn, has a practical value. A value that can be applied to photography just as much as it can to personal development.

So, why is my glass full and what does that have to do with photography?

To answer the first of those questions we simply need to ask ourselves what the glass is supposed to be half empty or half full of. My trick is to ignore the assumption that we are talking about whatever liquid has been poured into the glass and recognise that the glass contains something more — it also contains air! Half full of liquid. Half full of air. Now, when I was at school, we were taught that two halves make a whole. So, the glass is full. With that bit answered we are free to address how this relates to photography.

Do your images have depth, fluidity, and space?

Looking again at the glass paradigm, it can be seen that both the glass and the liquid have depth, also that the liquid adds fluidity, and that the air adds space. Each of these three elements has an important role to play in the creation of our work, whether in photography or any other creative art, but it’s when they are combined that they elevate our work beyond imagination.

Depth

When weighing up the element of depth in our images it is worth remembering that depth carries more than one meaning — deepness, extent, profundity, complexity, and intensity — each of these senses should be taken into consideration. Use the following list when evaluating the image or, better still, when framing the composition:

  • Is it too flat?
  • Does it hit the brief?
  • Does it deliver the intended message?
  • Is anything overshadowing the story?
  • Will your audience still be talking about it tomorrow?

Fluidity

There are two things that we’re really interested in when it comes to fluidity — flow and movement — which are both covered in Module 4 of my The Art of Photography Workshop.

Flow is about the way secondary components are used in an image to draw an audience into, and onto, the primary subject. The well known rule of thirds is one of the tools that can help with flow but, if you want to get technical, think Golden Ratio, Golden Spiral, or The Fibonacci Sequence in Artistic Composition. Composition and DoF are our friends here.

Movement is rooted in emotion and can be passive or active in its relationship with the image’s primary subject. Passivity is achieved by freezing the action against a blurred background and is typically used in sports photography. Activity is the opposite, with good examples being waterfalls or windblown grass. When considering where, and how, to inject movement into your work, think e-motion. Camera panning and longer exposures are the most commonly used tools for capturing a powerful sense of movement.

NB: It is just as valid to add movement implicitly as it is to do so explicitly. Using a high shutter speed to deliberately freeze the motion of a bird’s wings is a great example.

Space

Space is, all too often, an underused and underestimated element in photography. When I talk about space, I don’t want to dwell on those areas of an image that are open and minimalistic — but let me emphasise that that is a powerful technique all on its own — no, what I’m drilling down to is the need to create a feeling of space that is in harmony with the rest of the image. A classic illustration would be a composition that includes a path that runs across the whole width of the frame. Now, imagine two variations of that image. One that has a couple, hand-in-hand, about to walk out of the frame; and another that has the same couple, still hand-in-hand, having just entered the frame. The difference is enormous and is created by space. The composition becomes harmonious when the couple are walking into a body of space. As an artistic element, space is closely related to fluidity so the easiest way to use it is to think about the direction that the energy or emotion is flowing — is it flowing to somewhere, or from somewhere? If we can answer that, then we’ve addressed where to add space to our composition.

Depth, fluidity and space

The combined effect of all of the above is to bring our images to life – to trick our audience into believing that the image has more than two dimensions.

The world’s best images make us pause. They draw us in. They guide us, naturally, through the visual story that they are telling. They share with us the direction of their emotions and invite us to gaze into the spaces that open up before them.

So, if, like my glass, our images are imbued with depth, fluidity, and space, then, using the same metaphor, our order books will always be full.

This article is a just brief introduction to one of the core philosophies that are explored in much greater detail in my workshops. There, in a collaborative environment, we take the metaphor further by examining the photographic context that is represented by the liquid in the glass.

Parting shot

A wise old philosopher was looked up from working in his garden and saw a weary looking traveller approaching, with a box around his neck, and a three-legged contraption over his shoulder. The sage bade him good day, and asked if there was anything he could give him. The traveller demanded a glass of water. As he drank he mentioned that he was a journeyman photographer. The sage didn’t know what a photographer was and his guest offered no illumination. Instead, he put down the glass and said, ‘Tell me old man, where is the next village?’

‘Half a day’s journey down the valley,’ said the sage.

‘Tell me, what are the people like there?’

‘What were the people like in the village you’ve come from?’

‘They were dishonest, untrusting and untrustworthy, the most miserable bunch of people I ever met. They gave me no work and I’m glad to be rid of them.’

‘I’m sorry to tell you,’ said the sage, ‘but I think you’ll find the people in the next village much the same.’

A  week or two later, the philosopher was working in his garden again when he saw another traveller coming down from the hills, tired and dusty but with his head held high and a spring in his step. He, too, had a box around his neck and a three-legged contraption over his shoulder. ‘This photography thing is catching on,’ thought the sage as he bade the man good day and asked if there was anything he could do for him.

‘A glass of water would be most welcome.’

They drank together while the journeyman showed the sage his camera and explained how it worked. They chatted for hours. The sage looked at his guest’s many photographs and even sat for him. Eventually, the journeyman asked, ‘Tell me professor, where is the next village?’

‘Half a day’s journey down the valley.’

‘And the people there, professor, what are they like?’

‘First, tell me, what were they like in the village you have left?’

‘Ah, they were the most wonderful people. I had only intended to spend a day or two there, but I have spent many months in their kind and hospitable company. I have made many friends there whom I am sad to leave.’

‘Do not be too sad,’ said the sage, ‘I think you will find the people in the next village much the same.’


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Nigel Fawcett

One of the many benefits of being retired is that I get to spend so much more time in the great outdoors, not only as a photographer but in exercising one of my other great passions — hill walking. This is a particularly good fit when one’s photography centres around nature and the landscape. There can be few better places to do that than here in the beautiful mountains of Tuscany.