One of my favorite photos on the Masters of Photography website was Berenice Abbott’s “Tri-Boro Barber School, 264 Bowery”.
The image attracted my eye not only because of its urban setting but also because of the way it captured the human subject in the photo. Being much better at landscape photos of unmoving scenery myself, I always find it astounding how well others can capture the movements and expressions of people almost perfectly to suit their photographs.
Although the photographer does use the Rule of Thirds, she uses it in this photo to create a dual subject, causing the onlooker to question whether the subject of her photo is a storefront window, the box, or both.
Abbott also uses the scaffolding above the storefront as well as the column on which the boy is standing to frame her shot.
Although I’m personally really good at framing my shots, using trees and other objects to further highlight the subject of my photo, I find that framing your shots isn’t always the best option, and I’m trying to break my habit of doing that quite often. For Snapshot day, I plan on not framing my photo at all.
-John Wetmore (Blog A)
