Dubious life photographers: FILL THE FRAME!!!

This week, Patti Moed of the esteemed Lens artist quartet, invite us to explore filling the frame for Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #66; by including images of buildings, people, objects, and/or elements from nature. Click on the link for other contributions.

I must admit I have never actively told myself to fill the frame. That doesn’t mean I do not have photos were the frame is filled, but depending on the situation, I probably do it intuitively.  Having said that this challenge will probably make me think about filling the frame next time I take photos, which will be the coming weekend which I will spend with friends in the countryside (it may be debatable but no my friends are not the dubious life referred to…)

When on an African safari it would be nice to take a photo of a large African Baobab tree dwarfing a buffalo in its shade – if you want to take a landscape photo that is. But not if the purpose was to show off the African buffalo… By filling the frame, the majestic horns scarred by many a contest and the “don’t come with bull to me” facial expression of this buffalo bull is evident. And the blade of grass adds a feminine touch!

Filling the frame is probably the rule of thumb for wildlife photography. Dubious life photographers on the other hand can really learn from Patti’s advice to fill the frame and get in close. Why is it that these dubious life photographers produce hazy, unfocused captures with their subjects being dwarfed by everything? And no, they are not doing landscape photography.

Some advice for dubious life photographers: focus and fill the frame, then we may just believe you that you really took photos of the Loch Ness monster, Bigfoot, aliens and apparitions…

No-bull African buffalo bull

⇑I felt like a horse whisperer (and I didn’t even whisper) after clicking this group of horses connecting with the lens simultaneously

⇑The stage manager certainly followed Patti’s advice. The 2 screens filled with the artist draws in the crowd and filling the photo frame with the stage gives an impression of how it would feel to be there.

⇑Looking at a picture of the moon taken with a mobile phone just doesn’t do it for me. The fiery orb is so much more dramatic when it fills the frame while reflecting the setting sun’s rays.

⇑And then there is the non-conventional post capture way of filling the frame…(even if my original individual captures didn’t necessarily fill the frame).  He invited us to his birthday and I was forced to lie to him in feigning a previous arranged engagement (in the mean time his wife was organizing a surprise party).  In doing this collage for his birthday a few weeks ago I have elevated him from possible dubious life status – as I have filled the frame! It features fun-filled activities we do together: squash, hiking, caving, canoeing, camping, and fun and games.

Filling the frame is certainly standard using macro photography (or macro-ish as this wasn’t taken with a macro lens). This flower is smaller than a centimeter and normally not easily noticeable and the eye certainly does not notice the minute droplets stuck to the hairs on the leaves.  Even the noticeable bigger drops on the flower itself would normally not be noticed. Macro photography is an enabler of things not normally seen with the naked eye.

But there other reasons also why the flower misses the human eye. It is very small in relation to the leafy area lower down and those leaves are ugly. The plant is a weed – not found in a kept garden and yet the flower is uniquely beautiful as the pattern of drops are different each day due to the amount of dew and the wind’s direction.

Let’s apply Patti’s advice to ourselves. All of us have frames to fill, even if at times we may feel inadequate or out of place. Let’s purposefully fill these frames with boldness and humility. And let’s help others to get out of their wastelands so they can fill their frames.

 “Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those days. The wasteland will rejoice and blossom with spring crocuses. Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy! The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon, as lovely as Mount Carmel or the plain of Sharon. There the Lord will display his glory, the splendor of our God.” Isaiah 35:1-2