What makes a good picture? What things do I like to photograph? How did I choose the pictures on this website? And where did I put my lens cap? These are all good questions, and I will try to answer some of them here.
What Makes a Good Picture?
It is no single thing: I’m attracted by some shape, colour or texture. I notice a geometric design lurking in the background of a scene. There is a sense of perspective that makes it appear as if an object is reaching out of its setting. It could be any of these things or something else. It’s hard to identify a single principle, but the photographs I like tend to fall into two opposing categories.
The best photographs are often simple, in the sense that they leave no question as to their centre of interest, or the emotion they wish to convey. They have high contrast, a strong foreground figure, a bold design, an aggressive crop so that only a few visual elements are left within the frame. The viewer is engaged by the subject, or by its unusual presentation.
On the other hand, many photographs are good precisely because they are not direct. They involve subtle shades of colour, low contrast, vague outlines, figures that are hard to identify, information that is partially obscured. These sorts of pictures can be effective because they create an ambiguous situation that is subject to the viewer’s interpretation. If the image is intriguing enough, the viewer will enjoy the process of interpreting it.
What Do I Like to Photograph?
These are a few of my favourite things:
1. Everyday objects: There is something intriguing about everyday objects and places—sometimes, when you look at them carefully, they are strange and wonderful. Do combs really have that many teeth? What an odd expression that doll has. Who chose that shade of paint?
2. Fairs and Amusement Parks: These places are interesting to me because they try to create environments in which everyday rules are bent or stretched. They also remind me of my own childhood and the time I spent at the Red River Exhibition, which came to Winnipeg every summer.
3. Animals and Zoos: I like images of animals that capture the sense that they are observing you or judging you. It makes you realize that there is a conscious being inside this inhuman form, which is a weird thought. Also, I find that zoos are places that evoke strong and conflicting feelings. On one hand, they are essentially prisons, and their inmates know they are imprisoned or at least suspect that something is wrong. On the other hand, without zoos it would be very difficult for the average city dweller to come in close contact with many animals, and to get some appreciation of them.
4. Blurred Images: I like experimenting with long shutter speeds and movement to create partially abstract images.
How Did I Choose the Photographs on this Website?
I originally thought I would organize the photographs into three galleries—one for people, one for places and one for things. But when I looked at my favourite photographs they didn’t break down neatly into these categories. So instead, I “borrowed” an orangutan from the Metro Toronto Zoo, locked him in our basement with a box of my photographs and instructed him to pick the ones he liked and put them into three equal piles. The experiment failed, with the result that I spent the better part of a week cleaning the basement and mopping monkey slobber off the photographs.*
I decided to go back to picking the photographs myself, breaking them down into chronological groups for my colour images, and mixed-date groups for my black and whites. Within each gallery, I tried to get enough variety that there was some balance and also some unpredictability, both in thumbnails and full-sized images. My hope is that at least one photograph in each gallery will annoy, amuse, or surprise you. If so, my work is done. If not—well, who invited you anyway? Get the heck out of my website, you lousy end user! What did you expect, National Geographic? Sheesh.
Posted: April 2009 (updated January 2012).
* I tried replicating the experiment with my 13 year old son, with similar results. Also, as you are no doubt prissily pointing out, an orangutan is technically not a type of monkey. But their slobber is very similar. Trust me.