One of the problems that beginning photographers have is not being conscious of what’s in the frame. This is how pictures with crooked horizons, with people’s heads unintentionally cut off or with cluttered, bad compositions happen. The beginner just doesn’t see everything he or she is looking at. After all there are a lot of technical things to keep in mind; shutter speed, f-stop, film speed, etc. As these things become more automatic, the photographer can become more aware of all that is in the frame.
But even the experienced photographer is not always aware of everything in the frame. You’ve heard of the “happy accidents” that happen; something in the frame that the photographer was unaware of that make the picture better. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out what is a true accident and what you may have been aware of unconsciously.
The above picture is an example. It’s part of my new show Tocando Tierra: Sagrado/Profanado. Here’s what I can tell you about the taking of it.
I had been meaning to take pictures of the Salsipuede neighborhood for a while. It’s an area where part of a gravel bank has been turned into a new neighborhood. A classic example of unplanned development, and therefor a candidate for the new show. I took a lot of pictures that day and a few of them will be in the show, but when I took the image above I knew it was a keeper. I had seen the sign in the lower left as I climbed the footbridge where I took the picture. I intentionally included it as an ironic statement about how people were exploiting the environment here; A sagrado (holy) sign where the environment was being profanado (profaned). I also liked the way the sky and the rock at the top of the picture showed how nature’s randomness is often beautiful, while the bottom half showed how human order can be ugly.
When I got home and looked at the picture I noticed that the mining of the hill for gravel had turned it into a notched or cleft hill. The Maya believe that they came from a notched or cleft mountain. So the profaning of this hill has formed a holy or sacred shape. I also noticed at that time that “Solo Jesus Salva” (Only Jesus Saves) was painted on the rock at the right of the picture.
Were these happy accidents or did my subconscious “see” these elements and make sure I got them in the picture? Hard to say. I remember seeing the cleft shape and including it, although I didn’t make the Mayan connection until I got home. The “Solo Jesus Salva” I did not see at all; I surprised to see it when I downloaded the image. So maybe one was the work of my subconcious and the other lucky? It doesn’t matter; either way it was my favorite image of the day.
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