30 Days with the Fuji X-T2: Day 23

This is the third and final image from my Leiter-inspired morning photo walk last week. With this composition, I was toying with a few of his tactics. I’ve touched on the methods of using reflections and layering in- and out-of-focus objects on top of each other previously. In this image, the window’s reflection is out of focus, so the viewer can only roughly make out a building and some shadowy pedestrians in the reflection. Furthermore, the lights on the inside of the building are also out of focus, which creates a somewhat surreal feeling as it’s not immediately clear how the lights relate to the building you’re looking at and/or the building in the reflection.

The last tactic of Leiter’s that I was using in this composition was deliberately obscuring a key part of the subject. This is something that really excites me. I’m growing a bit bored by the obvious compositions where the subject is prominently placed (either in the direct center or on one of the intersections of the thirds) and there are subtle influences such as leading lines that direct the eye to the subject. Leiter’s work so often deliberately does the opposite. He’ll put his subject way on the edge of frame or obstruct 80% of the frame with an undecipherable object. Seeing him create images in this way that were so striking inspired me to try something similar.

I’m so enamored with this idea that I’m considering making a project out of shots in which the subject is deliberately on the edge of the frame and/or deliberately obscured. I think it’d be a fun way to continuously challenge me to shake up my compositions. More to come on this later… 🙂