APOGEE PHOTO MAGAZINE: Finding "Life Themes" by Noella Ballenger

Finding "Life Themes"

by Noella Ballenger

Learn how to find out what photography compositions spark your creativity.

Frequently in my classes for Apogee or in my own workshops, I suggest the students explore their own photographs as well as others in magazines, museums, etc., to discover the kind of compositions, colors and images that seem to attract them the most. I am frequently asked the reason for doing this. When we look at what we take and discover what pulls at us creatively over and over again, it is visual bias that needs to be noted. I like to call these visual biases “life themes”.

I primarily use my life themes as a springboard whenever I am uncertain about what to shoot. For example, have you ever gone to a new location and discovered that you were so overwhelmed that you didn’t feel comfortable shooting anything? You walked around but just couldn’t settle down. Using a life theme to help you get started is really helpful. I love trees and weeds. They are two of my life themes. Usually I can find trees of some kind in almost any location in the world and weeds are everywhere. Weeds sneak up between cracks in cement or fight for prominence in a garden. I get involved with these themes or one of my others and the next thing I know I am busy creating and observing and having a wonderful time taking photographs.

Here is how you can do find your life themes and make some interesting discoveries about yourself at the same time. First, select at random 50 to 100 images that you have taken and like. If you can’t find enough of your own, then clip some out of magazines. Now, once you have your images, you are going to sort them and tally them so that when you finish you have an idea of what you like really well.

When I first did this exercise, I was taking color transparencies and I found that sorting and tallying was easy to do on a light box. I find that is just a little more difficult to track using digital cameras and doing the work in the computer. But it is not impossible. Here is how I set it up in my computer. I select some images and make dupes and lower the size of the file so that I won’t take up too much room on the computer. Also, I don’t want to take the chance I will delete or change the original of an image that I really like. Then I set up folders that will help me with the sort. Each criterion that I am looking at gets a folder.

My sorts consisted of subjects … What kind of things do I photograph most often? What colors do I photograph…are the images predominantly blues, sunset gold or oranges, spring greens? Do I always photograph vertical compositions with something tall going up the right side or up the left side? Were circles or diagonals more prevalent as composition patterns? Where do I place the subject of the photograph most often? By analyzing and sorting a number of images in a variety of ways I came up with several “life themes” with which I feel very comfortable. I also discovered that I had some really bad habits and by seeing how often I fell into the same trap, I was able to correct some of the bad habits.

I’m going to show you a few of my images that I sorted out and analyze them for you so that you will see how easy and helpful this exercise can be for yourself.

Discovering your life themes and using that to understand your own personal strengths and weaknesses is a great way of improving your photography and tapping into your finest creative self.

SUBJECT:

Selecting a life theme involves knowing what subjects really attract you and why. You need to understand the subject and feel confident around that subject. It is believing that when exploring the possibilities of that subject, that exploration alone will trigger your creative imagination.

Trees are one of my personal life themes. I love the majesty of them and how they stand in groups or stand alone. I am always comfortable when beginning to photograph when I start with a tree. Somehow it causes my creative imagination to flow.

I’m not sure why weeds are so interesting to me except perhaps I relate it to one of those meaningless sayings that my Mother used and that was “Weeds don’t die!” I love trying to get the light on these so that they begin to look more important and more beautiful. It is important to me when I hear someone say that they never saw it look like that.

SUBJECT PLACEMENT & VERTICAL-HORIZONTAL:

Where you place your subject in the frame of the photograph can be a life theme. I like to use more unusual areas for subject placement … like the sides and bottom areas for the subject. These areas seem to be my bias.

Another life theme of mine seems to be a preference for vertical images. I take a lot of horizontals, but most of my real favorites seem to be verticals.

As I was working on this article, I discovered an interesting bias just now. If you look at the two vertical shots below that are side-by-side, you will see that they are almost the same composition. There is a diagonal line running from the lower right corner to the lower left where it meets the horizon. The heaviest part of the image is in the upper right area. I’m going to have to explore this bias a little more.

LINES:

One of my life themes is the exploration of line and I really love diagonals. They seem to add excitement to an image that might not be there if you didn’t find the diagonal line. Whether the lines are vertical or horizontal they just don’t look as good to me as a diagonal.

COLOR:

I love bold and beautiful colors. When I see reds vibrate, they are really exciting. Here is a fun exercise for you to try. Work with your favorite color in a location that seems unfamiliar or uncomfortable for you. Photograph as many examples of your color that you can find and you get extra “bonus” points if you can include several examples in the same shot.

Discovering your life themes and using that to understand your own personal strengths and weaknesses is a great way of improving your photography and tapping into your finest creative self.

Would you like to learn more and become an even better photographer? Be sure to join Noella in one of her online classes presented through Apogee Photo.

You'll want to get signed up today - just click here.

Noella Ballenger leads photographic workshop/tours to special locations in the West. Visit her site in Apogee Photo Magazine at www.noellaballenger.com or send her an e-mail at Noella1B@aol.com Write to her at P.O. Box 457, La Canada, CA 91012, call: (818) 954-0933 or fax: (818) 954-0910 for more information on her workshop/tours.

~~~~~~~~

To Apogee Photo Home Page