I have been fortunate enough to see and hear Charlie Waite speak a few times now. His oratory is insightful, informative, illuminating, cerebral and often downright funny. What a wonderful combination! I could listen to him indefinitely and would love to have a conversation with him.

At the recent Fotospeed Central event at Patchings Art Centre, Calverton (shameless but deserved plug for Patchings there), this ‘Professor of Photography’ described an experiment he performed whereby he made a subtle change in an image and asked people’s perception of the two. The results were intriguing.

Whilst flicking through my catalogue I came across the images below. Whilst not being as subtle a difference as Charlie was describing, the similarity of these two images and yet difference in the way I reacted to them, struck me. The lower one has been a favourite of mine but refinding the upper one reminded me of my thoughts at the time and of Charlie’s words. Since roads are generally not a feature in the natural landscape I admire, I remember taking the upper image wondering how different the image would feel if I took out the diagonal of the road. Looking at them now I get a very different feel from the two images.

This difference in feeling is likely to be very personal, which is what makes the interpretation of art so fascinating (in general that is, not that I am ascribing these images to the eschelons of high art!). To me, the lower image is a strong composition with that dynamic diagonal which punches through my viewing of the image right to the front of my perception. This emphasises the clouds and vapour trails, leading to them in a crescendo of finality. This completes my viewing of the image and to that end I find this a loud, restless image, not because my eye is dancing around it with nowhere to settle but because of the dynamic. That said, as I said, I like the image for its strong composition and for having seen the image at the time whilst driving along and having stopped to realise it.

The upper image however, I find affects me differently. There’s still a diagonal of sorts but it’s to the side of the image not across it. The road is now a minor component of the image just helping to frame the composition. The two bushes and horizon are in about the same place as are the clouds and vapour trails. And yet I find the image more peaceful, quiet and contemplative. I can hear the skylarks overhead, I am lingering in the moment there and my eye does not settle so easily but instead enquires of the landscape, looking at the detail more and the components within the image. I find the scene more contemplative. Mostly it is not as strong a composition as the other image and yet I can appreciate it in another way. It makes me feel the place more, the moment, rather than the image being the whole, the beginning and the end. Perhaps only I can get this feeling from this image because I was there, I know what it was like at the time, what I was feeling. And perhaps it brings a realisation as I write this that the strongest composition doesn’t have to be the strongest image. Or at least, that that might not be the right way to express an image as I am feeling it. That two very different images can be made of the same scene. Interesting. Perhaps I’ll try to listen to myself more, to take a few moments before I make an image to think about what I am feeling, so that this might help me to construct the composition to convey this; because the strongest composition might not be the best one to do this; because the obvious composition won’t necessarily allow me to express myself properly, individually, creatively, only to stand me in the crowd.

Hmm. Interesting.

How do the two make you feel?