Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision

Putting It in the Frame

As a visual storyteller, you are responsible for every element within the frame. If it’s in the frame, it’s because you allowed it to be. If it’s missing, it’s because you chose to exclude it, or you neglected to include it. For example, take a place like India. It’s a chaotic place full of smells and sounds. Those are not easy things to capture, but if I want people to later look at my images and get a sense of my experience of the place, I can rely only on the visual clues I provide within the frame. It’s natural to look at a photograph we’ve taken and be instantly transported by the power of memory back to that place, to re-experience the sounds and smells and connected memories. If we judge the photograph to have succeeded ...