Separate Boxes

Dividing boxes in shots can add a simple layer of interest.

There’s more to the Mondrianesque way of composition than arrangement on a flat plane, although this underpins everything. Here’s another copy of one of his paintings, and I suggest a different way of looking at it. Apart from the arrangement of colours – the way they’re balanced dynamically – you can also see them as being held firmly in place by the intersection of black grid lines. They’re each contained in a box and, especially in photography, that can be very useful. But why photography in particular? Because one of the most basic issues in composing a photograph is organizing the natural chaos of the real world into something that resembles a point of view.

To be really basic about this: what separates a meaningless picture taken by say, a security camera, from a shot taken by you or me, is that we’re trying to make an image that’s interesting; something that hangs together, is full of intention and showing just what we want to show.