Grumpy Matt

Meet Matt. Thankfully for us his mom scrawled his name on the back of this photograph (probably still a good idea even in our digital age to aid our non-digital memories). Here Matt is not happy. His mom doesn’t look too thrilled about this whole picture taking thing either but lets forget about her for a second. Anyone who has ever taken a picture of a child knows that they are not always willing subjects. Yet we tend to fuss and fight with them until we get a smile, often giving us a picture for posterity with an awkward, forced smile that we aren't proud of anyway. While it is certainly important to have photos of our smiling children don’t overlook the value of pictures of unhappy, or even grumpy, children. Imagine flipping through the album your parents made of pictures of you as a child and seeing a few with those ridiculous scowls only children can make adorable. That would be pretty cool, wouldn’t it?

In addition to clicking the shutter when something other than a smile is showing there are also technical reasons why this is a good portrait. First, look at the background behind the subjects. Wood grain, such as an unpainted wood fence or wall always provides a great backdrop for portraits. The grain in the wood is visually stimulating, providing a sense of texture and adding light shadows which add detail. The visually complex nature of the wood also helps the more “simple” nature of human skin stand out. What you might hear referred to as “pop.” In other words people in front of such a surface appear to “pop” out of the background. Because pictures are by nature flat (two dimensional), creating a sense of depth (three dimensionality) in a photograph is one of the most important things a photographer can achieve. Taking advantage of settings which by their nature help to create depth is a great way to make your pictures stand out.

Second, look at how the background is framed by the lens. The photographer here mixes the vertical wood wall with a horizontal section of the house (another trick which helps to add a sense of depth). Additionally, the turned over bucket, like the half-included bike in the earlier picture of Pete, gives the work a sense of the moment and place. Finally, this image is a great example of placing the subjects not quite in the center. With Matt in the lower right-hand section of the image the viewer’s mind is caught off guard. While certainly not backed by any scientific studies, I’ve noticed that when a picture looks “normal,” i.e. the person or persons smack in the center, it’s like seeing an Oreo package in the store. We don’t really examine the package because at a quick glance our mind already “knows” what it looks like. When I see a picture with the people in the center and nothing out of the ordinary I tend to spend less time looking at it. However, when off center and placed against a background with lots of little details, such as this picture of Matt, my mind is instantly engaged. I spend more time looking over the entire image and considering it. That’s what I want from my photographs. I want people to be interested and engaged with them, spending time looking at the details. Don’t you?