We've been talking about composition, and here is one of the rare photographers who not only thinks and feels deliberately for compositions, but is also fabulously good at it.
Just see the black-and-white (slightly sepia) portrait of the girl here. It's deceptively simple: you might think it was like: just put a girl in front of a wall, and click the shutter. But no, it's not like that. I'll bet you lunch at the Ritz that Bella considered the outline of the form of the girl (again deceptively simple), and she considered her position in relationship to the subtle features of the wall (it's a beautiful wall too). And she considered carefully her position in relationship to the frame itself. You'll notice that she is almost centered, but not exactly, her personal space is bigger in front of her. And there is quite a lot of headroom above her, a bold choice but it makes it a completely different picture than if the frame had been tight around the subject. The girl owns the space around her, it is part of her.
It's an amazing picture.
Update: Tommy said:
Eolake, I figured it out. I've watched her slideshows several times now and it's humbling. I've taken what I have called good pictures (actually my camera takes good pictures). But, after looking at Bella's pictures I realize the difference is that I take a picture of what is in front of me and sometimes it comes out looking good. But, it's nothing that I have ever planned to capture or staged specifically or composed.
I'm beginning to understand the term a little bit more now and I have a lot to learn.
Thanks, again for sharing this photographer with us.
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15 comments:
And the girl looks like a young Princess Leia, too.
This is how it's done. A professional portrait is not supposed to look like an amateur's snapshot, as some do.
Notice too how all but one of the cracks (coming from behind her) in the wall stop at the girl. They draw the eye in towards her face. Clever, really clever. As is often the case it's the eyes that tell the story. Someone once told me that a picture should tell a story. In this case it leaves me wanting to know what the girl's story is, and surely that's the point?
One of my pet hates is unthinkingness - I know that's not really a word, but you know what I mean. So, I always find it really refreshing when someone has clearly spent a great deal of time thinking about what they are doing. Good job bringing this to our attention Eolake.
Wow, that's a big pet hate. That's like hating vegetation or oxygen. :-)
One of my pet peeves is people saying that "photos tell stories or ought to". I fall in the Garry Winogrand camp. Stories have a beginning, middle and end. Photos are an instant captured where you can almost always not know what happened before and after. People tell stories. A photo may inspire a story, but every viewer of a photo can plausibly come up with any number of different stories that would be just as valid. A photo may show you something but only you are can make up the story. I think it's a key point that Garry tried often to clarify for fuzzy thinkers.
Can't see this working without her garment's careful arrangement and drapery. Imagine her in a say a novelty crop-top . . .
Interesting...
"Found via the British Journal of Photography, I think that Bella West is a really outstanding portrait photographer."
So what is that you find so outstanding? Composition? Lighting? Or just publicity of the person?
Knowledge of photography?
Prefacing ANYTHING with the phrase "I think that..." should be based on more than just pure emotion at the time. It should be based on some intellectual understanding.
Sadly lacking.
Good point, Eric.
So what is that you find so outstanding? Composition? Lighting? Or just publicity of the person?
He's already told us what he likes about it and why.
Prefacing ANYTHING with the phrase "I think that..." should be based on more than just pure emotion at the time. It should be based on some intellectual understanding.
Clearly it is. Your comments make you seem like someone who, as the saying goes, knows the words but not the music.
Sadly lacking.
Yes, that's true, you are. It's not possible for someone like you to play the part of the snobbish intellectual, because when you lack the goods you just come across as a pretentious cad.
Eolake, you know that I'd chime in here on this one. I have been reading your text over and over and I went to her web site. I really enjoyed view her pictures, but I'm not quite ready to comment yet, but I will.
Thanks, for posting these. She does really nice work.
"We've been talking about composition, and here is one of the rare photographers who not only thinks and feels deliberately for compositions, but is also fabulously good at it."
Eolake, I figured it out. I've watched her slideshows several times now and it's humbling. I've taken what I have called good pictures (actually my camera takes good pictures). But, after looking at Bella's pictures I realize the difference is that I take a picture of what is in front of me and sometimes it comes out looking good. But, it's nothing that I have ever planned to capture or staged specifically or composed.
I'm beginning to understand the term a little bit more now and I have a lot to learn.
Thanks, again for sharing this photographer with us.
I actually took the time to go to her site, watched the weddings slide show -wow. B&W, color, portraits - all stunning. (Bemused at first by Natalie Mechant's wistful soundtrack, but after a bit, it really worked well.) Browsing the site, discovered Ms. West is quite lovely herself.
agree entirely!!
Hello everyone, it's nice to hear your comments as i am the girl in the picture. I am of course a couple of years older now and getting further in the modelling buisness due to the work that i did for bella. I never knew that so much detail went in to each photo. Thankyou for all the lovely comments - as i am not a photographer myself, the things you have said have made me think about what the things are going through the photographers mind, and what they need me as a model to do. Thanks again for the lovely comments!!
Cool to hear from you, Bryony. Well done on the modelling.
How old were you then and now? Have you modelled recently?
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