Pick of the week // Two

When asked to describe our photography, two of the words that Cole and I often use are clean and calm. Two pretty similar words when it comes to photography, and that in our minds describe an uncluttered image. A photo that’s easy to look at.

This image from Ben and Katie’s engagement session in Stanley Park is a pretty good example of what we mean by those two words.

It’s a calm photo where Ben and Katie don’t have to fight too much over the attention of the eye. There just isn’t much else to focus on.

Two thirds is just empty sky, or negative space as it’s often called. An emptiness that I think is important to achieve the calm we’re looking for in this photo. If the crop was closer – say, just above the mountains – the picture would have a different feel to it, as the objects would take up more of the frame. Not necessarily making it a worse picture, but giving it different feel.

I’ve placed Katie and Ben a bit on the right in the frame. If the boat in the background wasn’t there, I probably would have composed the photo so that Ben and Katie we’re centred. But with the boat on the left, I think the two objects balance each other out nicely.

The square format is something we don’t use too often, but sometimes it’s fun to mix it up and I thought it suited this photo pretty well.

This picture was one of many that we liked from that session. All the credit to Katie and Ben though – they were excellent models.

/Jakob