Chance left free to act.

"All the world is full of inscape, and chance left free to act falls into an order as well as purpose" - Gerard Manley Hopkins

Principles of composition, in photography as with other arts, implies a certain amount of deliberation on the part of the photographer. The photographer is supposed to consider, weigh options, frame and re-frame, to get whatever the "best" composition is for that particular image, according to that particular photographer's aesthetic sense. But with photography, apart from other arts (or at least more of the conventionally known ones, like painting), the shot image can be spontaneous, often instantaneous, and composition - if it is considered at all - is measured in milliseconds: perhaps most successfully executed in the quick judgment of a seasoned photographer, or the innate skill of someone who is a "natural" at it. If you are neither seasoned nor a natural, successful composition can be often a matter of luck.

Successful composition can be also a matter of opinion [see my rules rant from last April]. In the photo above, my task was to take a wildlife "portrait" - a term which is - depending on how you look at it - inherently contradictory. The portrait, as a technical genre, is generally understood to be more of a formal affair. Posing is involved, at the very least, as is attention to position and lighting, among other concerns. Wildlife tend not to behave in line with such requirements. Even if you catch said wildlife in a moment of repose, it could hardly be characterized as having taken direction from you.

You may not be surprised to know I have a personal definition of "portrait" that is less formal. So fortunately I was able to tackle the contradiction that is "wildlife portraiture" by considering instead that the idea of wildlife portraiture, as Portraiture, could not be well-expressed in the positioning of the subject or composition of the image, but instead might be better approached (and found) as a feeling, or an overall sense of environment that comes through without the aid of deliberation, of set-up. To find composition, in fact, by chance.

The shot was taken as I found it - chance lit a titmouse onto a branch right in front of me, so I took aim and hit the shutter button a few times and hoped for the best. What I found in the results - and admittedly, it is my image so I'm a wee bit biased - is something far more "right" to my eye, in the way all the elements of scene fall into place, than I think I ever could have achieved from adopting a more deliberate approach. For one thing, with forethought I might have tried to follow the rule of "no clutter" and thus lost the chance to admire all those beautiful trunks and branches angling every which way in the background. I worked further in post-processing, overexposing and altering colors to get a slightly unreal look - a whiff of fairytale, sprinkled with a touch of harshness. A featherweight songster you can imagine Disney-pitched in serenade with a Princess, yet here fighting to release a nutrient-rich seed in the midst of a bleak midwinter.

Ok, that was a bit dramatic. But damn, I see it - don't you?