Woodland Squares
Fun With Cameras XLVI
Today’s Fun With Cameras was headed for a train-like delay till a video title made me think outside the box.
I watched the video and was slightly disappointed. But I used bits and pieces from recent readings to piece together a plan. Despite a tight schedule and dreary weather, I picked a location and just went.
The goal for the day was to enjoy the peacefulness of a small forest I had never visited before and experiment with an aspect ratio that has more history than some might realize.
I rarely crop my images. And if I do, I’ll stay within the 3:2 aspect ratio that’s native to my cameras. I enjoy the form factor, and a cohesive approach is important, I think.
When I read the six words “The great thing about Square Photos” in my video feed, I remembered a segment of a photography talk I listened to while writing the first post this week about photographic inspiration, which emphasized the benefits of turning to photography’s history and sources of inspiration past social media. I felt an idea and motivation for a quick and dirty photo walk form.
The video turned out a bit differently from what I had anticipated, but my curiosity was piqued.
Many people nowadays might connect square photographs with social media. The format’s history is much richer, including the iconic Polaroid instant film cameras and more serious 6x6 medium format film cameras.
Okay, I thought, why don’t I think in squares for a change?
But I wanted to work on seeing the square and photographing it as a square. Making the square after the fact felt like cheating and being beside the point of the exercise. It’s not the goal to force a 3:2 image into a square. The exercise is about ignoring the extra bits and trying to see the 1:1 box in the viewfinder.
Sadly, I can’t change the aspect ratio in the camera.
But looking through the viewfinder, I eyeballed where the edges should be. I also remembered I can turn on viewfinder gridlines. I experimented and found two of the tick marks to align close enough with the square form.
I left them visible and told myself to frame scenes with their help. Yes, I needed to crop to a square in post-processing, but I had intended for only that crop to count.
It worked decently. Ignoring about a thumb width on each side (or double that on a single side) became easier as the walk progressed. I noticed a tendency to center the compositions much more than usual. But I also played with that later on.
I’m not sure yet how I feel about square images. It’s not a form I’ll adopt. But maybe I’ll experiment with it once in a while.
You’ll find a gallery of results from my walk through a small-ish forest below. I had the location on my radar for a while. And I’m happy I finally went there.
The forest was serene that day. The wind rustled through the bare trees, woodpeckers hammered away, and the few people who crossed my path felt more relaxed than their counterparts in more urban settings.
The wait for the return train gave me a few minutes at a nearby lake (also featured in the last Fun With Cameras), where I saw a pair of windsurfers. Those pictures, I’m afraid, didn’t work.
I hope you enjoy today’s images. I’ll return next week with cycling readings and observation writing. And I have a list of photo walks, which will hopefully culminate in more photography posts in the coming weeks and months.
