“Lines” by Sue Thompson

"Lines" by Sue Thompson

Sue Thompson is a bit of a perennial here at Shutter Photo.  Her simple, curious and refreshing approach to photography has captured our attention many times in the past.  Well, we just can’t stop watching her photostream and we love to watch her grow as a photographer.  We can’t ignore one of her recent uploads, the simply named:  Lines. It is a simple study featuring one of the most basic building blocks.

In concept, there’s not really much to this abstract photo.  But that’s why we like it.  The physical subject isn’t easily identifiable.  All we know is that it’s some sort of cube, and the top surface is reflective.  You’ve heard it from me before, but I’ll say it again:  It doesn’t always matter if the viewer cannot identify the physical subject.  For that matter, the physical subject doesn’t matter with abstract photography.  Because the actual subject is the building block itself:  Line.  Assuming my observation skills aren’t fighting me, the background is a set of blinds covering a window.  So the background also serves as a light source – natural light to boot.  It’s a good thing Sue has that nice reflective surface to play with.  I especially love how the cube is not even and the fun line textures that result.

The concept simple and fun and it’s executed well.  But I do wish Sue would have played a little bit more with the shot.  Lines snapped to a 90 degree angle are rigid and strong but lacks the whimsical feel of diagonal lines.  It might have been a fun approach to introduce a clear diagonal element to the otherwise rigid composition.  I’m not saying that Sue should have changed the perspective, I am merely suggesting one simple tweak:  Rotate the cube about 30 degrees.   The lines in the background would hold the structure.  Even the orientation of the lines in the reflection wouldn’t change.  But rotating the cube would introduce some definitive diagonal lines with its edges.  Such a subtle tweak would make this a much stronger photo.

Sue Thompson has no shortage of things to shoot.  One of the things we admire about Sue is that she never stops shooting.  And she shares everything.  So if you have run out of ideas for yourself, you might want to pop on over to Sue’s Photostream to get some subject ideas.