Springtime Shoot

[William Petruzzo]

I've never posted in the galleries before. I thought I'd share a few photos from a shoot a couple weeks back. These weren't for a client or anything-- Mostly just artistic exploration.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

 

[Mersad]

I love the style of your shots. Very simplistic without being dull. The country-theme fits perfectly here. I would have reduced the blurred foreground in the second one, but it works well this way too since you see what you have to see.

 

[William Petruzzo]

Thanks for the feedback and the compliments. The blur in number two was an aesthetic choice, which I would have made differently if the rest of the shot hadn't included a point of reference in the other flowers.

 

[LaFoto]

I quite like the idea of shooting through the forsytiae and having so many of them form the very yellow, very blurred foreground. Actually, that photo strives hard to become my personal favourite out of all these. Though I also like his inquisitive look in the last, where we get such clear view of his eyes.
The last but one: why did you choose just that way of framing it? Putting him into the very centre, cropping off part of his legs and feet, but including that blurred-out fence post on the left? This is a genuine question! I'm really curious to hear about the thought-process that went with framing that one!

 

[William Petruzzo]

Thanks for the kind words!

I'd be lying if I said I had a really well thought out motive in framing that photo the way that I did. It wasn't an accident, but I doubt I was trying to "say" something with it either. The truth is, I'm a big fan of unconventional composure. That definitely makes up a big part of it. But, also, I liked the way his posture interacted with the piece of wood in the foreground; the wood creating dramatic depth in the frame and its angle emphasizing his slouch against the wall. The simplest answer is that I felt that it gave the image more character than the technically "correct" composure (which I also got, but I liked this one more).

Looking back though, I think I had something of a story somewhere in mind when I took most of these photos. Obviously it didn't come out in any kind of linear sense. I think the story had to do with rural life, or independence, possibly even solitude. So, the subject of the photograph may in fact be as much the wood behind him and in the foreground as is the young man himself. The composure ends up being a subtle pull away from the boy into the implied setting, and thus meaning.

Good questions, thanks for making me think! Seriously, as an artist, I crave the push to analyze what I'm doing. It's easy to get into a routine of just taking pictures for the sake of making something cool looking. And there's nothing wrong with that. But I want to excel beyond the basic craft in my hands and expand my artistic voice also. So, I don't know if that was in your intent anywhere, but thanks nonetheless!