From:Doug Miller Electronic:radarsprint -A- yahoo.com
Subject:RE: RE: Haunting Date:Sat Jun 25 12:48:26 2011
Response to:16012
I took some art appreciation classes once.

Dave, your discussion is using the same words as my instructors was trying to teach us, (horizontality & verticality [X & Y Axis]) and using similar concepts of composition as they were trying to impart (Depth of concept Z axis), and using the speculation of the photographers state of mind you've reached beyond a standard 3 dimensional view of the world an entered the "TWILIGHT ZONE" (where's that music coming from).

Did I get the whole your "verbage is like a picture" thing across? (I'm not a writer).

OH ya, this whole vein started on haunting..

Lets go ride bikes... (As quoting one of my favorite jokes).

Doug

----- ORIGINAL MESSAGE FOLLOWS -----
Dr. Pepper's "Haunting" photo is really striking.

Why? Take a careful look at the composition. It's haunting how many of the visual elements in the photo "line up".

For background, take a look at Mary Cassatt's "The Boating Party" at the National Gallery of Art.
http://www.nga.gov/fcgi-bin/timage_f?object=46569ℑ=10088&c=ggcassattptg

Draw a line from the baby's eyes to the father's. From the mother's eyes to the father's. Follow the oars and the sail and rope. Look closely at the hats. The father's hat lines up with the baby's. How about the curve of the mother's hat?

While the subject matter of this painting is mundane, the composition is outstanding.

Now let's examine Dr. Pepper's photo.

Everything is out-of-kilter. But wait. There's some normalcy lurking within. The bike is perfectly horizontal. Draw a line from axle to axle. Look at several pieces of wood on the ground at left - they're horizontal too!

Pepper's face and the electric meter socket are perfectly vertical. So is the face of the first goat.

The head of the third goat (or some other swampland creature) is at the same angle as the derelict house.

Keep looking - you'll find a number of other things which "line up".

The house would be pulling the whole scene to the left, but the large tree at the right pulls everything back into balance.

Perhaps it was just luck. Or perhaps the photographer saw all this as he or she arranged the bike and Dr. Pepper. However it happened, the composition of this photo is outstanding!

Maybe one day we'll see Pepper hanging in the National Gallery one day...