There’s something that fascinates me about a person concentrating upon a view of their reflection in a mirror. Compositionally it presents a challenge, and yet is quite simple. It’s the eye, stupid. It is the eye that is looking, the eye that it the center of attention, and the eye that may well be the only significant part of the face seen in the mirror by the camera from a three-quarter angle behind the subject without being rudely intrusive.
That is what drew me to this shot this morning. But seeing the photo after developing and scanning, as seen here, the composition works in ways I didn’t expect. Yes, I got the eye. But the mirror is almost exactly in the center of the composition, and it works. The eye itself vies for central position with the hand that is applying liner to it, and the pen bifurcates the two neatly. There is practiced stability in the posture of the arm and absolute concentration on the eye in the mirror looking back at the person looking at it in the mirror.
The verticals are taken care of admirably by the length of hair, the arm holding the pen, the swash of curtain in the background and the vertical implements in the container behind the mirror, which is at once a thing, a subject, a rectangle and a triangle.
The composition works, and yet, as with many things to do with seeing images before taking them, none of the details suggested above are known by the photographer at the point of capture. It worked and spoke to the mind, and the mind took what it was hearing. Only when the image is developed and displayed can the mind analyse what it heard at the moment spurring the decision to make the capture.
This has been added to the noir series from the end of January this year, but was only taken this morning.
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