Look Left, Look Right, Repeat

I am in a point in my life where I’ve now shot well over 10.000 photos. Obviously only a small percentage of those end up on this website, but I’m proud of my portfolio.

This photo however is the one that amazes the most. The special thing about it is that it’s not beautiful, but it is conflicting. Whenever I try to look at it my attention gets dragged left, then right and then back left again. I consider this to be the most tiring photo I have ever seen. There’s no subject in the middle. It’s just empty space and the only points of interest are towards de left and right edge of the frame. I can never look at it more than 1 minute since it’s too confusing. Why is she not sitting on the red bench? It’s like the left side and the right side are calling each other, but there’s too much emptiness between them.

This was not a planned framing. I just fired up a couple of shots and noticed this interesting wide composition. I was using my Fujifilm X-H2s and the XF 16-55mm F2.8. The photo was taken in the small city of Grosseto, Italy.