White Space

When a friend asked me to give a talk at her book release, I was not quite sure what I could add.  The deeply emotional and involving book is called “Finding Spiritual White Space”, and she wanted me to discuss how I use white space in my images.  As I examined how I use white space in photography, I realized that this fit perfectly.

I use white space to direct the viewers eye, to form the composition,  sometimes actually to change or alter the emotional value of the image.

But more importantly,  by giving distance around the main subject I can give the viewer room to breath, to contemplate, to consider the meaning of the of main subject.  And in that white space, the emotional impact of the main subject becomes more intense. In other words, with less around to crowd the viewers eye, the truth of what is really important can become clear.

That is when I realized that the same is true in our lives. We crowd things into the empty space.  Then, what we should be focusing on becomes lost.

It was a great discussion. And I feel honored to that Bonnie Gray asked me to share. If you get a chance, you should really check out her book. http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Spiritual-Whitespace-Awakening-Your/dp/0800721799