DELAY
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he compositional route to being less obvious and promoting ambiguity in an image depends ultimately on delay. Specifically, while inviting the viewer to look at the image, a key element is embedded in the composition in such a way that it reveals itself only slowly, or after a pause. Instead of rapid communication, the photographer aims for the equivalent of a punchline delivered after the viewer has already entered the image. Doing this at the time of shooting means essentially stepping or pulling back instead of the more natural reaction of closing in on a subject of interest. It also often means seeing and treating the subject in context. Perhaps the most common class of delaying tactic is spatial reorganisation, in which the critical subject or key is made smaller or less central in the composition. This automatically places the first attention on the surroundings, and the jump from this background context
to the discovery of the key subject relies on a relationship between the two, often with some surprise. The figure in a landscape is probably the best known of this kind of composition, and has a long history in painting preceding that in photography. Notable examples are The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine by Matthys Cock and The Sermon on the Mount by Claude Lorrain. In these paintings the landscape dominates human affairs, for a variety of reasons, and often it is only on the second look that the key human element becomes obvious. The small figure serves not just to enhance the scale of the landscape and to comment on human events in the scheme of things, but in the reading of the image creates a small event for the viewer. It prolongs the experience of looking at the picture and encourages a re-examination. Within this class, ways of temporarily “hiding� the subject include not just making it small, but
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placing it eccentrically away from the center, and misleading the eye by using geometry and organization to direct attention elsewhere first. Also, reversing any of the several techniques discussed earlier that emphasize a subject (such as differential focus and lighting) can help to “hide� a subject. There are other delaying tactics that are not so readily classifiable. One is to refer or “point� to a subject that is outside the frame, for instance by showing just its shadow, or by showing the reaction of someone to this unseen element. Another, shown opposite, is the surprise of unexpected phenomena, when something is not what it first appears to be—in this case a line of men who are not standing, but caught in mid-air. In all this, it’s important to be aware of the risk of there being insufficient clues, to the point at which the viewer gives up before recognizing the point being made.
4WO THINGS CONTRIBUTE TO THE TIME LAG IN SEEING THE KNEELING FIGURE OF A MAN PRAYING°WHICH IS ESSENTIAL TO APPRECIATING THE SCALE OF THE "UDDHA /NE IS THE DRAMATIC AND UNEXPECTEDLY HIGH ANGLE OF VIEW THE OTHER IS THE GREAT DIFFERENCE IN SCALE BETWEEN THE TWO FIGURES
35&) 3%#4 "!.'+/+ +,/.' 4HE INTEREST IN THIS PHOTOGRAPH IS NOT REALLY THE BOAT ON A KLONG CANAL IN "ANGKOK BUT THE FACT THAT IT IS STILL THERE AFTER A MASSIVE MOTORWAY HAS BEEN BUILT RIGHT OVER IT 4HE CONCRETE PILLARS MAKE A LANDSCAPE WHICH ONE WOULD NOT NORMALLY ASSOCIATE WITH A TRADITIONAL WAY OF LIFE (ENCE A CLOSE VIEW OF THE BOAT WOULD NOT HAVE SERVED THE PURPOSE (OWEVER SIMPLY A LONG SHOT WITH THE BOAT VERY SMALL MIGHT JUST LOSE IT FROM VIEW )NSTEAD THIS VIEWPOINT AND PLACING THE BOAT AT THE FAR RIGHT OF THE FRAME HELPS TO POINT IT OUT THROUGH THE CONVERGENCE OF THE MOTORWAY PILLARS
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!DHERENTS OF A 3UFI SECT IN /MDURMAN 3UDAN PRACTICE A FORM OF MEDITATIVE JUMPING IN UNISON #ATCHING THEM AT THE PEAK OF THE JUMP WAS AN OBVIOUS CHOICE BUT THE PATTERN OF THE MATTING
MAKES THE MID AIR SUSPENSION LESS OBVIOUS AT FIRST GLANCE AND THIS ENHANCES THE SURPRISE WHEN AFTER A FEW SECONDS IT IS SEEN
&)3( -!2+%4 '/! 4HIS IS A CHANCE PHOTOGRAPH FOR WHICH THERE WAS VERY LITTLE WARNING 4HE FRAMING IS RIGHT FOR GIVING SOME HUMOR TO THE SITUATION BY MAKING SURE THAT THE BOY STEALING THE FISH APPEARS JUST AT THE BOTTOM OF THE FRAME THERE IS A SMALL DELAY BEFORE HE IS NOTICED 4HE VIEWER FIRST SEES THE WOMEN IN A CONVENTIONAL MARKETPLACE SHOT AND THEN NOTICES THE PETTY THIEVING GOING ON BELOW 4HIS OF COURSE IS HOW THE FISHERWOMEN THEMSELVES SAW THE EVENT
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