A black and white image of a person standing in a parking area under a dimply lit building — smoking.
Light, shadow, building, and objects to paint a picture of an isolated smoker.

Out My Window — Composition

Photography // Technique
Out My Window Downtown Edmonton

Being locked into a spot or angle, forces one to focus more on other variables to make interesting images to tell a story. Sports photographers static in a baseline spot or photo well know this for fact.

If nothing else, photographing downtown Edmonton Out My Window has really sharpened my composition — particularily framing a subject or adding context. Being surrounded by high rises, it is often shadows or buildings framing subjects, objects adding in necessary context, or nature acting as a border all on its own at times.

Shadows

Facing north visually lays tall sharp lines of shadows on the downtown canvas that move across the streets and sidewalks of 101A Ave and Rice Howard Way. Using these shadows to frame subjects is a long boring process, but rather rewarding when it all comes together.

Perfectly placed in the crook of a shadow bend, this gentleman enjoys the sun.
Walking through the ally, I catch this person framed nicely by the large shadows.
Out My Window — Post Blue Moon
Jesse Gado takes a photo of a plated dish with shadows behind and in front — framing.

Nature

Despite Edmonton being one of the most concrete cities in Canada, we do have 17 trees downtown, and I’ve used damn near every single one at some point to frame subjects. The first photo below get’s the party started using shadows and trees to frame the lunch breakers, then it is nature doing all the work.

Out My Window — Mess Life
The shadow & trees all but dictates where folks sit at high noon on the courtyard benches.
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My favourite past time, watching tickets go to assholes in the accessible spot.
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Solo breakfast framed perfectly by one of few trees downtown.

Buildings & Objects

From the high vantage point, a number of objects and buildings are available for backdrops or to frame a subject so the eye knows what the focus of the image is and draws the viewer there.

Out My Window — Post Blue Moon
A woman stands in front of a blue dumpster smoking, providing a perfect background.
Out My Window — Mess Life
The building draws the eyes to the asshole in the accessible spot — obviously a pet peeve of mine.
From the Camera of Jody bailey
The Sherlock Holmes sign provides context for the snow angel etched below.
Two people sit on a bench eating lunch on an otherwise deserted downtown.
During peak Covid, using the empty streets and tall buildings to provide context and focus to frames.
Out My Window — Post Blue Moon
Using the vertical lines of surrounding buildings to frame madmen who dangle from the sky.
Out My Window — Post Blue Moon
The tower in the foreground sets the context of this voyeuristic frame, and the pattern of the cinder blocks & brick finish off the framing of this unique interaction.

Patterns

As shown in the image above, not only the buildings and limited nature in downtown Edmonton can act as a frame for a photo subject. The pattern of the brick adds another layer to the canvas and adds to the isolation of a subject.

A friend sticks their head out the window of a moving vehicle on a brick background from above.
This little friend is clearly the subject of the photo thanks to the patterned background.

These are just a few examples of the ways one can force themselves into a box, in order to build a new skill. Again, being locked in my downtown condo for a couple years during a global pandemic has made me a better photographer.

Just the other day I was talking to a DJ at Cypherwild and he noted MCs that didn’t like being restricted by not being able to swear at their Churchill Square battles, but argued it forced them to be better MC’s. That exact same principle applies here. Sometimes being locked in a box of creativity fosters the most actual creativity.

The Rice Howard Howler

A regular — absolutely not regular — update on what I've been up to, some thoughts I've had, and content I've consumed.

You can unsubscribe anytime. My address is Rice Howard Way, Edmonton, AB T5J. Sometimes on a bench with Bruce.

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