“… nature – unadulterated and unimproved by man – is simply chaos.” Edward Weston.
There’s no argument that Edward Weston was one of the finest photographers that ever tripped a shutter. And one of the aspects of his photography that he is most revered for is his compositions. He was the absolute master in his studio but when it came to photographing nature he admitted that it was the most difficult of all. Why? Because nature is chaos.
Nature is Chaos
The processes that shape our natural world are random and chaotic. A powerful example is the many salt features scattered throughout Death Valley National Park. And yet a great photograph, no matter what genre, cries out first of all for order. So the first challenge of the nature photographer is to find the order in the chaos.
I often use small frames to isolate areas of the scene before me to search out the areas where order can be found. I make the frames out of mat board by cutting rectangular holds the same aspect ratio as the camera’s sensor – 2×3. I also have a frame that has a hole cut at a 4X5 aspect ratio. (In the old days of 35 mm slide film we were able to use a slide holder without the slide.) I wear them on a lanyard around my neck and lift them up to peer through them when I’m not seeing anything. By blocking out the surrounding chaos it’s a lot easier to see the patterns that will make a good composition. I often just hold the frame up and walk around, looking through it. I have images that I would not have seen without it.
Weeping Rock, Zion National Park, Utah
So, the first challenge in composing a great landscape photograph is to find little pieces of order amidst the chaos.
Order Amidst the Chaos
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Ralph, I disagree. I don’t think there is any such thing as chaos in the world, just COMPLEXITY. The only reason people use stochastic calculations is because we do not have the (unimaginably large) capacity for exact calculation. Even quantum mechanics can (i believe) be reduced to computation and not just probability. We see things as chaotic only because we cannot perceive the order in them. Nature is a beautiful example of this. The notion of order is much more satisfying and edifying than chaos, which is essentially atheistic and denies consciousness. Since i have self-awareness, I believe in consciousness as an inherent principle in the existence and process of the universe. I can’t prove YOU have consciousness, but you can….
Mike, thanks for your thoughtful comments. I think this whole notion of chaos vs. consciousness gets at some fundamental ways that we as humans approach the bigger questions of life. I know that when I’m in the field often times I can find the order amongst the complexity but some times I need help. And this little device has helped my see more clearly and come away with some photographs that I otherwise would have missed.