It is safe to say I would not have made this picture without my study and assimilation of Eliot Porter’s images. I did not have any particular composition in mind from his body of work. It is true his most important work appears in color, and my photo above is monochrome; however, the motif here falls squarely in one of two categories Eliot Porter articulated in his own writings:

 “Photography of nature tends to be either centripetal or centrifugal. In the former, all elements of the picture converge toward a central point of interest to which the eye is repeatedly drawn. The centrifugal photograph is a more lively composition, like a sunburst, in which the eye is led to the corners and edges of the picture: the observer is thereby forced to consider what the photographer excluded in his selection.”

My photograph uses a centrifugal composition, in Porter’s parlance. In my experience these photographs are quick and easy to make, but rarely succeed brilliantly. Having an expert guide like Mr. Porter certainly helps the emerging practitioner of this difficult art.