The wrong side of the tracks

This is just North of the Seattle downtown waterfront. I had a couple hours to kill and went wandering with the camera...one of my favorite pastimes. I just spend time shifting my attention to see what is fascinating or beautiful in the very ordinary.

Ever since seeing an amazing triptych of Uta Barth's photographs at the Henry Art Gallery, I have been intrigued with limited and selective focus. More on this in the

Typically the thing most of us do to draw the viewer to our subject is throw the background out of focus. I am finding it interesting to go beyond this, picking and choosing varied elements to have in or out of focus.

When I look around without a camera, my focus is dynamic, changing all the time. Even if I am looking at a subject (say a bird in a tree), my attention will flit to the branch it is sitting, then back to the birds eye, etc.

In a photograph the focus is static, but by choosing which elements to focus on, it seems to give more presence to the picture, making me feel I am standing right there.

This picture looking through the fence makes me feel I am leaning against the fence. It almost makes me want to squint to focus.

This can be effective in ways that aren't intuitive. I normally want one eye of a animal or person in perfect focus. I am learning that breaking this rule can a more effective portrait. Keep in mind that a portrait to me is intended to capture a part of who a person is, not just a forensic record.

This image below of Cheyenne shows more character and has a closer presence (IMO) than it would had I focused on her eye.