One of the assignments that we’ve been given in our photo class is to create an image with “tension.” An example that our instructor has used constantly over the years is that when we have an element in the photo that leads us OUT of the photo. it creates tension. And this is not a good thing. Another example would be when two elements meet in the photo in a perhaps uncomfortable way (think of “merges”, where a tree seems to grow out of the top of someone’s head). He has himself created a series of photos that deliberately have tension (called “In Tension”, which is a play on words), which include several different kinds of tension that somehow works. I must confess to being confused by the concept.
Tension was on my mind in Albuquerque, so I deliberately set out to create some photos which have tension, but yet somehow “work” for me. This was probably the easiest to do- all those branches perhaps leading out of and into the photo.
melinda anderson photography 