The Art of photography

portionscanbeextremelyrevealing

—

asintheexampleofthe

pianist's

hands

made

to

lookunnaturallylarge.Nootherfamiliarrelationshipneedbe

present:Aphotographthatis

allcolororpattern,withnodominantelement,

maybejustaseffectiveincommunicating

acreativeintentasonewitha

moreconventionalscheme.

Theeffortto

findanidealdesignschemehasalong

history.TheGreeks,

believingthatcertain

proportionshaddivinesignificance,consideredthe

so-calledGoldenSectionrectangle,

witharatioofroughly 5 to8,tobe

per-

fect.FromClassicaltimestothepresentday,

artistshavedevisedformulas

forrelating

designtotheproportionsofthehumanbody.

Andsomemanuals

ofphotography

havelistedrulesprescribing,forexample,thata

horizonline

mustneverdivideapicture

intoequalhalves,butideallyintotwo

thirds/one

third.Yetforeveryallegedlyideal

arrangement,innumerablefascinating

ex-

ceptions

canbecited.Itissafertosaythatgood

designisanyorganizational

schemethat

communicateseffectively.

Forabeginner,gooddesign

usuallyrequirescautious,

consciousdeci-

sionmaking.Ashegrowsmore

experienced,hewilllearntoorganize

theel-

ementsas

efficientlyandperhapsas

automaticallyasshiftinggears

inan

automobile.

Thiswasthecasewiththephotographs

onthefollowingpages,

takenbyWolfvondem

Bussche.Hisfundamental

designdecisionsre-

mainedmoreorlessconstant

throughout: Heuseda 4 x 5

viewcamera

equipped

withawide-angle

65mmlenstoshoottheblack-and-white

pictures,

whichhe

printedonmediumcontrastpaper

Forthecolorpictures,hechose

a

35mmcameraand

colorreversalfilm.But

withinthevariouspictures,hedeftly

exploitedanumberof

differentkindsofpictorial

arrangementstostrikesparks

of

comprehensionandinterest

intheviewersmind.