The Art of photography

Principles:MakingDesignWork

Rhythm

ThewordrhythmcomesfromtheGreek

rhein,meaning"toflow,"

but

itimplies

a

flow with

arecognizablepattern.In

musicalcompositions,apatternedflow

isobvious,sincesuch

worksofartare

performedoveraperiodoftime.Thevi-

sualartsdisplaythisrhythmicproperty

too,eventhoughmostpicturesexistas

awhole,notchangingwithtime.They

gaintheir

flow—andrhythm—because

theyareperceivedoveraperiodof

time,astheviewer's

attentionmoves

frompointto point.

Rhythmiscreatedwhenever

similar

pictorial

componentsarerepeatedat

regularornearlyregularintervals.

The

viewer's

attentionisluredthroughthe

imagealongthepathof repetition,and

theresultis

asenseoforderandunity.

Inaddition,visualrhythmmayhelp

to

buildakindofviewing

efficiencyintoa

picture,

inthesamewaythatplaying

tennisorchoppingwood

iseasiest

when

donerhythmically.

Arhythmicdesignwasused

to

orga-

nizethe

photographatright.Therecur-

ringcomponentisshape.The

viewer's

attention

repeatedlyleapsthedividing

line

ofthefencetoptotakeinthe

shapesofatorn

patchinthefence,a

windowedhouse,anothertornpatch,a

tree,yetanothertornpatch,
andthe

roofsat

thesidesofthepicture.Under-

lyingthisalternationisthe

lesspro-

nouncedbut
moreregularrhythmofthe

darkmarkingsonthefence,stitching
a

bonusoforderintothe
design.