Portrait

Bernice.

2025, Beyond 200 feet of My House™, Favourite, Fujifilm GFX 100SII, Inspiration, Mitakon 65mm f/1.4, Portrait, Street

I met Bernice at Sankofa Square today.  She sensed I really wanted to take her portrait, so after initially walking by she just turned around and asked me point blank what kind of photography I do, and I did not hesitate to show her my IG account.

Thank goodness she struck up a conversation with me because lately I’ve been very shy about approaching strangers.  Not sure why exactly, but I think it’s because I’m seeing a lot more photographers out there and I feel like I’m just another annoying guy with a big camera interfering with people in Toronto trying to get on with their day.

Anyway, Bernice, thank you for taking the chance that I couldn’t.

—Peter (@iseeportraits).

Nathan Phillips Square, revisited… and the art of a successful composition.

2025, Beyond 200 feet of My House™, Favourite, Fujifilm GFX 100RF, Inspiration, Portrait, Q&A, Teaching point

Overall photo.
You might like this image, or you might not. But if you do like it, it may be because of the composition.


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Figure 1: Leading lines.
Here we see all the lines that converge and draw your eye to the subject. Specifically, the line of fountains ends with the woman and the curve of the outside arch and city hall “pod” also lead to her.

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Figure 2: Harmony of extending lines.
The cardboard cutout and shadow on the taller city hall building blend to become a sweeping curve. Similarly, the arch extends to the woman’s back leg. Both converge to form an “X”.

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Figure 3: Repeating triangles.
Within the main subject we see repeating triangles that are formed by her arm and cutout positioning, and the timing of her stride.

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Hope you found that useful. Of course I didn’t plan any of it when taking the photo, but after seeing it I was trying to understand why I liked it. Maybe you have additional thoughts about what works… or maybe you just don’t like the image at all 🙂

—Peter.