Negative Space

Foster sensitivity for the around and in-between

24.42

Hi architects,

Consider the two photos below. What were the first things you noticed about each photo? Try to be as specific as possible. If you transported yourself into the venue from the perspectives in the images, describe what you see and hear around you. How large is the venue? How loud is it and what kind of personalities stand around you? If you’re not familiar with the artist, what does the music sound like? Start with the obvious and work toward the implicit. Paint an image before reading on.

Last October, I was assigned to cover an Arlo Parks concert at The Independent, an intimate, divey music venue tucked in a busy stretch of Divisadero. It was my first time at this venue. Past the ticket booth and foyer was a long corridor, dimly lit and decorated with framed portraits of artists and celebrities who’ve walked through here before me. The hallway felt like it stretched on for longer on my way in than on my way out.

The venue’s unique challenges—dim lighting, dense crowd, and immobility—were clear from the opening act. An hour and some hundred shutters later, I faced the same challenges when Arlo Parks came on. I was so focused on nailing my first assignment of the season, I didn’t notice my knees stiffening until a few songs in. I usually only get the first three songs for show assignments, but at The Independent, I had the entire set. This gave me space to manage these challenges and notice what was happening both on stage and off the stage.

Halfway through her set, I put away my camera for a few songs. I noticed a couple standing in front of me—one who had memorized every lyric and the other appearing much more entertained by their partner’s enthusiasm than the show itself. Around me, some younger crowds of friends filmed on Snapchat and a few older concertgoers who seemed very familiar with the venue rooted along the edges, taking occasional sips from their cocktails. I could never imagine this mix of people crammed into the same room, but Arlo Park’s r&b ballads melted the eclectic crowd into a layered sea. I alternated between blending into the audience and capturing instants of when the lights, my framing, and Arlo Parks’ expression eclipsed.

In photography, "negative space" refers to the space around and between the subject of an image. You can think of it as the background, or context of a photo. The negative space forms shapes that share edges with the positive space, helping define the boundaries of the foreground and balance the composition of a photo. How would you describe the composition of the unedited photos from earlier, and how would you edit them to tell a more vivid story?

In addition to exposure, color, and tone, subtle composition edits can enhance your photography in powerful ways. I was able to get an unobstructed shot of Arlo Parks singing in the blue (left) image so I wanted her portrait to dominate the image. I cropped in the top and sides of the image so that she can take up most of the composition. The flowers, drum set, and other background objects were distracting, so I blended them into the background. Then, I exposed and graded the image to create a sharper contrast between her and the background while still protecting her skin tone. The tight composition and intense lighting highlight her impassioned performance.

When I saw the raw yellow (right) image, I almost deleted it with my other underexposed shots. Instead, I decided to keep her silhouette to represent a more emotional part of her setlist. I centered her silhouette, illuminated the guitarist on her left side, and obscured the rest of the image. Unlike the blue image, I decided to keep the negative in the upper half of this photo to make the image feel as dynamic and tangled as some of her poignant songwriting. The negative space in the blue image focuses on Arlo Parks’ emotional performance and that in the yellow image focuses on her show’s atmosphere.

How do these edits rebalance the subject and background in the above images and how do they affect what’s conveyed about the show?

Framing and composition are indispensable skills in photography. They are the two concepts I would encourage any beginner to focus on before anything else. They apply to all forms of photography, whether you’re taking a photo of a person, landscape, or object. They are simple to grasp and difficult to hone. If you understand how to compose your photos, you can easily capture beautiful images with the camera already in your pocket. But, if you grow aware of and control the negative space in your photo, you can produce images that tell the story you want.

Arlo Parks’ handwritten poem held by the fan she gave it to after her reading.

With the power to turn stills into stories, photographers need to be aware of their own biases. Photographers are better storytellers when they are sensitive to the context of their work—the most beloved or controversial art is often the one that bends conventions to convey the creator’s perspective. Multiple photographers capturing the same event, model, or sunrise will carry different perspectives that influence their end creation. Some differences are purely aesthetic, but many are social or political. The only truth a photographer can tell is their own.

I do have my own personal convictions and values, and I live by those. But as an artist, as a portrait photographer, my job is to tell the truth and to capture someone's spirit on a certain day. And it's never the whole truth; it's the truth I experience in a very intense and intimate fashion.

Platon

Negative space is a valuable concept for both the artist and the viewer. Photographers express it as the background; musicians express it as periods of silence; poets express it as empty spaces or line breaks. Next time a photo, song, or piece of writing resonates with you, consider the elements the artist used to connect with you. When art upsets you, look for the employed or neglected elements that provoked you. Whether through appreciation or criticism, we, as the viewer, can engage with a subject more meaningfully when we foster sensitivity for the around and in-between. Invert your focus on the positive space and then ask yourself again—what do you see?