PBase

I agree in particular with what you say about "tension." One facet of this tension can be a competition for the viewer's attention--often between what is most apparently the "subject" and some other element(s) in the photo. Sometimes it's a challenge to find the subject; sometimes it's two or more elements that the viewer must put together. Regardless, it's this tension that engages the viewer. In a Zen-like way, the full photo does not reveal itself until the viewer has stepped into it.

In the case of the photo on your site, that "other" element is the emptiness of the street, made more vivid by the blur. There's nothing there, and its unexceptional-ness defines it as worth paying attention to; the absolute clarity of the woman helps with that. A risk with valuing tension is that it often reveals itself in cheesy cliches, in which case, the viewer can feel duped (attracted, but ultimately disappointed.)

(BTW, irony is a special and productive source)

I'm intrigued with street- and street-like photography, and "special" images must have this quality.
A recent example of mine---kind of a random selection:

mnl wrote:I agree in particular with what you say about "tension." One facet of this tension can be a competition for the viewer's attention--often between what is most apparently the "subject" and some other element(s) in the photo. Sometimes it's a challenge to find the subject; sometimes it's two or more elements that the viewer must put together. Regardless, it's this tension that engages the viewer. In a Zen-like way, the full photo does not reveal itself until the viewer has stepped into it.

In the case of the photo on your site, that "other" element is the emptiness of the street, made more vivid by the blur. There's nothing there, and its unexceptional-ness defines it as worth paying attention to; the absolute clarity of the woman helps with that. A risk with valuing tension is that it often reveals itself in cheesy cliches, in which case, the viewer can feel duped (attracted, but ultimately disappointed.)

(BTW, irony is a special and productive source)

I'm intrigued with street- and street-like photography, and "special" images must have this quality.
A recent example of mine---kind of a random selection:

Tension between multiple components, but with one clear-cut subject: