Counting Triangles

Black Church and Child — Iceland, July 2004
Contax 645 with Kodak DCS Proback 645C and 35mm f/3.5 Distagon
The making of the above photograph is described in my essay titledTwo Icelandic Portraits. I find the image compelling, and apparently so do a number of other people, because it has generated a significant number of e-mails.The teacher in me can't resist though looking at the image with an eye that goes beyond simple cultural appeal, and to want to analyze the photograph in an attempt to understand why it works, especially from a graphic perspective.
Of course the thing that is most obvious are the strong architectural shapes of the portico and the church itself. The composition is not in any way symmetrical, a typical source of esthetic appeal. Indeed at first glance it is very unbalanced. Almost jarringly so. But then the weight of the black church is seen to be counterbalanced by the mass of the foreground white frame, and a strange sort of harmony appears.
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