Project 14

I found this an odd project to work, I have never had an issue with horizontal versus vertical framing, in fact I frequently prefer a vertical frame.  I even find myself interjecting with friends shooting people in a horizontal frame with point and shoot cameras and asking them to think about a vertical frame, particularly with only one person in the shot.

However, any excuse to get out with my camera and take a sequence of shots for comparison.  For this exercise I selected a walking route that we frequently take on a Sunday morning that drops through the cities main park, loops into the centre and then heads home along Prinzregentenstrasse, one of Munich's primary arteries and where several museums are located.

After taking the shots and arranging them into pairs I started to notice a pattern in the shots, with a vertical frame I have a distinct tendency to get closer to the subject and attempt to fill the frame, with a horizontal shot I tend to back away, broaden the scope of the image, and include more sky/background.  This could be happening because my first subjects had a vertical nature that suited a portrait shot, when I then took a landscape shot I had to back out to ensure that the subject was not cut off top or bottom.  The other noticeable trait with the horizontally framed photos was that I placed the vertical element into the side of the shot, whilst with the vertical framing I tended to place the subject centrally in the frame.

Here are contact prints of the 20 vertical and horizontal shots arranged side by side for comparison: