Composition Means Nothing32

Language serves not only to express thoughts, but to make possible thoughts which could not exist without it.

—Bertrand Russell

I am easily amused by sentences starting with the words “Photography is all about. . . .” One such proclamation that caught my eye decreed photography to be “all about composition.” Nonsense, I thought, that’s like saying writing is all about spelling. But curiosity got the better of me and I looked up the expression “photography is all about composition.” To my surprise, my all-knowing internet search engine found nearly 15,000 matches!

If colors, shapes, lines, and other visual elements are the equivalents of words and expressions that can be combined to create a variety of meanings, then composition can be considered the grammar of the visual language—the ways in which disparate elements can be combined in meaningful ways. Those who believe that good grammar is what writing is “all about” will do well to remember the nebulous cowboy who flaunted longingly at the saucy gaze of a cream-filled platypus.

Good grammar can be used to create perfectly meaningless narratives, just as good composition may yield a perfectly uninspired image. Grammar is important, but not as important as having something worth applying it to.