Straight angles have become odd angles

For as long as I can remember I've shot mostly off-angle. Nearly every shot I do is from high up, low down, camera twisted, etc. It's an effective way to make pictures more interesting and to give them more impact. It's also a useful composition tool, allowing you to fit pretty much any shape in to the standard 3×2 aspect ratio.

But last month I met an awesome photographer. And I don't use the word 'awesome' lightly. Gordon Lennox, staffer with the Press & Journal, showed me some of his favourite photos from his own portfolio, and some of the ones that impressed me the most were done from a distance, long lens, and dead straight. Since then I've been experimenting whenever possible with that style of shooting.

One thing I've quickly learned is that straight-on telephoto shots lend themselves best to minimalist compositions. When you shoot off-angle there's a tendency to fill the frame with as much detail as possible, and for newspaper work that's often the point of doing it. But sometimes it's nice to limit the amount of detail and cut the image down to the basics.

For example, one key aspect of a story about fishing ganseys (jumpers) was that each region has a different style of knitting pattern. The museum had two boards full of different patterns, so we stuck the boards to a wall and I asked a member of a local knitting group to just stand and look at them. Instinctively, if you wanted a photo showing 18 different styles of knitting pattern, you might expect the photo to be very busy because you'll be packing a lot of information in there. But I think this minimalist photo conveys the same message, even with lots of negative space:

Similarly for a story about school pupils preparing for a visit to Auschwitz, this sombre silhouette shows two pupils looking at a photograph from last year's visit.

This museum exhibition was, to be polite about it, not as photographically exciting as we were lead to be believed. But by making the picture about a local artist who kindly agreed to come and pose for me, the posters and TV screen became secondary elements. I'm sure I'll re-use this idea in future: When the thing I'm intending to photograph isn't visually exciting, find a person to be the main element in the photo and allow the other things to merely fill in the gaps.

Finally, this image of a sports centre coordinator is wide angle but I'll include it here because it illustrates how you can have an interesting perspective without twisting the camera. I actually climbed up the weights machine and hung over the top of it, with the back of my head flat against the ceiling, to get this unusual angle looking straight down at her. The angle serves no purpose in the story, it was done purely to create an unusual image that will grab people's attention. If there are four pictures on a page, all by different people, then I want mine to be the one that you look at first. And last.