Texture and contrast

This is another photo from Shannon Purdy's coal tailing shoot in Madrid, New Mexico. There are a few things that really work well for this photo. The first and most striking element of composition is the contrast of Shannon's skin tone to that of the jet-black coal. Second, the contrast between the textures of the skin to the jagged environment really grabs the eyes attention. If you allow your eye to break the image down into parts you will notice several triangles or implied triangles throughout the image. From the large implied triangle of the coal mound itself the to small triangles created by the breast they are everywhere. In the background the elements of the tree and the sky give the photo depth.