5A. Reimagining Visual Framing

The image I chose to focus on for this blog assignment was created by Ben Goossens. This artist is from Belgium, Europe and studied photography in art school and later worked as an art director for 35 years. After his work as an art director he decided to specialize in Photoshop images, which he had 15 years of experience in. The picture I chose to critique and reframe is of an owl sitting on an old chair in a room that is painted in clouds and grass with a window in the background. The colors of the walls and the floor bring contrast to the picture, while the layered framing on the chair adds affinity to the picture.

I was attracted to the picture because of the framing and of the painted background. The owl and the window did not necessarily catch my attention right away; I was drawn to the type of frame it was set in. The viewer looks at the lines and perceives a room with three walls. The image reminded me of Winnie the Pooh and made me think of the owl, specifically because he is sitting on a book, similar to when Owl would have a book when teaching. The framing was what drew me to this picture in the first place and that was what I decided to enhance or tighten on this picture. I took out the sides of the picture and tightened the middle or center of the picture, but still following the rule of thirds. The original image followed the rule of thirds, with an image or color in the left, center and right and top, middle and bottom part of the picture. The new image also follows the same guidelines for the rule of thirds. In creating this new picture I made the conscious decision to focus on the visual intensity of the picture and create a new frame for the picture where it was focused on the chair and window and not as much the walls.

I think that the artist framed this picture the way he did because he wanted to show off a room with walls and depth. The window in the background is seen as something far away because of the walls and the chair with the owl shown on the other side of the frame show the width of the picture. I believe that Goossens kept the sides of the picture not only for the depth and width of the picture, but too also show how the walls and the ground come together.

Original image by Ben Goossens

My "reframed" image