FRAMES WITHIN FRAMES

One of the most predictably successful of all
photographic design constructions is an
internal frame. As with any established design
formula, it contains real risks of overuse, and has
the makings of a cliché, but these dangers are only
evidence of the fact that it does work. It simply
needs a little more care and imagination when it
is being applied.
The appeal of frames within frames is partly to
do with composition, but at a deeper level it relates
to perception. Frames like those shown here and
on the next few pages enhance the dimensionality
of a photograph by emphasizing that the viewer
is looking through from one plane to another. As
we’ll see at other points in this book, one of the
recurrent issues in photography is what happens
in converting a fully three-dimensional scene
into a two-dimensional picture. It is more central
to photography than to painting or illustration
because of photography’s essentially realistic roots.
Frames within the picture have the effect of pulling
the viewer through; in other words, they are a
kind of window. There is a relationship between
the frame of the photograph and an initial step
in which the viewer’s attention is drawn inward
(the corners are particularly important in this).
Thereafter, there is an implied momentum forward
through the frame. Walker Evans, for example,
often made deliberate use of this device. As his
biographer, Belinda Rathbone, writes, “That his
photographs saw through windows and porches
and around corners gave them a new dimension
and power and even an aura of revelation.”
Another part of the appeal is that by drawing a
boundary around the principal image, an internal
frame is evidence of organization. A measure of
control has been imposed on the scene. Limits
have been set, and the image held back from
flowing over the edges. Some feelings of stability
and even rigidity enter into this, and this type
of photograph lacks the casual, freewheeling
associations that you can see in, for example, classic
journalistic or reportage photography. As a result,
frames within frames appeal to a certain aspect
of our personalities. It is a fundamental part of
human nature to want to impose control on the
environment, and this has an immediate corollary
in placing a structure on images. It feels satisfying
to see that the elements of a picture have been
defined and placed under a kind of control.
On a purely graphic level, frames focus the
attention of the viewer because they establish
a diminishing direction from the outer picture
frame. The internal frame draws the eye in by
one step, particularly if it is similar in shape to
the picture format. This momentum is then
easily continued further into the picture. Another
important design opportunity to note is the
shape relationship between the two frames. As
we saw when we looked at the dynamics of the
basic frame, the angles and shapes that are set up
between the boundary of the picture and lines
inside the image are important. This is especially
so with a continuous edge inside the picture. The
graphic relationship between the two frames is
strongest when the gap between them is narrow.