Composition by definition is the nature of something’s ingredients or constituents; the way in which a whole or mixture is made up. In photography, composition is simply how the elements are arranged. Elliott Erwitt, an advertising and documentary photographer that’s known for his black & white candid photos of ironic and absurd situations within everyday settings, says that composition in photography has little to do with the things you see, and [rather] everything to do with how you see them, you either see them or you don’t, and the rest of photography is merely academic, in that anyone can learn to take a picture, but the true art of photography lies in how you organize what you see.
So, what separates photographers apart, or anyone who picks up a camera for that matter, when we all see the same things? I, too, have to agree that it’s how we see the world, our unique perspective, if you will, and it’s ultimately, how we frame and compose those things in our minds because there probably isn’t a picture that hasn’t been taken at one time or another. Thus, as a professional photographer, it becomes not only our job, but our true mission to see and frame the world differently, to create unique compositions, and in doing so, our work, our portfolios, should tell that story in a way that it simply hasn’t been told before. Photographic composition is truly what should not only set us apart, but be fundamentally key in our work.