Portrait of the Artist

This old picture is from my college days. I'm the dweeb on the right, Carla is on the left. This picture does more than bring back fond memories; it illustrates something important in photography, which is why I'm including it in this week's Picture Envy. You can't tell it, but I'm holding a couple of disgusting oil stained paper bags filled with left over pizza. I put one behind Carla's back and I held my other arm out and the photographer framed the shot without it. If the photographer had centered us better, you'd have seen even less of my arm, but they did such a nice job with the greenery at the top of the frame I can't complain. So the point is this - framing is important for both what is included as well as what's not included.