What's in your frame?

The lesson I'm working on today--mostly black and white photography--poses the question, "What's in your frame?"

The teacher makes the point that every detail in a photograph should matter.  Of course, when we take quick snapshots of children playing, we just get what we get.  But when we're taking a photograph of the beach with people on it, or  an old barn against the sunset, or a child sitting in a room not moving about too fast, we should, my teacher says, take the time to frame the shots better.  Or we can crop out or edit out some of the extraneous elements later in Lightroom.

He says that the photograph's subject should be clear and simple or the viewer's eye will be distracted by things that really don't matter in the story your photo is telling.

The frame (the edges of the photo)  should be clear and sharp.  If you're taking a picture of a couple, say at a wedding, you want the edges not to contain half-people who happen to be standing right on the edge or a garbage can or the fender of a parked truck, for example.

Since I always have a tendency to extrapolate photographic principles to real life, here's what I'm taking from this lesson for life:

Too many activities and commitments can be wearying.  Let each day be simple and elegant in the story that day is telling.

We get to create our days just as we create  photographs--let them say what we want them to say.  I want my days and weeks to be simple and uncluttered so that I can enjoy the beautiful surprises that show up, which every single day they do.