Negative space. The area surrounding the main subject, the positive space, in photography and art. Negative space is an effective technique used to draw one’s eye and focus toward the main subject. But negative space is just as important in giving a photo, or any piece of art, some “breathing room.” Your eyes need a place to rest in a composition and negative space is what keeps an image from being cluttered with too many unnecessary elements. When used effectively, negative space makes the overall image stronger and more powerful.
Is it like this in life as well? Have our modern lifestyles become so consumed with the need to “have it all” that we no longer leave room for negative space, for breathing room, for rest? Even though it’s that breathing room that actually makes us stronger, happier, more productive.
Sometimes I feel like I’m living inside a photograph cluttered with too many distracting elements and clutter, there’s no negative space, and therefore, no understanding of where to focus. As Tony Robbins says:
One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular.
That’s me. Dabbler. Jack of all trades, master of none. I’m feeling the need to focus and recompose, adding a bit of negative space back into the picture.
How do you create negative space in life in order to focus on and strengthen the positive?.
