About the picture:
The photograph was taken in January 2011 in Shetland. As part of a project about the Shetland fire festival, I was following the Scalloway Jarl squad during the Scalloway fire festival.
The day started early in the morning by marching around the town before escorting the galley to visit hospitals, nurseries, primary schools and having receptions in the local halls. Food and drinks accompanied the Guizer Jarl and his Squad throughout the day and night but at this particular moment, the squad stopped at the Royal British Legion where they had lunch. Fire Festivals in Shetland are big cultural events celebrating the end of the winter, the start of longer days and the beginning of a New Year. On different dates, they are celebrated in the two main towns, Lerwick and Scalloway but also in some other villages. To learn more about this yearly event I recommend reading Shetland Fire festival in my project section.
The composition is based on a perspective. I used the men on the left as a foreground to set up the first line, create a more interesting layout and to fill the left part in order to bring the viewer’s attention to the second part of the image. The second part is basically built on the line made by the three men.
If I had to apply the rule of thirds to this composition, then vertically, the man on the left is in the first third while the rest of the scene is in the two others.