- Photography
- Your Shot Photos of the Week
Your best photos of the week, April 26, 2019
Each week, our editors choose stunning photos submitted by members of Your Shot, National Geographic's photo community.
While curating this week’s best photos from the Your Shot photo community, I tried to notice any recurring visual themes. Almost immediately, I recognized how this week’s photographers used shapes in their photographs. Whether through light, leading lines, reflections, or patterns, each photographer used the shapes in their frame to compose a moment.
The square format Francesco Truono used in his street photograph of a woman in the sunlight struck me when I first saw it in daily edits. His choice of a square crop already used shape in his composition, but then he also used the existing railing within his photograph as a visual element. Then the sunlight created a contrasting shadow across the woman’s face that added another shape within the frame.
Despite enjoying math in high school, I absolutely despised geometry (and statistics, but that’s another story). I could never piece together why we were learning about logical statements in geometry. It still doesn’t make sense. What does make sense to me nowadays is the power of geometry within a photograph. Photographers who find shapes within their frames and wait for the light to strike the right angle can make some of the most compelling photographs, even with the simplest of scenes. Sometimes less is more, so keep your eyes peeled for shapes within a scene and compose around them. You never know what you might see!