This was one of my images that I created one weekend afternoon. I put on my 50mm lens and was going to only shoot with that. I walked up to my favorite place and looked for subjects to photograph. I came across this door handle and compelled to create an image from it.
What caught my eye is the contrast of the round base that held a curved handle against the right angles of the door and windows. That rhythm of line that would have been repeated with a traditional door knob plate, is instead broken by the circle of this handles base. Although it could be said that because the handle itself is horizontally affixed, it still creates the rhythm that the straight lines of the window does. Just at a lower volume then the rest.
Balance of the light against the dark hinges on the placement of the door handle. Being in the right third just above mid frame mutes the bold broad white of the door. It counters the blurred white image behind the door. The placement also helps in not making this image feeling to bottom heavy. With the dark of the lower window then add the dark of the handle you would feel weight of the two pulling the image down and out of the frame. I don’t get that kind of tension but instead I feel balanced, at ease with the arrangement.
Because there is that lack of tension in the arrangement I felt a warm black and white tone would best fit this piece. Warmth is peaceful, like home or safe place. I felt that the overall feel could give the view an invitation to open the door and explore what is behind it. Or at least to look into the window and observe the events that were unfolding.
Finally, the selection of focus only being on the handle and nowhere else. I did that because the door handle is the way in. Turn it and open the door to a new experience, to a better life or the laughter of friends. The handle is the focus, the mechanism that holds the door shut and the door only represents the barrier to the now and what will be. We all have the handle in focus in our lives, we just must turn it to move through our doors.