Question: What’s the similarity between the above photographs?

Answer: They were all shot by masters of photography? True. Another answer: They are all in black and white? Also true. What I’m aiming at is the orientation of the photos. They are all in a landscape format. The camera was held horizontally, or should I say, held the way the camera was designed?

I have a huge preference for horizontal photos. Is it because I love shooting landscapes? Maybe, but no. I have been thinking about this. Why is this? I almost never take a vertical or so called portrait shot. Maybe sometimes if I’m making a portrait of someone I will use the vertical orientation. Normally I’ll almost never do it. I just don’t like it. Sometimes I’ll try but in the back of my mind I already know that I will not use the image.

For the image you see above, I took one horizontal shot and one vertical shot. Like I said I already knew I wasn’t going to use the vertical version. Well WTF…..why shoot it then? Well because I like the universe to prove me wrong. Rest assured that happened but not regarding photo orientation.

As you can guess I chose the horizontal one for a black and white conversion. Still didn’t like it enough but that has got nothing to do with the orientation.

Like I said, I’m trying to find out what I don’t like about vertical shots. Maybe it is this: I also don’t like vertical video! What a surprise!! Screens are mostly horizontal. Except on a phone and that’s of course also the reason why many people like to shoot vertical videos and photos.

Being in a movie theatre it would be really weird and also pretty hilarious, that, when the curtain opens you see a huge vertical screen. It just doesn’t happen. Would be funny though.

I have two eyes. One on the left, one on the right. Horizontally positioned. Maybe that’s just it. It feels natural. It feels good.

‘Nuff said. Here are some vertical clouds. (In landscape orientation, of course. 🤪 )