The use of space in photography is probably as old as photography itself. After all, most landscape images or portraits rely heavily on the abundance of open space, or lack thereof, to maximize the desired effect the subject has on the viewer.
I will use a simple cognitive tool to explain this; reductio ad impossibile otherwise known as proof by contradiction. Let’s assume I want to take a photograph of Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour and display all the various elements to emphasize its grandness. If I stood right along the waterfront and attempted to capture the scene with a wide angle lens, I would get a photograph of a giant expanse of water followed by small buildings and hills in the far distance, furthermore I would be completely neglecting the skyline directly behind me. All this because I didn’t use space to my advantage. If I climbed up to the Old Peak Road and walked around to find the ideal spot, I could use a short telephoto and capture the harbor in its entirety without the detrimental near/far effect associated with wide angle lenses.
This illustrates the point I want to make; photographers need to be very careful with how they use space and this includes negative space. If used properly, space can enhance a subject and portray it in the desired way, if not it can ruin the photograph entirely.
In this selection of photographs, I used space to emphasize certain characteristics of the subjects that I photographed. Whether that was the vast scale of a landscape, an architectural space that engulfs the viewer or a straight drop into a dark abyss. In these photographs, I feel that I managed to use space to my advantage, thereby eliciting the desired emotions among viewers.