Jumping the gun

 

Fujifilm TX-1 / Super-EBC Fujinon 45/4 / Ultrafine Xtreme 400 / Epson V550

"Jumping the gun" is another one from my early days with the TX-1.  Learning how to handle the camera and internalizing the lens' fields of view occupied most of my attention when I was out and about, which traded off more than a little bit with my actual situational awareness.

Still, this is another photo where I remember seeing what was happening and recognizing that I was about to get a good frame if I could dial in the focus quickly enough.  To my recollection, it was a somewhat overcast day and so I wasn't stopped down as far as would have been nice, but enough so that a bit of a focus miss was okay. 

This image has a very strong foreground/background divide that is literally depicted by the traffic island in the middle of the crosswalk.  In the foreground, the comparatively large figure of the cyclist grabs the viewer's attention (because of size, position, and contrast); the next hop from there goes to the motorcycles already roaring through the intersection.

There's a strong sense of directionality to the frame because the subjects are people/vehicles moving along linear paths.  There's an additional vector pulling the viewer deeper into the frame along the lines of the crosswalk (which I forgot to illustrate in the sketch above, oops).  There is a somewhat weak adherence to the rule of thirds if you sketch along the bottom of the motorcycles' wheels and the handlebars of the bike.

I think of the 'true' lines here being more along the 1/4 (vertical) and 1/5 (horizontal) ticks; while a bit more extreme and "weighted" than a traditional thirds-based composition, the skew is enough to look deliberate and work rather than feeling like a slight miss.

Part of me wishes the lead rider were either with the group or slightly further back; still, with the obstructions in the way, this is probably the better outcome.  I suppose you can view it as enhancing the rushing feeling of the motorcycle pod as they jump the light.