Sometimes it’s advantageous to not have any context. To allow the viewer at first glance to wonder what it is that they are looking at.

This is another visual-exercise of ‘brain looking for something beyond the edge’. In this case, hunting beyond the edge of context. It could be that the photo was taken high above the ground, looking down towards clouds and sea. Or it could simply be a frozen body of water with water slowly forming ice underneath its surface. Without any contextual clues we leave this element to be decided by the viewer.

Besides, why does everything need to be explained and spelled out for the viewer? Surely lack of context is a form of ‘hunting beyond the edges of what is there’, because these kinds of pictures are more about what we left out, rather than what we left in.

My frozen body of Japanese water has no land in sight. I am not aware of land in front of the camera, or to the sides. As far as my mind’s eye is concerned, this scene stretches out to infinity at either side of the frame.

I am left with no alternative but to seek for more than what is shown. To go beyond the edge of the picture frame and imagine what lies beyond.

Photographers are always drawn to the edge. Sometimes it is the edge of a coastal region, or the edge of a cliff, but often times, we are drawn to what is beyond the edge of the picture frame.