Electric meters. Are they really all that interesting?

Electric Meters On Stucco. Tucson, Arizona, 2013

I think so…at least some of them are anyway.

In this image, I certainly do see the electric meters and wonder about their history, about the many storms and UV rays they have survived…and I wonder about the lives of those on the other side of the stucco wall, to whom the electricity is being piped…and, yes, I even wonder about the basic safety and security of those wires and lines! (And to whom does the electricity go?…Which apartments/homes?…Who is paying for whose electricity?…If you study how the lines split and angle in, you’ll see what I mean.)

But in this photograph, I also see something much more basic. Even before recognizing the electricity meters for what they are, I see an attractive and unusual combination of lines, angles, rectangles, and circles. This was what really caught my eye in the first place–this urban arrangement.

I liked the six vertical lines that gave the image some stability. I liked even more that there were some diagonals–very strong on the left–that lent the picture some tension and movement. I placed the meters themselves a bit to the right in the frame as I felt that the hard and somewhat contrasty zig-zags on the left would balance out the overall weight of the elements. Finally, I liked how the circles and rectangles contrasted with those many and varied lines. Maybe that is why I like converting these kinds of images to monochrome–it forces you to spend more time looking at the compositional elements and how they are placed rather than perhaps distracting you with color.

I suppose, then, that my eye first sees some sort of compositional pattern, then secondarily I see the elements of that composition for what they are. That’s just me, my taste, and my eyeballs, dontcha know. Your kilometerage may vary.