Al Allen Tampa Photographer
813-662-6832
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The Power of Three To understand why I put THREE, THREE, THREE in the title of our web site, you have to understand how magical the number THREE is and how the number THREE has effected my life. A song said "Joe Joe say, One & One & One make THREE." This always sounded better to me than one and two make THREE. Of course, Lawrence Welk did say A- One, A-Two, A-THREE. However, that is a different song. It seems that I have always had “Clowns to the right of me, Jokers to the left, and here I am…” This fascination with the number Three all started when I became the first of THREE children from just two parents. Mom would read me stories like The Three Little Pigs. At Christmas time, I found out about the Three Wise Men. My first mode of transportation had THREE wheels. I ate Banana Splits because they have THREE scoops of ice cream. When I got old enough to join the school band, all they would let me play was the triangle. This lead to a "Love Triangle" but that is another story. In any event, I was having "THREE Kinds Of Fun".
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I noticed that the number THREE kept coming up. Donald Duck had Three nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie. I laughed with the Three Stooges. My father listened to the Andrew Sisters while I was tuned into the Three Bee Gees and later the Three Dixie Chicks. Have you ever notice in a movie they show things THREE times. People repeat things THREE times, BAM, BAM, BAM. I even noticed that when one guy gives another guy a hug they will pat each other one on the back THREE times. Speaking of hugs there is my love life. Wham, Bam, Thank You Ma'am.
The number THREE adds balance and depth to our lives. If we did not have the number THREE we could never have a middle, only a left or right. When you add something to the front of a picture and add something to the back of a picture, the picture then has a 3D effect. Even in a partnership, which only has two people they have to divide the profit down the middle. Of course in my case, I ask over and over, and over, again and again and again where is the profit?
When I got into photography the number THREE was again everywhere. A camera only uses THREE things
to make a picture, the shutter, the lens and the film. Now days with the digital cameras there is a sensor
where the film used to be. The pictures have to be divide into Three sections to achieve true composition.
They refer to this as the law of Thirds. Then there is the most important law in photography: First rule is to
find the customer. Second rule is to do the job. The Third and most important rule, you have to collect the money.
Here are THREE photographs. Look and see if you can see how they are divided into THIRDS.
All right, I will show you what I mean.
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Notice how each section brings something to the photo. If you learn to draw these lines in your mind when you are looking through the viewfinder your photography will improve.
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I did not draw any lines on these shots. There are times that things are just too obvious. So now, you think you know why I picked the number THREE, THREE, THREE to be in our title. Well, you are wrong. When I started my freelance business, I wanted the name Al Photo for my E-Mail, web site and such. Those computer people would not let me use that name. They said someone else already had that name. Can you imagine that? They told me if I added numbers to the end of my name then I could use Al Photo. That day I was in a devilish mood. Well, almost. I was only feeling half devilish so I picked AL PHOTO THREE, THREE, THREE.
Al Allen Tampa Photographer
813-662-6832
