Spring 2026

I took this photo (top photo) of my son a decade ago! He was running in a big field attached to the local playground we used to go to when we were in Maine. We would go after dinner to get as much energy out as we could before bed, because at three, there was a lot of extra energy! He was chasing my cousin and had no time to stop for a picture; which was just fine with me because I love a good candid any day. In the photo I took, he was in full motion and he is almost dead center, and because the sun was setting, there was a pretty good shadow on him. I used the rule of thirds to crop, (bottom photo) keeping in mind that he had to have somewhere to run to, so I put him in the upper left so he remains in motion and we still get the point of view that I really wanted. I also added a retro filter to stylize it, which I think enhances the sunset colors dramatically without looking artificial.

Late Night Sabbath Dinner, by Calvin Whalen, licensed under CC-BY 4.0

I had to capture a photograph of my roommate losing it at a game of Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe two of our guests were playing. If you’re familiar with Tic-Tac-Toe at all, you may notice that the X’s player—Carson on the left—is losing considerably. If you’re familiar with Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe, you should know that under two of those O’s—played by Jorvyn to the right—there was absolutely no contest, which is why Marsh in the back is laughing on the floor. Of course, cropping him out or making him a subject changes the tone of the image.

(left) Hard at Play, by Calvin Whalen, licensed under CC-BY 4.0. (right) Does He Know What He’s Doing?, by Calvin Whalen, licensed under CC-BY 4.0

Focus by Savannah Whitby CC by 4.0 Focus 2.0 by Savannah Whitby CC by 4.0

This photo was taken while shopping at Marshalls. My daughter was so locked in on what she was watching on my friend’s cell phone that she couldn’t be bothered to notice we were ready to leave. I have always liked the reflection from the mirror in this photo but felt my friend and I didn’t really need to be in photo since we are distracting from her focus. I removed us and made her more of the focal point of the photo.

I snapped this photo while riding the lift up the mountaintop during my 2023 trip to Tennessee. The view below was already stunning, but spotting a bear wandering through the trees made the moment unforgettable.

After cropping the image to the golden ratio, the bear appears slightly larger. I chose not to adjust the colors because every edit made the picture darker, and the bear practically disappeared into the shadows. Keeping the original preserved the clarity and the atmosphere of the scene. The warm fall foliage—deep oranges, golds, and fading greens—creates a beautiful backdrop that captures the crisp, quiet feeling of autumn in the mountains.

My teenager and I decided that the coldest day of the season, January 31st, 2026, would be a fantastic day to go to DisneyWorld. I took the picture on the left at Disney’s Hollywood Studios while walking toward The Tower of Terror. The original picture has no focal point, emotional impact, and no story is being told.

I wanted to focus on creating a focal point. The tower itself was an easy selection, but I wanted to make sure it was dynamic. Instead of centering the tower, I made sure to use the rule of thirds and put it in the upper right corner. This also accomplished cropping out unnecessary details, such as the signs and stalls off to the side.

Last year, my brother moved to Denton, Texas and the original photo was taken while we were exploring the city and was taken in an area that is called Denton Square. The mural caught my eye because it was the first thing you saw when exiting the Recycled Books, Records, & CDs store which moved into the historic Wright Opera House which has been there since 1900.

When cropping the original image, I aimed to emphasize the focal point of the mural by narrowing the frame onto the man and woman displayed at the center of the mural, following the rule of thirds. With the cropped image, I was able to remove unnecessary details like the cars surrounding the mural and the empty sky above it. This helped simplify the background to draw more attention to the artwork itself which is the reason I took the picture.

I actually found this post quite difficult, as I usually account for cropping before taking the image. Because of that, it was pretty hard to find one of my own photos that really needed cropping or where the crop made the new image stronger than the original. For this post, I chose this photo of my cat that I took while experimenting with black and white mode on my digital mirrorless Fujifilm camera.

In the original, the image is at a slight slant, which in my opinion adds a more interesting dynamic, similar to Gary Winogrand, who often spoke about tilting the camera slightly. However, in this case, I think it looks more like a mistake than an intentional choice. For this reason, I decided to both straighten and crop the image in a way that stays true to the original while adding a few touchups. I darkened the backdrop, reduced the highlights, and added a slight blue tone to get it as accurate as possible.

Cropping the image also adds a slight mysteriousness, turning the door into a more abstract line that divides the composition between dark and light. The crop subtly shifts the focal point while simplifying both the background and foreground. I decided to keep the copyright under my name for both versions and not license the image under Creative Commons.