Does anyone remember these public scales? Didn’t people have scales at home? And why the strange interest in weight anyway?
Susan says, “Wow! What a contraption. Such a complex design for something with such a simple purpose: put in a penny in the slot and the arrow indicator moves up and around to indicate your weight. This is a wonderful and entrancing example of design overkill. It feels like an amusement park attraction rather than a weight calculator. But it certainly would have attracted attention. And maybe that was the point of this overwrought and overweight (pun intended) design. I wonder if it made a public display of your weight on this gizmo seem, hmmmm, more important?”
Lucia says, “Instead of looking at the juxtaposition of this ‘contraption’ to its function, I want to look at the whole image from the standpoint of composition. I moved in close to avoid any distractions and to create a simple setting. This simplicity is evident in the color palette. The only thing that stands out is the blue circle – all else blends in – even the arrow has the same hue as the background. I mostly like the circular frame within the ornate frame of the scale. Looking at this photo from my point of view might not be as fun as Susan’s rendition, but I think you need to keep all of this in mind when choosing photos for you presentations. Make sure your photos have compositional integrity, while having fun with you interpretation of them.”
