This one is from college, likely early 80s. Great use of selective focus, without the shallow depth of field there is no commentary, it is just a scene. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but the tension and the comment and the interest come from the out of focus men walking up on the reading, in focus woman. There is nothing nefarious in this one, nothing ominous in the approaching men, but they are unseen and out of focus.

That brings the questions. Her relationship to men becomes interesting, all women's relationships to men becomes interesting. Why is the woman in focus and the men out? Is it OK that she is not interested in the men?

Breaking the fourth wall, she was also unaware of the third man, me. I was watching her not watching us. And I was focusing on her not focusing on us. Looking at the pic now, I wonder if a more interesting cropping would be waranted. As it is, there is a nice balance, I wonder what it would be like to unbalance it. In the old days, I was a full frame or nothing kind of a guy. I even paid extra for a negative carrier that printed the edges of the negative, so you could see that it was all I took. That was a kind of purity I am no longer interested in. Now the print is more important than the negative.