Positive and Negative Space

Many of my photos are composed based on considerations of negative and positive space. This is an example of of photo that verges on the abstract. You can see through the image out into the sky, but the composition is dominated by the shapes of the sandstone walls of this small slot canyon. Ideally, the sand in the entrance to the canyon, would have been smooth and unmarked, but the footprints add a measure of interest to the image. What is behind me, as I take this photo? When I was taking painting and drawing at the University of Utah as an Art Major, they used a projector to put an image on a screen so blurry that you could only see the dark and light spaces. We practiced in drawing only the parts of the image that were light and dark. They instructor would then sharpen the image slightly to increase the detail as we added the detail to our image. The idea was to highlight the contrasting areas of light and shadow. I guess that concept became part of the way I view the world.