Over time memories fail, diminish, alter and embellish. The camera lens, exposed to film or sensor, is the true memory and truth teller of the past.
The above photo was taken in July, 1970, a view from Nob Hill towards Telegraph Hill and Coit Tower.
Tag: B&W
Full Circle
Two images, nearly 45 years apart, explore the same theme. One way to portray the human sense of aloneness is to put the subject alone in a large context, almost to the point of being almost meaningless, hard to find. The subject in this context is either not whole ( as in the Coney Island image) or is stepping into the shadow ( as in the Telegraph Hill image from 1970). Most photographers would explore this theme by focussing closely on the subject, as in a portrait with certain facial expressions to convey the theme. In both of these images the viewer is forced to look longer and closer to find the subject. To further emphasize the theme I picked places that are normally associated with lots of human traffic and times when that traffic might be minimal or non-existent.
Just as an aside: To shoot both of these images I used the same strategy, that is planting myself and camera in a location, waiting for the image/shot to come to me. This, too, is contrary to what is generally taught in photo classes; they always stress scouting your location ahead of time and going out with a plan of what you want to shoot. All good and well, but sometimes breaking the rules allows for surprising results.
Normally I let my images do the “talking” and let people decide what they see and how they see it. With these two images I got a sense of personally coming full circle, something a few words, would help to explain how they came about and how my perceptions are formed.
More like a Journal Entry….
Thirty years ago I bought this poster from a poster and frame shop on Capital Hill, in Seattle. I had it mounted into a plexiglass cover. The minute I saw it I knew I wanted to buy it. I didn’t have my checkbook on me so drove home and back to the shop. A week or so later I picked up the finished item.
Although an iconic movie print, it has always meant much more to me. Audrey Hepburn exemplified grace and dignity. A wonderful actress who had a pretty scary childhood, she seemed to meet each challenge with pluck and a steely determination. Her last years, while battling ovarian cancer, were spent volunteering her services in Africa. By then she was nearly as skeletal-looking as the children she reached out and touched, yet she endured and shone like a beacon of hope to those children. She died much too young, at age 63. I am 63.
In the last thirty years she has kept me company and reminded me that, although we all have personal and health issues, we can still carry ourselves with grace and dignity and treat others with needs the same.
In the Background
The Brooklyn Bridge in the far background.
Junk as Art or Entropy or Dark Forces?
I posted these three images on my Instagram account late last night. After high school graduation I slipped away to spend some time with a friend who lived in East Oakland, CA. She had just finished remodeling her bathroom and so had left this pile of debris at the back of her yard. East Oakland was a very sketchy even dangerous place in 1970 ( but that is for another story). She hung bricks from her lemon tree and to me it was either just odd or perhaps even darker than odd: why would someone hang old, red bricks from a seemingly healthy lemon tree? My youthful imagination went into overdrive imagining all sorts of dark rituals or beliefs at work here. In reality, I suppose there was a very practical reason for the hanging bricks, but is sure looked odd.
Anyway, the images were old prints that I scanned into a PC last night. I think they were taken on my Agfa 35mm camera, but, 45 years later, I’m not sure.
Waiting for the F Train
4th Ave. and 9th St. Station, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Demo
Scanned from a 35mm print in 1970. Location: East Oakland, CA. A friend I was staying with had just remodeled her bathroom and had not yet disposed of some of the debris. I found this in her backyard and of course, was immediately thinking of a photo opportunity. Seems my interest in subject matter has not totally changed over the past 45 years :-).
River Rocks
Location: Olympic Peninsula, WA.
I posted this on FB last night. Seemed like a good idea to share. The river level is really low due to nearly 0 snowpack left. It’s a bit disconcerting, to say the least. Salmon are due to spawn in this river in a few weeks.
Tilt
Location: LES, Manhattan.
Warning!
This device can be used to stop Time. Use with caution and creativity.
Passing Time
Location: Ludlow St., LES, Manhattan
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