Images noticed/missed
Images noticed/missed
Recently on my duty travels I’ve been passing similar spots and depending on my timings and the weather have stopped to make images, (further discussion of that idea are undergoing further exploration and will appear as part of Routine/Specificity joint research article, so you’ll be able to read more on that when it’s out.)
What I wanted to talk about more in this blog are technicalities, specifically devices. Does it matter what device you use to capture the image? How much importance does the previsualisation of the mind’s eye take up?
Before you answer those, I’ll give a bit of background to the subject matter of this particular image, as I am now mostly travelling by public transport and walking, I get to see and spend longer amount of time in the world, the things I’ve seen when out flaneur-ing, out of the tram window and when getting my steps in has been quite remarkable. I definitely see a lot more of the world now.
As I was walking in suburbia, I noticed a set of three posts that I’ve not seen the design and texture of, for a number of years, (the excitement for these I thank to my bmx days, these were perfect practice for the tail-whip-foot-plant trick, no judging, it was the 80’s)
I made an image at the time, quite liked it but there was something that wasn’t quite right…didn’t quite work…didn’t sit right…try as I might, I couldn’t put my finger on why. Then on an increasingly rare car trip I noticed the juxtaposition as l passed the same spot but with the vantage point of the car which gave me a more ‘New Topographics’ angle and feel, (NT is something I’ve been working with since my Masters). I thought I must make that image from that spot.
So, the next time I was walking by I stopped on the opposite side of the road, now usually I have either camera with me but this time I had neither, just my iPhone, umming and ahhing about if to make the image, as I wasn’t sure this was the tool to do the right job, but I made the image. Right from the outset though, I just wasn’t sure it has come out the way I foresaw or even wanted.
Reflecting on this thought process, I’m not sure how important this image will be, it will probably only be shared online and the raw function that the iPhone pro has, now allows for as many tweaks as the dslr’s do but the lens isn’t the same, the wide angle is amazing and takes me back to my 16-35mm f2.8, an absolute beautiful lens even though it’s not as sharp as it was due to its treatment over the years… I digress…
If I was feeling this from the outset would the image ever recover any value?
The result does feel a bit different to how I intended it but why is that?
Am I already judging the final result because I took it on a phone? Is it because I’m missing the f2, that setting that gives importance to areas of the image? ls it the lighting? Is it the mindset? Was I going to judge it negatively before I’d even looked/edited it, as I hadn’t done it ‘properly’?
I am not sure.
And it’s ok not to be sure, maybe it needs some time to dwell on and process, maybe not, as I said previously, I’m not even sure this this banal image will be that important, or conversely it could be the most important image I’ve ever taken!
Hmm does that lead into another blog about the most important image I’ve ever taken (possibly)? Ok enough words let us look at the image, here are three I made:
Images Caption of: Three posts in suburbia on an ok day.
Which one do you like the best?
I have a favourite but again not sure, any discussions are welcome.
As I’ve used this blog on an image description (again!), I’ll do the switch and leave you with a quote from the many books that are stacking up in my reading list this week. I’ll leave you with this from Fernando Pessoa. The Book of Disquiet. Number 32. Symphony of a Restless Night.
“Everything was sleeping as if the universe were a mistake.
The wind, blowing uncertainly, was a shapeless flag
unfurled over a non-existent army post.”
Thank you for reading and thank you for your time, if you have any statement, comments, ideas or anything to share then please get me by the usual methods.
Thank you again.