26 April 2016

Silent Echoes


The evocative is an integral part of my work, whether it's the emotional investment of musicians in their work, the gravitas of writers or filmmakers or the mood of a setting.

I am particularly conscious of the latter as I choose scenes to photograph.  An idea will spring to mind -- sometimes a title as well -- and I will take the picture with the goal of shaping it to evoke time, place, emotion and mood.  And, as I've repeated many times, the importance of titling is critical.

Here are examples, starting with an iPhone picture taken during a walk in the neighborhood on a chilly late-winter morning:


Halloween, 1956
iPhone/Pix
2014

The heavy fog that obscured the winding road as it approached a curve immediately suggested an air of foreboding.  A bit of processing enhanced the feeling.  Now -- what to call it?  Foggy Morning?  Foggy Road?  Either of those would have been accurate but mundane.  Instead, I thought about the sensation of being swallowed up by the fog or the darkness.  I was reminded of those Halloween trick-or-treat excursions as a kid on windy, chill nights when I was certain ghosts and goblins lived and could have their way with me. 

With those memories in mind, the photo titled itself.

Turning roughly 110 degrees to my right on that walk, I was struck by the barrenness of a farm field, long shorn of its corn.  What remained were the stumps of stalks and the bleak tree line beyond:



Tunguska, 1908
iPhone/Pix
2014

An event leaped to mind that I believed I could evoke with this picture, processed and titled appropriately.   

Those who know the reference in the title, will immediately understand why I chose it. For those unfamiliar with Tunguska, you can learn all about it here.

I never like to give too much away in the title.  I would rather that viewers take an unfamiliar reference as a jumping-off point to deepen their knowledge, just as when an new word once looked up becomes part of an expanded vocabulary.

I always welcome your thoughts.




"This novel picks you up by the scruff of your neck and doesn't let you go until the final pages!" VB, London 

Why not order your copy of my brother's thriller now?


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