Mud fight
London, ON, July 2009
I have a strange philosophy of photography: Absolutely every scene, even the ones that are beyond forgettable, contains at least one picture worth remembering.
So when I saw this tractor sitting in the middle of a horridly in-progress construction site, I decided the side profile - with its chunky, mud-covered tread and yellow steel hub - was kinda fun.
My wife disagreed, because getting this picture required a trek across said muddy site. She was not pleased that I returned with filthy shoes. Sometimes, photographers have to suffer for their wannabe-art. Sometimes, their wives suffer, too.
Your turn: Places other folks would write off - but you wouldn't. (I'll start: cafeterias, run-down K-Mart stores...) Please discuss.
Carmi
ReplyDeleteIt is how you see things... a muddy puddle in a dirty street or oil and water patterns and a squashed drink can that looks like a mask (Ernst Hass's work); poverty or beauty; dispair or hope.
So for me I did some work on landscapes around post conflict borders where much was wasteland and I remember a felow student producing wonderful imnages of roadkill animals.
If you look at war photography you have the 'heroic' (Capa @ D Day); the gore, blood and guts (Don MaCullin & Susan Mesalis) and the absurd ~ (Roger Fenton's image of the cannon balls on the path at the Crimea and Paul Seawright's of the Afghan Camels in the minefield.
My wife captures the unnoticable, such as flowers growing in a wall waiting to be pulled down while for me I think it ia a mixture of space and movement of light and images at the extreme of the camera's capabilities. ...But yes I'd go with a cafe (there is a brilliant Asian one in Manchester in a delapidated 60s transport cafe style ~ red vynal bench seats and formica tables.
Along the lines of Seinfeld, "Photography about Nothing"
ReplyDeletePersonally, I love it, and your work has helped me think a different way. vis-a-vis nuance. Keep it up!
I've been known to climb into hedges (sometimes prickly ones) on more than one occassion just to get some photos!
ReplyDeleteI like your photo, it offers a different perspective as that's not an image most people look for. :)
I hope you're having a great weekend!