When I went out for this shooting my aim was just to pick some images of my friends from a medium-long distance (focal lenght 150 mm * 1,6 = 240 mm) toward a shaded place. I had even the chance to take advantage of sun backlight.
Then it came the snow-joke.
So I decided to get out of the scene by a long focal length (200mm * 1,6= 320mm), let the "children" play with the snow and take advantage of the diffusion effect made by the snow powder in backlight.
But my choice goes to the following shot:
Exercise 5.2
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| Walker Evans - NYC Subway - 1941 |
I selected an image by Walker Evans, he took in NYC subway in order to photograph "riders". He made several portraits, but what it inspired me was a set of shots where, as Walker Evans states "The guard is down and the mask is off,” he wrote, “even more than when in lone bedrooms (where there are mirrors). People’s faces are in naked repose down in the subway.”
https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/walker-evans-subway-portraits-1938-41#
The context of the photo I selected is truly provided by the information in the picture and the way the picture was made. It is not essential to read about Walker Evans, his project, or information surrounding the picture in order to understand the context: ordinary people, ordinary day, in a train or a subway, going back and forth from work, school, shopping. The shot is taken discreetly, trying not to attract attention and obtain unposed and "fresh" portraits.
I am passionate of street photography, so my response to a project that inspired me is an "homage" to these shots. I adopted the same location, the same idea, the same subject, the black & white, the discreet way of shooting, framing in with a longer focal length (Walker Evans used a 35 mm).
1/25 sec, f 5,6, iso 6400, 100 mm
Exercise 5.3
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| Henri Cartier-Bresson |
I try the experiment of sitting on a comfortable chair, then look for a log time at "Behind the gare Saint Lazare" on my iPad, zooming in and out of it. My eyes will return again and again to the only point where the the photograph tells a story: the jumping man. First of all because the silhouette of the jumping man is the only moving subject, suggesting the unequivocal idea of somebody trying to avoid water, for some reason. Is it just because he is coming from left to right, where there are a small spot of "shore" and a laying ladder in order to shorten the distance or, at least, keep dry shoes until the very last step? Will he succeed? Surely not: the next step will be in the water, and the man will definitely get wet. Maybe he is going to work in office (silhouette dress suggest it) and wet shoes, dirty trousers will be a problem with the boss. This subject is totally in contrast with the rest of the image, where everything is static, so static that the water makes a mirror effect. The photograph has every information in itself, nevertheless the context is provided by the title: behind a train station (abandon, maybe danger) and 1932, just before te second world war. Without the title, maybe I would locate the photograph somewhere else, or in another time, and maybe the meaning of the "jump" would not be the same for me. But the "power" of the content and the story in this photograph are so strong, that my following photographs look so weak.
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