Hello World

Hello, world!

Welcome to my photography blog. If you can read this, everything is up and running! While you’re here, check out my current favorite photo:

Tri City Drive-In, San Bernardino, 1993

I actually just discovered this photo tonight, and it has quickly become my favorite of all time.

It is a work by Hiroshi Sugimoto. For me personally, this photo has been very thought provoking.

At first glance, you will inevitably be drawn to the focal point of the image, the film screen. It is marvelously white, as opposed to everything else in the frame, which is either a dull grey or black. If you close your eyes - it remains there - burned in like the sun. It is almost challenging to look away, but when you finally do, the real genius of the image is on display. No matter which way you move your gaze, Hiroshi’s work will get you thinking about time and all that we associate with its passing. If you look down you will be see an empty playground. For most, it is probably difficult for this not to evoke feelings of nostalgia. If you look up, you see streaks of light that hint that this work was produced using a long exposure, and that far more than a single moment has been passed.

Before viewing this work, a photo to me was a snapshot of a single moment. I had seen long exposures before, but none like this one, which really turned that concept of what a photo is on its head.

If I could only choose one word to describe this work it would be that it is haunting. From the black and white, to the rusty old empty playground equipment, I could not help but think of death and the passage of time.

All in all - in my opinion - this is an absolutely masterful work of art.