Persistence

Click for larger image

Click for larger image

If my photography had to be confined to a single subject, then that would be buildings that are falling apart. There are two levels on which I see these images as I seek to render them onto a piece of paper.

The first level is obvious, which is the lines. Whereas a new building will normally keep a boring symmetry, the alteration of lines makes for an interesting image. Sometimes the lines lead somewhere, but more often than not they remain hopelessly parallel, as if to point us in a direction of their eventual demise.

The other level is more emotional. These buildings have long ago given up the task of ensuring that everything remain at 90 degree angles, and allowed the effects of gravity to begin changing the course of things. Eventually, the vertical will become horizontal, but until that time comes there is a task at hand to remain as originally intended.

This image works on both levels. The window shows nothing on the inside, and once horizontal lines now point to the direction the building will eventually be. I think about how once people lived here and how it probably held an individual or a family, with hopes and dreams. The inhabitants have moved on in one way or another, and without them, the building is also in the process of moving on.

About GLSmyth

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2 Responses to Persistence

  1. QuoinMonkey says:

    Love this photograph. The image does work on both levels, emotional and quality of line. Yes, the buildings have given up and surrendered to gravity. I often photograph such buildings and am drawn to them. This old-style photography really lends itself to capturing these buildings. How many photographs do you take each week?

  2. glsmyth says:

    QuoinMonkey – Thank you for the kind words. The quantity of images I take on a weekly basis is erratic at best, ranging from hundreds to zero. I am not the sort of person who shoots a dozen rolls a day, but more the type who works the contemplative end of things. Cheers – george

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