Friday, December 2, 2016

Underexposure and Fantasy


Sometimes when I see a photo in the making, I also see the ways I could “interpret” the final product in my darkroom. The combination of identifying a potential framework of the elements of the photo frame, waiting for these elements to arrange themselves according to what I had in mind, and deciding on that critical second to press the shutter freezes the moment I bring back to my darkroom.

I was in the Museum of Modern Art in Vienna. The exhibits were often difficult to appreciate, although I tried. Indeed, I stayed for a long while in front of a 3 by 6 meter canvas that was painted in white. Nothing else was on the canvas. The title was “Perspective”. Hmm.

So, I started at looking at the visitors of the exhibit. Luckily, non-flash photography was allowed. After all, who would steal the idea of a 3 by 6 meter canvas painted in white!

I saw these two older ladies taking break from the walk. A man in the foreground was walking along a table the top of which was painted in various symbols. I thought something could happen as the man was inching alone between my space plane and that of the ladies. For a split second he bent down to look at the table closer. Without time to focus I clicked
.
Here is the well-exposed picture as a final product. Nothing special about it.





But the three body languages were interesting enough for me to print the photo with different exposure times. And here is the one I had in mind when I saw the two ladies.




Are they talking about his anatomy? Is he real? A fantasy of their's? Does it matter? All three seem to be floating in this modern art museum. And that was how I populated the concept of the white-painted canvas...

December 2, 2016
© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2016

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