People as Statues; Statues as People

It always delights me when, out of the 20,000 readers of my blogs, I receive comments that are streamlined around a topic I recently discussed.

So, after posting an essay about aesthetics and statues, (https://liveingray.blogspot.com/2017/01/aesthetics-that-tell-story-fluidity-of.html) I received a number of emails from Europe and South East Asia where readers were asking why I do not take photos of statues with the same attitude I have when taking photos of people. Namely, why not take photos of status if they tell a “street story”.

It is true that, for the same reasons that I do not take photos of landscapes, I do not take photos of statues. For me they are “predictable”. I know landscape photographers would disagree by noting that with changing light, seasons, foliage, etc there is nothing predictable about landscapes. Yet, as I am trained to take spontaneous photos of people, their postures and actions, I find it difficult to wait a season to pass before I click again.

But, as I thought about the emails I got, I searched for a few photos I have taken of statues or historical edifices.  As I looked at them, I realized that the reason I took these photos was because there were people next to them! In fact, and unconsciously, I was taking photos of people even if the statues were in the frame….
Here is what I mean:

Paris, France. I took this one in 2008 with a 1948 Rolleiflex TLR. It is of course the Arc de Triumph but my instant click was about the posturing of the woman. Could it be a political or social statement?

Belvedere Palace, Vienna, Austria.  These trans-species statues adorn the walkway of the Palace Gardens. Yet, it was the leaning of this man against the statue that caught my attention.

Imperial Garden, Vienna, Austria. The woman in this photo has no face – it seems that her face is a massive telephoto. But her posture next to the baroque statue of cherubs gave me the feel of a new times attitude. In fact, I thought of her as a modern statue!

..So, I have taken photos where statues and edifices were in the frame. But my interest and focus remains on warm-body humans and what they do around or away from these statues.

January 14, 2017
© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2017