Thursday, 27 May 2010
Emergency exit
Photo deleted: a young woman. Very, very blond. Dressed all in black - loose sweatshirt and trousers. The clothes strikingly plain against the bleached hair. Squatting on the doorstep of closed double doors labelled 'alarmed doors', face tipped downwards, half hidden, mobile phone pressed to her ear with one hand, the other hand holding out a lit cigarette. The comments made me feel that posting this photo was perhaps an undue invasion of privacy. I'm not sure about it. I'll probably never be sure. In the absence of sureness, better not. Better try to capture in words. Sometimes, of course, you can't: a particular stance and feeling, clear to see but very difficult to describe. And it's precisely the capturing of that, I suppose, that makes a photo seem an invasion of privacy, even if the face is not clearly visible. So much easier with sheep.
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5 comments:
something terribly intimate about this
Terrific photo, Jean. This is the sort of thing I sometimes see but can't photograph here because of the French/Quebec privacy laws; you've captured it perfectly.
I am interested by your decision to delete this. I personally wasn't experiencing it as intrusive, just found that, although (I think) the shot was taken from slightly above, there was something about the weird curve of the railings, and the bowed head of the young woman, that made it seem an almost enclosed space, or a semi-public stage in a small intimate theatre. Not sure, now I can't see it any more... But I liked it very much. Street photography is as you obviously know not regulated here, leaving it to the artists' discretion, and I have never experienced any of yours as an invasion of privacy.
I see I've missed the actual photo. Your description, however, is clear in my mind. Wonderful.
Thanks, Fire Bird, for responding. I'm glad to know that wasn't what you meant, and interested by your response to the photo. It was taken from above, through the window of my office, which overlooks a narrow alley with that doorway opposite - so absolutely a public but quiet and enclosed space. As for the privacy issue, I obviously had a guilty conscience because I know I am not as sensitive to this as some are, and I had hesitated before posting the photo but then gone ahead because I liked it so much!
Jan, sorry, I always feel very frustrated when I see that something has been posted and then removed and I didn't see it!
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