Deconstruction, Or “Beauty Is What Eyes Behold”
“Man, I don't think I will get any great photos today, I don't actually
feel that inspired”, I said to stw of Netzwort.de
on our photo tour last Saturday. A little later I encountered one of these magical
moments when the surrounding conditions seem to converge and form a situation
that is so intense that you just have to grab your camera and preserve the space
and time with just a little technical skill.
We were walking around the southern commercial area of the town, a place that
is very inspiring in itself. Large office buildings along cobblestone streets,
a futuristic elevated train station and run down 70's buildings. Actually the
best conditions for good urban photos. I did get a bunch of those usual shots
that I've done a million times, but wasn't really satisfied. While the day had
been warm and sunny at first, we saw huge dark rain clouds coming up and decided
to slowly head back to the station before we'd get all soaked.
And then we ran into this place. At first we only saw it from a bridge. An area
next to the canal where a building had been pulled down. On the other side of
the canal was a weird party going on with music and people hanging around by the
shore and everything, and we went to a gas station to observe what was going on
over there. When we continued, we noticed a narrow alleyway besides the entrance
to the gas station that would lead us directly to the construction yard. There
was no fence, just some supports with a wooden bar across that was easy to dive
under.
As soon as we did that, we were in photographer's heaven. I've never seen such
an organized, clean construction yard. Anywhere you'd turn, there would be a perfect
shot waiting to be taken. The mighty dark rain clouds made the perfect complement
to this scene, as well as this special kind of lighting that you only get when
it's about to rain or had just rained. We spent the next I-don't-know-how-long-actually
running around the yard and shooting photos. I kept walking a few steps here and
there, turning, the camera always at full wide-angle, capturing more and more
scenes. Luckily it didn't rain yet, we had enough time to focus on our work.
After we left, we walked along a street and I suddenly remembered that I could
have taken a video of the place, so we quickly went back while the first water
was falling to film a short video of the place (see below). After that, we went
to the station and into a mall to get something to eat and - in case of stw -
buy some necessary food for the weekend. While we were inside, the clouds lost
their heavy weight of H2O, and afterwards we could continue our walk.
Now, I could actually write long stories about what these images mean to me, but
I will restrain from that and instead encourage you to think about these photos
and come up with your own interpretations. To me, there are several meanings that
can be put into the pictures, so what are yours? If you like, drop a comment and
let's talk about it.
There's just one thing for sure: The area will not have seen us for the last time
on Saturday. Although the construction yard might be gone upon our return (for
a little hint on a possible interpretation).
As a special feature, you can download the video I shot here
(5.7mb). Hurry, as it might disappear soon.
Comments
Saw the video. In my view, your photos are more impressive -- they represent your "interpretation" of the scene through framing and cropping, whereas the video simply shows everyting as is. Still a great location and wonderful photos!
wanted to post this weeks ago but im lazy like that :-) anyway...
the obious meaning to me is that the photos show that its time to leave the old on the past and make way for the new. its hard to do this, well, some people can do it without hesitation but i cant say, throw out an old shoe to just buy a new one. i get very attached to things, so destroying a building to make a new one (or something else) would be hard for me to do, if i had a connection to it that is. if not, then down it goes :-)
there's also that thing about an old building being laid to rest, rather than destroyed and forgotten, but like people, we do forget about the one that die, sure the families wont, but like the people that saw the building, they'll remember it was there, and like families, after a few generations, its gone from their minds. sometimes we know there was something else there, but we dont think about it much, like peopel dont think about their older generations, maybe they do, but its not something they would worry about. like buildings. unless its a big, historic place that has to go, then sure, they'll remember it because they'll either leave a mark or something, but most of these random things will just disappear.
its not a bad things to make way for the new and leave the old things behind, maybe hard for some, but i think its good because it gives way for the new things, but like old things, the new becomes old.
@Karthik: Yes, the video was only filmed for an overview of the place. It doesn't have any creative aspirations. :-) The photos are what counts, the video's just to show how the place actually looked like.
@Pablo: Yes, you're right. That's one of the connections I made while shooting the photos. The everlasting circle of creation and destruction. I began to wonder what this place will look like in a year or so, and what it looked like before the caterpillars came. Also, even though this state here is actually a very short one in the history of this place, it is probably the one that evokes the most thoughts.
Another idea behind this is to challenge our sense of beauty. Although this place is dirty and decayed, my idea was to show it in a way that would make it look beautiful in it's own way. So, even behind something that looks ugly at the surface, there can be something beautiful found behind that surface. It really just depends on your view.
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