It occurs to me, as I take more of these photographs of ephemerae and detritus, that they succeed best when they have suffered from weather and rough treatment. Many, like, this can, begin life as products, which depend for their success on the way in which they are designed as part of a marketing process. A can of Red Bull would have an intrinsic interest in its own right straight off a supermarket shelf. But opened, the drink consumed and the can squashed by a heel or angry fist and thrown into the gutter, it becomes something else altogether. It is worth clicking the picture to see the logo of two bulls in the process of head butting.
A woman in a black coat with a blue scarf thrown round her neck, is reading, as she walk across The Grove. She is carrying a Hall's Bookshop plastic bag. She barely raises her eyes from the page, as she negotiates the paths which cross the park. Her feet seem to know where she is going.
"I keep it simple, watch the ball and play it on merit." Whether you play or follow cricket or not, that quote in today's paper from Sachin Tedulkar, the greatest batsman in the world, strikes me as good example to follow in general.
5 comments:
Your Red Bull has the striking graphics qualities of Warhol's works - a very good photo, Joe. So retro, yet a symbolic statement of the here and now.
Warhol came to mind too! What a series, worthy of printing, along with the perfect artist's statement already!
Funnily enough, Warhol didn't come into my head. That is I suppose because he transposed products more or less as they were intended to be seen, and repeated them in the same frame. But I'm glad that you pointed out the resonance.
Where did the velvety black background come from?
The can records the passage of its buyer: feels weak, drinks Red Bull, crushes can, "I'm able to do that, at least."
BB The velvety background is the tarmac on which the can lay untouched by my hand.I am quite strict with myself about not arranging the subject in these ephemerae photos. What I did manipulate, is the Picasa tuning facility, which I used to slightly enhance the shadows. Picasa does some of the task of Photoshop so easily that I am often tempted not to bother with it.
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