A photograph freezes time, just as a stopped clock may appear to do. The camera captures a single moment and preserves it, while life goes on. The person walking down the street continues to walk. The bird above your head continues to fly. The sun moves across the sky and the hands of the clocks still turn. But in your photo, all motion is paused.
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Vincent Van Gogh spent the last few months of his life in the village of Auvers-sur-Oise just outside Paris. In that short time, he completed over 70 paintings, many of them of scenes in the village and surrounding fields. Today the village styles itself ‘Village d’Artistes’ and is a popular day trip from the capital.
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Every landscape photographer knows the sense of disappointment, when the beauty and drama of the scene in front of them fails to come through in their images. We can capture the view, yes, but it’s harder to capture the feelings that view induces.
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My surprise birthday trip to Florence, a city I’ve long wanted to visit, was naturally wonderful. In three days of rather mixed weather (one wet, one cloudy, one sunny) we managed to see many of its sights (but missed more than we saw), wandered its streets, ate gelati every day and excellent meals every evening, and slept well in a beautiful old house in the Borgo Santa Croce.
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A shadow is fleeting. It can only last as long as the light that casts it. If the light disappears, so does the shadow. For this selection I have concentrated on shots that I consider to be primarily photographs of shadows.
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We have experienced plenty of mild mornings this October, but also some wild winds. The leaves changed colour throughout the month but by the third week many had fallen. We had sunny days, wet days and a few very chilly days.
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In the first half of the 19th century a Parisian wanting a good night out might well have headed to the village of Bercy. Ideally positioned on the banks of the Seine, this village had become the centre of the Paris wine trade and a major European market for wines and spirits.
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Walk down any street in any city and you will be confronted by a myriad of signs. There are the obvious ones telling you the name of the street, and those giving instructions or advice to drivers. ‘Junction ahead’. ‘One way street’. ‘Watch out for pedestrians’. And so on. Much more interesting though are the random unofficial signs.
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Last week I paid a brief visit to Liverpool. I stayed only one night and saw only a fraction of what the city has to offer. The weather was dull and grey, best suited to monochrome photography.
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Photography can be a tricky medium. To all intents and purposes, it appears to provide a faithful representation of a true scene. But ever since it was first invented photographers have found ways to fool the viewer. Creating double exposures in the darkroom, adding details by hand or removing them …
