My strongest and most lasting reaction is the B&W image. This last has so much packed into a small sliver of the city. We see the Swiss flag, the statue which records some glorious history and a bridge which no doubt has its own stories. Did it start as a wooden bridge, when was this structure made in stone? Is it name in relation to the figure on the left? Presumably there's a church on the left. Is it Catholic and still used or just an empty shrine with tourist buses visiting? Is that a café opposite? What might the two gray-haired men in black coats be talking about? What traffic goes on the waterway below?
© Fahim Mohammed
So many things to think about in one sliver of a city captured in B&W. When a picture does this, it's worth revisiting. Eventually we believe we know the two men as we've become familiar with them.
So this is what makes a snap into a photograph, something to be revisited, where the brain still has corners to search. Notice that I have not described technique used here in rendering this picture. Could be it would be better still as a fine platinum print. However, at this moment it transcends its provenance. So if we eschew talking of technique, (which is odd for a photography forum), let's at least discuss the purpose and esthetics of the image. Let's do that!
You: "What's the purpose of the picture?, yes it's more than a snapshot, but what's it good for?"
A.K. "Nothing but beauty?
You: "Beauty? You've gotta be joking! Just where is this beauty? There's no tree, lovely woman, no billowing clouds, nothing we are trained to think of as beautiful!"
A.K. "Ah, but it is!"
You, "But in what way?"
A.K. "It's the nature of the city as if a living being and the stone that holds it together. The people there are it's beating heart and red blood corpuscles and white cells that connect one part with another, bringing oxygen and doing the work to keep things in motion. This glimpse of the living city is what is beautiful, as we see the city as a life form with wonder as if we were looking at a lioness with cubs or raptor in flight."
Asher
