At 10:06 6/29/00 , Lex wrote:
>Tom Scales recently admitted he has a fetish for benches - photographing
>them, that is. I believe it was Dave Bulger who told me his favorite
>subject is churches. Mine is petrified wood - show me a building or fence
>made of or incorporating petrified wood, or just a chunk of the stuff, and
>I'm fumbling for my camera.
>
>What's yours?
Structures in the night (was there a song by that title?). Edifices of all
types illuminated by man-made lighting. Monumental tributes to people,
places or events. Wood, steel, limestone, sandstone, concrete, alabaster,
marble, granite; materials do not matter. The bigger, the grander, the
better. All the more challenge to get its gargantuan entirety squeezed
into a frame, at least as a documentary "grounding" shot. All the more
challenge to find the detailed portions of it through which it expresses
itself.
I don't particularly care for "International Style" structures as they lack
meaning. They're less expensive to construct, but they don't represent
history, or a culture, or a purpose. They tell no story except cost was
everything in considering what to build. Alas, far too many modern
structures are International Style and all these things are disappearing
through a skylight. I suppose older structures *had* to express themselves
so the illiterate could tell their function and purpose. Even 100 years
ago, literacy was not as high as some think. Read a census record from
even 1920.
Show me a structure that truly expresses itself: what it is, how it came to
be, or its function and purpose. Then illuminate it at night. I'll be
conniving how to capture its essence on film without getting mugged or
arrested.
-- John
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