Normally I never upload pictures of my travels while I’m away. I prefer to wait until I return home to view the images and reminiscence of the good times recently had because, as Michael said it best, “a photograph extends emotion across time.” The photographs allow me to continue the vacation for just a day or two longer. However, in the spirit of the Wolfgang Tillmans exhibit at the Serpentine Gallery and the Urban Spectatorship reading by Judith Walkowitz, our professors have put us up to the task of commenting on a photograph that we have taken thus far. So here it goes.
I took the photograph seen here on the top of a double-decker bus crossing the Thames, and to me it encompasses the literal meaning of urban spectatorship. It is urban in its composition, the scenic London nightlife composed of Big Ben and the river and its vantage point, a double-decker bus. It is spectatorship in that the photograph, due to the bright lighting and glass windowpanes of the bus, includes the reflection of me observing my surroundings and snapping the picture. The image I attempt to capture and I become intertwined in the most accidental but beautiful way. This unintentional superimposition of me the spectator and my London surroundings defines urban spectatorship.
Wonderful shot -- The lighting and composition help it to transcend the cliches of a typical travel snap. Unintentional or not, it offers a very smart "reflection" on urban spectatorship.
ReplyDeletea really gorgeous composition, my dear. I'm interested in the strong verticals and horizontals of the yellow rails, offset by the gentler curves of the window frame. lacan, a psychoanalyst following freud, would perhaps imagine your reflection as being caught in between the Imaginary and the Symbolic-- more on these terms anon, if you like. The latter, for Lacan, is a version of what we've been talking about in terms of discourse. But back to your beautiful photo-- the crane rising from the London nightscape seems particularly affectively moving. i love this photo, and am v. glad you wrote about it~ oxm
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