Scent of a Hotel
Mood is less specific than emotion. It is a feeling, good or bad, that we take away from a situation or a scene. Images often evoke moods in the viewer which may be felt more intensely by some than others. The lighting in a photograph combined with the subject matter set the tone of some compositions in a way that asks the viewer to intemperate the story being presented. Emotions evoke feeling of anger, joy, love, patriotism, etc., but a mood is a subtle tone that covers a broader more indefinable feelings.
This image presented is a mundane scene that we have all experienced, the hotel room, nothing to photograph there, nothing extraordinary, it’s just a hotel room. But the photographer has turned it into a work of art that the viewer can read like a good novel, and each reader will come away with a different story. The original photograph has been manipulated in a subtle way to give the illustration a dream like quality while at the same time not distorting the presentation of the subject. Using a green hue, which is normally not a good thing, adds a mood to the image that is difficult to express, a little sad and yet familiar. It also adds a certain timeless quality to the composition.
By showing the wall to the left with the picture in forced perspective the photo-artist has added death to the image. This combined with the bed on the right focus our attention on the one point perspective of the light and then on what it illuminates. This ordinary hotel room is telling a narrative that is somewhere between a mystery and a suspense. It draws you in and holds your attention while you find you are trying to complete the rest of the story.
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June 3rd, 2008 at 4:49 am
Jim, I couldn’t agree more with you; when I took this picture it was not an emotion that drew me to the scene, a mundane scene, of such an everyday life, unpersonal if I may say… it was mood; an atmosphere unlikely to be described, but easier to be felt. It was a combination of odors, low lights, a strange city and a bit of solitude. When I processed the image, I tried to enhance this mood. That is why I moved away from contrasting colours, vividness and warmth, and tried to inject some kind of melancholy combined with the strangeness of a place not of your own. I appreciate your comments and I feel happy that you connected with the image, or at least that it made you feel something. Not much more I can say about this scene that hasn’t been somehow mentioned by you. Again, thanks for your most interesting appreciation. Jorge