Kafka’s Night
If you like this image I recommend that you read the short stories of Franz Kafka. They are composed by a man who is recording his half awake dreams and night mares, not fear, just bewilderment at everyday events. This image reminds me in particular of his story about passing a stranger at night; ‘Passer-by’ ……”When you go walking by night up a street and a man, visible a long way off - for the street mounts uphill and there is a full moon - comes running toward you, …..”.
The use of the soft filter in this European ally way has added a dream like quality to this composition. It has the feeling of a long exposure and yet the man is thou not sharp, not blurred as you would expect. The sky has enough light to tell us that night has not fully descended yet. The man is facing away from us down the cobble stone steps leaving the viewer with anticipation about his next move, will he continue down the hill or turn and ascend.
The mood in this image is that of the mystery of the ordinary. Nothing is distorted or out of the commonplace yet we feel there is something unnatural about to happen and it is to happen at any second. The viewer can read a hundred stories in to this photograph.
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June 11th, 2008 at 7:05 am
Passer-by
When you go walking by night up a street and a man, visible a long way off – for the street mounts uphill and there is a full moon – comes running toward you, well, you don’t catch hold of him, not even if he is a feeble and ragged creature, not even if someone chases yelling at his heels, but you let him run on.
For it is night, and you can’t help it if the street goes uphill before you in the moonlight, and besides, these two have maybe started that chase to amuse themselves, or perhaps they are both chasing a third, perhaps the first is an innocent man and the second wants to murder him and you would become an accessory, perhaps they don’t know anything about each other and are merely running separately home to bed. Perhaps they are night birds; perhaps the first man is armed.
And anyhow, haven’t you the right to be tired, haven’t you been drinking a lot of wine? You’re thankful that the second man is now long out of sight.
Frans Kafka
June 11th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Thanks for your comments…. the “kafka” effect was what I was going for… moody, mysterious, surreal. I used an “Orton” effect by combining 2 layers, one of which was blurred. This is new for me so I appreciate the feedback
thanks