Rusted Hinges
I asked a class of beginning photography students today if they had done any shooting over the weekend, and I had a student reply with, “No, I don’t drive so I couldn’t go anywhere to photograph.” It brought back the memory of when I was in school and having Ruth Bernhard visit and do critiques for several of us students. She questioned, “How far did you travel to make this image.” Her point being that you don’t have to go any farther than your own backyard to find images to photograph. Be observant. Learn to really see the world.
Rusted Hinges is an image that I created without traveling. In fact, I had seen this hundreds of times before really seeing it. This scene is just outside the back door of my former studio space. I saw it every morning and evening as I came and went for nearly 10 years. One evening as I was leaving, the light just happen to be falling on the side of the building in such a way as to capture my attention. I returned to the studio to get a camera and this is what I came up with.
Look at the door. The texture of the peeling paint on the wall. The way the brick and the weeds frame the wall and door is interesting to me. But through everything that is going on in this image, the hinges, the rusty hinges of the door are what really interest me. I see decay, urban decay. This images speaks of the issues facing historic downtown areas that used to be thriving with the bustle of business, but now sit vacant and in disrepair.
The elements of this image all came together in a successful manner not because of my great photographic skills and talents, but more so because I have trained my eye to see and recognize when the elements are there. Acting upon that instinct I was able to create an image that still remains one of my favorites.
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