In the mid 1970's, just out of school, I lived in NYC and enjoyed photographing different city sites on weekends. One photograph was of the World Trade Center from the foot of Vesey St where new construction was still underway. The steel framework provided interest with the trade center building as a backdrop. I visualized and printed the image as a "straight" photograph. See below.
Forward to Sept. 9-11. Several friends were lost in the disaster and several others, only by chance, barely avoided being caught in the buildings that morning. Life here in New York and around the country had changed.
After the destruction, I found that my feeling about printing the image as well as my interpretation of the image itself had changed - almost without my realizing. I was printing the image for a show a few years later. As I was working on the print, I found I was seeing the image differently than before. Darker sky, lighter building. The resulting print felt somewhat surrealistic when placed aside the original. The look felt appropriate.
I'm wondering whether others have experienced a difference in how you've interpreted and printed an image as a result of a significant (or not so significant) event or other change.
4x5 TRI-X, Graphic View, 90mm S. Angulon
Bookmarks