Monday, April 23, 2007
Nishihara's White Fence
Comments:
These little snippets of your environment are really intriguing.
The fence appears to be 'protecting' a miniscule piece of space. I like the fact that the line of the fence and wall includes the manhole cover, I don't know why.
Lately I find myself picking on such tiny things in your pictures; this time its the truncated circle of the manhole cover. I'm beginning to suspect that I'm missing the point; the little 'flaws' create tension in what are often otherwise flawless photos. There's something incredibly subtle about this; it's easy to over look.
I wonder how long it would have been before I noticed the clipped manhole cover; but reading Matt's comment a few minutes after first seeing the picture means that I will never know but the eye goes straight to it now! I suspect that it doesn't really matter as the two main points for me are examining that tiny space and appreciating the light and shadow bottom left. The cement work between the blocks is classy and perhaps a cultural pointer - not much of that sort of pointing in UK. The strength of the picture is in placing one in the shoes of the inhabitants of this space and giving a feel for what it would be like living here.
A delightful arrangement of repeated shapes. The small space fenced off in such a way makes me think that it is meant to hide something (like a compressor or garbage bin?) in a decorative way -- though I don't really care. I find the interest lies more in the design.
The daisies are a charming touch of something more organic -- contrasting with the hard stone blocks. I like the shadow in the left corner that seems to direct me back to the fence.
The manhole cover adds interest for me -- probably in part because it is a round shape in a picture mainly of rectangles. All very nicely laid out.
When I first saw this I so much wanted the manhole cover to be complete and to form the end of the exclamation mark.
Having thought about it since and now read the comments from the others I can see the picture both ways. The odd triangle along the top edge and the clipped circle at the bottom play off each other well (also, but less strongly, the nearly square of the pot on the left).
It is a stronger picture, I think, because of these irregularities. They point up the neatness of the other squares and lines.
For such a simple subject there is a lot to look at. This is a picture that grows with the viewing.
Can't see Elmo though.
Thanks for all the feedback. The missing piece of manhole cover was not intentional. I have walked passed this fence many times whilst walking the dogs and never really took much notice of it until the day before I shot the picture. The flowers in front and all the straight lines just fell in to place in my mind. As well as the fact that I just couldn't work out why it was built! Thanks also to Paul Strand.
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The fence appears to be 'protecting' a miniscule piece of space. I like the fact that the line of the fence and wall includes the manhole cover, I don't know why.
The daisies are a charming touch of something more organic -- contrasting with the hard stone blocks. I like the shadow in the left corner that seems to direct me back to the fence.
The manhole cover adds interest for me -- probably in part because it is a round shape in a picture mainly of rectangles. All very nicely laid out.
Having thought about it since and now read the comments from the others I can see the picture both ways. The odd triangle along the top edge and the clipped circle at the bottom play off each other well (also, but less strongly, the nearly square of the pot on the left).
It is a stronger picture, I think, because of these irregularities. They point up the neatness of the other squares and lines.
For such a simple subject there is a lot to look at. This is a picture that grows with the viewing.
Can't see Elmo though.