Chaos
Fujifilm X100V 1/250 sec f/8 23mm iso 1250
I’m not sure how neatly this image falls into the category of “street photography” but it’s a photo of a window reflection taken from the street for all that’s worth. The image defies all compositional rules about what makes a good photo. It’s chaotic, really. There’s so much in it; the reflected white wooden architectural column, the two handcrafted ladders, the trumpet and American flag in the upper right corner, and the iron fence to name a few. But, for me, the image somehow works and I think that’s largely because of the small rendition of Vermeer’s, Girl With A Pearl Earring sitting on a small easel on display in the bottom half of the image. There were even small pieces of linen hanging on the fence reflected in the window which brought to mind that scene in Peter Webber’s movie where Griet was assaulted by Van Ruijven while hanging out the laundry. If you haven’t seen the film, The Girl With A Pearl Earring with Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth, it’s visually stunning.
I have always thought that, when time allows, it’s always instructive to go back through your catalog of photos and try to dissect what it was about an image that made you press the shutter. In the case of this image, the small painting was the sole reason I decided to snap the picture. I couldn’t escape the feeling that the girl with the pearl was staring, wide-eyed, directly up at me, the photographer, as if to say “Let me guess…you’re actually gonna take a picture of all this chaos and somehow call that art?”
