Monday
Nov072011
single women # 18 ~ alone
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 11:42AM 
hooded morning walker ~ Plattsburgh, NY • click to embiggen I am slowly but surely expanding my single women body of work to include single women pictured small within the frame / environment I see them in.
Reader Comments (1)
(My apologies if this shows up as a double post. I'm not sure it went through the first time..)
I enjoy the distance in this photo, as well as in some of the earlier shots, such as "Waiting" and "Waitress." That bit of space gives the pictures a hint (only the slightest hint) of being creepy, almost voyeuristic, and that makes them more engaging. I have two ideas on why this is so: 1) With additional reference we are able to develop a story about the women. Why exactly are they there? What was the weather like? Where exactly are they sitting? Are they sitting somewhere there should be someone else? I don't mean this in a creepy way, but the extra reference provided by the wider shots elevates these women from models to characters in a wider story. 2) I think everyone is accustomed to close-up, intimate moments with loved ones. When you are close to someone, when his/her face occupies the majority of your field of vision, that’s a shared moment of comfort. That’s settling, relaxing. Even in passing conversations with coworkers or neighbors you get the same perspective. When you are a bit further away, you are at that awkward distance when you are close enough to this women to be noticed but you are not close enough to know her. That’s uncomfortable. That makes you think. I look at some of these pictures (especially the distanced pictures that show a face, mostly “Waiting” and “Waitress”) and my instinct is to look away. That distance causes a moment of nervous hesitation before you are able to confront the picture. That’s what makes them work for me.