civilized ku # 3022 / photo noir # 2-3 ~ sucker for the light

HOMETOWN IS HERO ~ Pittsburgh, PA • click to embiggen
alone / Photo Noir # 2 ~ • click to embiggen
pursuit / Photo Noir # 3 ~ • click to embiggen

If I am a sucker for any kind of light, it's the light to be had in late-day slightly-hazy urban settings. Although, the mixture of natural light and man-made light which is best pictured in the gloaming, or, if you will, during L’heure entre chien et loup runs as a very close second. Then again, it's most likely a tie. In yesterday's entry I mentioned the upcoming Photo Noir exhibition at the PhotoPlace Gallery in Middlebury, VT. On their website call for entries, they describe the idea of film / photo noir as ....

Film noir is distinguished by a unique aesthetic of low-key, contrasty light, strong shadows, unexpected camera angles, bleak pessimism, and a lurking sense of danger ... As Roger Ebert describes the style: “Locations that reek of the night, of shadows, of alleys, of the back doors of fancy places, of apartment buildings with a high turnover rate, of taxi drivers and bartenders who have seen it all.”

While I have pictured referents which evidence "low-key, contrasty light, strong shadows, unexpected camera angles .... [L]ocations that reek of the night, of shadows ....", I can accurately write that my picturing intentions in making those pictures was/is not to convey a sense of "bleak pessimism, and a lurking sense of danger". Most often my intent is to convey a sense of dark mystery. Although, I must admit that dark mystery conjures up, for many, a feeling of foreboding and unsettling anxiety.

Consequently, the challenge for me in making my submission selections for potential exhibition inclusion is to look anew at my pictures which "reek of night" and decide which ones could be viewed to meet the criteria of "bleak pessimism, and a lurking sense of danger".

As in the case of my Celebration of Trees submissions, my first-blush feeling is that, for this exhibition, BW is the order of the day. Although, the jury is still deliberating that feeling.

That written, of one thing I am certain - most, if not all, of the pictures I might select for submission will need adjustments in order to emphasis the "bleak pessimism, and a lurking sense of danger" effect that defines film / photo noir. Unless, of course, as I did for the Alternative Cameras: Pinhole to Plastic exhibition, I venture forth, cameras at the ready, to make noir pictures which are created specifically for this exhibition.

An aside: Has anyone out there been tempted to visit the PhotoPlace Gallery website and check out their call for entries with the intention of submitting a picture or 5 for consideration for one or more exhibitions?