Word Play

I am often caught off guard, and sometimes amazed by the things that people build. Certainly our cities are filled with structures that astonish as well dismay us. And there are places out in the countryside that can do that to us too. So whenever something quirky or strange appears I like to wander into its sphere of energy to see what the hell they had in mind when they – whoever they, are, decided to build it.

Frequently I find myself with literary-like reactions, as if a simile is being served up to us, or is it a pun on something the builder had in mind, or was the architect being ironic, or is there a conflict or a parallel to something else being worked out in concrete and steel? Too often the results are plainly a tragedy, or worse a cliché. I could go on in this vein until literary devices fail to behave photographically..

But what surprises me is how this conceit can sustain itself in photographs, and how often these devices might help us to better understand the way the photograph works, or even what the photographer may have had on his or her mind. Try it. Look at some images and see if this offers some leverage to seeing deeper into the meaning of the work.

And if you can figure out what this one is please let me know.