Brutal

Shot recently at my local (Brutalist) metro station.

About a week ago, I was mugged ... not hurt badly but left feeling angry and vulnerable. There was bad and good. After I was hit in the head, I walked into a nearby Starbucks, and two very nice young women baristas gave me a towel with some ice and showed me some kindness, which prevented a bump and gave me a psychic lift. The next day, I was feeling like I needed to get something out, so I took a walk with my camera. This is where I wound up. I took two shots that seemed to sum things up for me. I originally thought of them as a diptych, but couldn't quite get them juxtaposed in a way I liked. Here's the second shot ...

I believe this is the first time I've actually gone out to shoot based on a specific experience I had. In any case, I wasn't so much thinking ...

I agree it's heavy handed. I just needed to do it.

We're you thinking about the incident when processing?, Or was that at play in the subconscious?

Yes and yes. I chose the two and processed as soon as I got home, which is unusual. I also stuck with my original processing and didn't alter what I originally did, though I waited about a week to post it.

I think diptych is a very good idea! I don't know what obstacle you encountered. Be it subject, content, processing, graphic...

But I think if the processing conflicted perhaps there may be an alternative approach......

I think diptych is a very good idea! I don't know what obstacle you encountered. Be it subject, content, processing, graphic...

But I think if the processing conflicted perhaps there may be an alternative approach......

Thanks for taking the time and putting in the thought to ask these questions.

It's funny, even though I felt and wanted them to go together, when I actually processed them I let each take me wherever. I didn't let "the pair" dictate or even influence how I processed. When I did put them side by side or above and below, something in the mood of the two together wasn't right. I saw the ray of hope in each, but the (too) graphic processing of the first seemed at odds with what the second one was offering. Now that some time has passed, I'll give it another go in the next day or so and see if I come up with something that works for me. I won't be surprised if the second gets adjusted as well once the first takes a few steps back.

I like.

But I am always a sucker for (IR-like) black skies;)

What can I say about your feelings?

Before your description of events, I saw birds, doing what they always do, making use of largely contrived architectural form, to perch and rest. Did the committee that approved the plans think of this usage? Then I think of the elaborate, man made perches, that we spend millions building and then someone tries to keep the birds off, by adding little strings, or other distractions.

After your description, I see the birds, uncaring, while someone is mugged. If actions were loud enough, they might take off, fly in a circle, then land again, uncaring, doing what they always do...

The second image, I only saw after knowing the event that preceded the image. I see it as a place, municipal, but artistic, where thieves use it for their purposes. Those that are hurt, can't see it the same way as they used to, before their attacks.

Thanks goodness for the sweet young women that took care of you (good Samaritans) and thank goodness you're okay.

I like.

Cool.

I am always a sucker for (IR-like) black skies

There's one born every minute! First thing I thought of. Looked it up and there's controversy (as there often is with famous quotes) over who first said it. Most attribute it to P.T. Barnum. His biographer doubts it because he doesn't know whether the word "sucker" was even used derogatorily in his time and also doesn't think Barnum was the type to have disparaged his patrons. Other sources have it as a quote from well-known con man, Joe Bessimer. In any case, many of us photographers are con men, even in truth, so "if the shoe fits ..." (which seems to have its start in Britain as "if the cap fits ...")

What can I say about your feelings?

Honestly, anything you want. :)

I saw birds, doing what they always do, making use of largely contrived architectural form, to perch and rest. Did the committee that approved the plans think of this usage? Then I think of the elaborate, man made perches, that we spend millions building and then someone tries to keep the birds off, by adding little strings, or other distractions.

 

After your description, I see the birds, uncaring, while someone is mugged. If actions were loud enough, they might take off, fly in a circle, then land again, uncaring, doing what they always do...

Thanks for this. It's interesting how your response remained fairly literal and the description seemed to personalize your response. Had I posted the diptych I originally intended, I was going to introduce it with a description of events, but the solo bird photo didn't seem to warrant it as much, though I'm glad I was asked. It's interesting to hear changes in perspective when motivations or background events are known. These things are often so much a part of what goes into the work and I think it's good for us to talk about them here.

Thanks goodness for the sweet young women that took care of you (good Samaritans) and thank goodness you're okay.

Thanks for the kind thoughts!

Honestly, anything you want. :)

 

I know. Thanks.

Wow. This first image, coupled with your experience, seems perfect in many ways.

Knowing what we know about your having been mugged shapes the interpretation of the imagery aspects of the photo.

There’s a lot here and the image is very stark, I guess the processing has something to do with that; the black and white rendering helps in this regard too.

OK so this is pretty loose- I’m sitting in a barber shop awaiting a haircut! So I am on my phone and will limit my comments to the first photo.

The pigeons all lined up amidst all the lines and rectangles sort of remind me of people, very symbolic. Let’s say typically, society looks on or sits idly by, letting a lot of questionable things slide. Neither commenting or caring. Nor intervening.

The individual, rectangular spaces seem to emulate neighborhoods or city blocks.

The strong concrete(?) leading lines, coming in and up from lower left, making a sharp left turn, seem to sort of represent a random turn you could have made that led you to cross paths with the mugger. What if you’d taken another turn? Do all roads lead to here? Is this your path in life, the road to ruin, or the yellow brick road to la la land?

The fact that the boldly visible concrete lines lead to the one bird taking flight feels like it could be seen as a prelude to release. Emotion? Physical release? Letting go? Or does this one bird feel more like a representation of the fact that out of all the people, a small number of them actually do something while most others stand by observing. Or not caring.

The flying bird seems dead center, all lines seem to point vaguely towards or away from center and the whole black sky feels the space of the netherworld or void.

Everything goes everywhere and nowhere at the same time, surrounded by blackness, yet that one bird.....

.....gives the image an element of hope or positivity.

Not sure I’ve adequately verbalized my feelings about this? But hopefully I have. In any case, glad you’re OK (are you? I hope so).

I’m sitting in a barber shop awaiting a haircut!

I’m laughing because I thought you were starting your interpretation and I thought, what an imagination to conjure up sitting in a barbershop from looking at this photo. I should have taken you more literally! :)

The pigeons all lined up ... sits idly by

Without consciously thinking about it, I think some sense of their idleness was at play for me, too. Their protruding perches were the aggressors.

The individual, rectangular spaces seem to emulate neighborhoods or city blocks.

I think this is a great metaphor for brutalist architecture. It's such an apt visual to use.

Do all roads lead to here? Is this your path in life, the road to ruin

I try to identify with the bird in flight, or at least put my hopes in it!

Not sure I’ve adequately verbalized my feelings about this? But hopefully I have. In any case, glad you’re OK (are you? I hope so).

I think you've done a great job of describing your response and I appreciate it. I'm fine!

Sam, hope you are doing OK. I was never mugged, but I was once involved in a car accident where the car tumbled down a hill slope with me inside. I was shaken pretty badly. Still, our experiences are not directly comparable I think. Mine was an accident, while yours was the result of a deliberate conscious act of a stranger(s). Since mine was an accident, I didn't feel much anger, just trauma. The emotional toll on you may have been a mixture of multiple emotions, including possibly betrayal and perhaps a momentary feeling of despair, being treated like this by a fellow human being, who you have embraced as subjects in your photos.

The reason I am saying this is, some of that emotion does show in the two photos you posted. In both photos, the unreal sky sets the background emotion of a betrayed individual, where the world may appear unreal or artificial to him. The birds under a pitch black sky highlights that unrealism and I can extend by comparing the birds to the human society who may be partly oblivious to the lack of reality around them.

In the second photo, the fleeting light may be disappearing, or growing bigger, showing some level of ambiguity. The tie may be broken depending on the viewer's mood. I am predominantly feeling, that the light is coming towards me, rather than backwards, perhaps because I feel a sense of optimism currently. My mood may be different tomorrow, and so would the impression of this image ... but thats just me.

I only looked at the image to provide my critique.

Considering the Title, I interpreted it as a modern pictorial based upon D. H. Lawrence's poem Self Pity.

That resonated with me and also moved me.

***

I am sorry that you were mugged. I wish you a speedy recovery.

WW

Self-Pity (D.H. Lawrence)

I never saw a wild thing

sorry for itself.

A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough

without ever having felt sorry for itself.

Looked it up and there's controversy (as there often is with famous quotes) over who first said it. Most attribute it to P.T. Barnum.

Lincoln said he was a poor sucker - at the time that meant that he was from southern Illinois. Northern Illinoisans were "pukes". Also applied to Indianans and Missourians.

I was never mugged, but I was once involved in a car accident where the car tumbled down a hill slope with me inside. I was shaken pretty badly.

Supriyo, thanks for your caring. The empathy exhibited by your own story is very helpful to experience.

Mine was an accident, while yours was the result of a deliberate conscious act of a stranger(s).

Yet, as you seem to recognize, there is a shared experience in that the unexpectedness of sudden harm, despite being a prepared and good driver succumbing to the fate of an accident or being a reasonably streetwise guy randomly chosen without warning for a quick punch to the head, has a variety of emotional effects.

The emotional toll on you may have been a mixture of multiple emotions

It was, even some conflicting ones as kindness rose above unkindness. When I went for a walk with my camera, I knew I wanted to get something out and didn't focus on a particular feeling but more on the swell of feelings. I wanted my instincts to guide me. That seemed the most cathartic path. I hoped the photos would be some kind of resolution.

In both photos, the unreal sky sets the background emotion of a betrayed individual, where the world may appear unreal or artificial to him.

As you know, "unreal" and "artificial" are themes that really inspire me, so it's great that you mention them.

In the second photo, the fleeting light may be disappearing, or growing bigger, showing some level of ambiguity. The tie may be broken depending on the viewer's mood. I am predominantly feeling, that the light is coming towards me, rather than backwards, perhaps because I feel a sense of optimism currently. My mood may be different tomorrow, and so would the impression of this image ... but thats just me.

I was seeing the light in the second one and the pigeon with its wings spread in the first one in similar ways to each other. I love your interpretation and how it hit you. For me, neither seemed coming toward me but rather just rising up over everything. It felt like the whole city, including the obviously deranged guy who hit me, could do with the light and flight.

Self-Pity (D.H. Lawrence)

 

I never saw a wild thing

sorry for itself.

A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough

without ever having felt sorry for itself.

Thanks for the poem and sharing it in the context of the photo. It's apt and I appreciate the connection made.

Sorry you were harmed. Personal preparation is the key, along with presentation of self. I wish you all the best getting past the experience.

Wow. Mugged again!

Some things happen for no reason and aren't a matter of preparation or presentation.

Don't blame the victim.

Thanks for the poem and sharing it in the context of the photo. It's apt and I appreciate the connection made.

Frankly I was in two minds as to whether to share my reaction to the photo or not; I had written a draft and before posting it a couple of words popped out from other commentaries. Then I read about the misfortune and the attack that you'd encountered.

The reason I chose to post a very brief comment, being the essence of my draft, was because, I think without any explanation or background to a photograph, the Viewers' interpretations can sometimes be way away from the Artist's reasons. This situation of your Photo seemed to me to be an extreme example of that occurrence and I considered that fact and this example of it, were worthwhile sharing.

If I were never to have understood the Artist's reasons for this image, I would have been content with my own interpretation and appreciated the image and would still have been moved by it: now knowing the back story to the first image (and its mate) - that knowledge compounds and complicates their affect on me.

I am glad that my comment was well received.

WW

I think without any explanation or background to a photograph, the Viewers' interpretations can sometimes be way away from the Artist's reasons. This situation of your Photo seemed to me to be an extreme example of that occurrence and I considered that fact and this example of it, were worthwhile sharing.

Definitely worthwhile. We come to photos in all sorts of ways, with varying degrees of knowledge and contextual availability. The reason I think of art as "living" is that, in its multi-layered relationship to us, it has the power to be seen in and to project in so many different ways. No photo is ever just one thing, IMO. And its various faces can depend on such knowledge, on context, on presentation, on history, or on the particular moment in which it's viewed. There's truth in both the initial, instinctual reaction and in those that are informed by more context. For me, It's in the totality and over time—with more and more revealed both internal and external to the photo—more than in any one instantiation that a photo really takes on life.

My first thoughts upon reading this post is for Sam Stevens. It is not just about the physical damage, but the psychological damage, which unlike the physical damage will always remain in some ways.The photographs are imagining that impression of that attack, a total coldness of brutality, a total lack of sympathy or concern for others.

The photographs work for me, mostly because I feel a brutally depicted.

A honesty.

"Sorry you were harmed. Personal preparation is the key, along with presentation of self" Sandy.

Most folks like to feel, they do not have to prepare personal preparation to walk their streets. Sort of sad you cannot walk to the local shop without being mugged.

In the UK police, routinely do not carry firearms, neither do most criminals.

Although, times are changing, a sad thought to reflect on.