W/NW : After the Suicide: Cleaning Up (Please Live)

[Alex_Es]

I was in Himeji one day. Shot a few cursory frame of the castle and a

few candids. Because I lingered in a used camera shop I missed the

suicide at the main Japan Rail train station. Someone jumped from the

roof. By the time I got there all that was left was this:<div></div>

[Alex_Es]

I was shaken by this, nevertheless, and sat down and tried to imgine why someone would want to take his or her life. I remembered what John Donne said in his famous prose poem that ends, "Ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee." I did what I usually do when I don't understand the things I see. I take photographs. The shot above and those following were taken with an M6 + 'cron 50/2.<div></div>

[Alex_Es]

*<div></div>

[Alex_Es]

**

[Alex_Es]

****

[shambrick007]

sad scene for such a grand place...<p><img src = http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-display?photo_id=1613257&size=lg>

[Alex_Es]

*******<div></div>

[seth_hosler]

Oh, man....I'm glad I wasn't there.

 

It's too bad that this sort of thing is all to frequent here in Japan...and it just gets worse every year. If there is any nation that needs a collective backrub, it is Japan.

[Alex_Es]

You're right, Sheldon. It's only 20 minutes by train from here. We'll take you there when you come visit.

[grant_.]

is suicide still that popular in japan?

[jack_lo_..._t_o]

That last one caps off a brilliant series Alex. Gives me the willies.

[j m shaw]

seems strange only 1 policeman and 3 guys cleaning up, if that was the USA there would

be 3+ squad cars, 1 or 2 ambulances and a fire truck, plus a huge throng of people trying

to get a closer look....Good series of a sad situation.

[john_perkins2]

I like the yellow flowers and the blood in the first one.

[nesrani]

Pity the first picture is spoiled by the arm of another bystander and the skewed angle. It would have been a powerful picture if it had been taken straight on with the buckets and the blood/outline at the top and the flowers at the bottom.

[jean_.]

Xinbad, i don't know, really. While you're basically right, the blood and the outline, combined with that trivial, aseptic suburban decor and composition - it made me shudder. How can anything so horrible happen in such a clean, nice, fmaily-snapshot-suited place - and instead of a drama, you see that the suburban life just carries on. You almost have to look twice to see that a person just died in this place, and you almost sense that within 30minutes everydays life will roll over this spot again, without giving a rat's backside about hat happened.

[mikep1]

Gee, too bad you missed the suicide. I'm sure that was very disappointing. And all that was left when you got there was some blood in the street? Damn the luck!

 

Re the picture itself...If you have to explain it, it's not much of a picture is it? It's just a bad photo of a street with some buckets and red stuff on the pavement. But maybe it's a good example of "Street" photography.

[stephen hazelton]

"and sat down and tried to imgine why someone would want to take his or her life"

 

I remember reading some time back, where a person decided to make a study of suicide notes, with the idea of writing a book. What the person found was that very few of the notes were actually coherent. More often, when people reached the point of suicide, they just weren't thinking very rationally.

[kevin m.]

MikeP, no need for your snarky tone, really, is there? Perhaps

the picture could have been improved, but it's quite effective as is

and needs no words to explain it: A chalk outline, gore at the

head, buckets for cleanup. Clear enough.

 

I read an interesting article that said that genetics plays more a

role in the tendency to suicide than does climate. The Finns

have a high rate of suicide - which doesn't come as a surprise -

but then so do the Hungarians to whom they are genetically and

linguistically linked.

[al_kaplan1]

Let's all make that little bit of effort to keep that holier-than-thou attitude off the board. We've lost some good members because of it. I know I'm going against my previous "don't respond" advise here, and I'm hoping that this is my last time in this situation. This is meant for both the poster of the "snarky" answer and whatever replies to it show up. Please, folks, ignore those posts! Thanks.

[kevin m.]

Al, I agree with you in priciple, but you may be the only old-timer

left here if things continue as they have!

[lee_shively]

I'll avoid the debate on suicide in general. I think the first photo is the most effective. It would have more of an effect if there was no explanation of the scene and it was viewed without the other photos. It may look like a casual snapshot but, when viewed out of the context of knowing the story behind the event, the elements in the composition can be as disturbing as the event itself.

[mikep1]

I apologise to everyone for my response. I was offended by the tone I (perhaps incorrectly) inferred from Alex's post. But I should have just stated that to me the picture was ineffective. I should have left out the commentary. The forum is supposed to be about photography and not philosophy; I regret that I forgot that.

 

 

MikeP

[sammer]

For anyone who has spent any time in Japan or who knows Japanese culture (from a western perspective) there is an erie, less-than-subtle parallel in these images to everyday Japanese life. While it may have not been by choice, I find it interesting that the pictures document the sanitization of the aftermath rather than the event itself. Even the composition feel very 'antiseptic' which works with this image - Japan is a hyper-clean place with high value placed on cleanliness (in the language, the same word is used for clean and beautiful). This is often in direct conflict (as here) with being human.

[al_kaplan1]

I'm really glad that things are getting civil again. I sure don't want to have to find a new forum at this point in my life! I love it here.

 

The last of the "old timers still here"?Ionly joined in June of 2002, and that was because I stumbled into it accidently. I was looking for a darkroom forum at the time. I'd packed up my darkroom about 10 years earlier, and suddenly I was getting requests for traditional B&W prints again. I unpacked everything and set up once again.

 

I needed info on what was still available in the way of supplies, what new (better?) stuff was available, etc., and while exploring photo.net I found the Leica forum. It was like I'd discovered the coffee pot that used to grace the back of many a camera shop, the regulars hanging out for a half hour of conversation, the newbies asking questions. I'm not the moderator here, but perhaps that's to my advantage. I can't wipe out your posts. I can only appeal to your desire to make this a place where we can all learn, and more important, teach. Everybody has information someone else could use. Let's keep the exchange of ideas going! I've met some great people here, and quite a few in person too. End of today's lecture!

[nesrani]

Someone mentioned that the propensity to commit or attempt suicide seems to be genetically determined to some extent. Well, I have a wierd experience in this regard which takes it one step further. I had a girlfriend once who was obsessed with the idea of suicide; she is a writer and her writing was mostly about suicide. Anyway, when we broke up, I did a little websearch for her work online. I came across two other writers who used the same name as her (one, in her work as a fictional name referring to the first person narrator, the other as her own name) in their published poetry/fiction. Their work was all about suicide. There is no doubt that these were three different women.

 

Needless to say, I will never go out with a woman with that name again...