Empty Classroom

Another interior shot from the abandoned elementary school in Nara

Prefecture.

Now, that is a serious  architecture  or geometrical  creation. Even in   thumbnail  it  was  attractive  for me. Great shot  Jack, great shot.  All the elements in the right place  even this  red  something  under  the window  on the floor, which is  highlighting the otherwise almost monochrome image.

Cheers.

Bela

Great all around, Jack, but the foreground lighting is exquisite.  The very muted colors are also simply perfect.

--Lannie

Defiantly a well captured scene Jack, good lighting cascading illuminating the interior softly, then a sprits of color thrown in to make a unique image

Fine and moody -- color muted near monochrome.  Again the proportions a fusion. Those windows could have easily been shoji.

Jack,

 Wonderful image with beautiful lighting & mood.  Take care, Patsy

This makes me think of Michael Snow's experimental film Back and Forth, which I was introduced to back in college in the early 70s. The entire film is the camera panning a college classroom window from the inside. It's a meditative film and it has a stillness to it so that the film winds up mimicking a photo in some ways. The orange wrapper certainly takes on a presence in the frame which I doubt it had in the room itself. The standing tri-plate window nicely gives a reflected view of glass and seems in conversation with the window. The soft haziness of the outside view (impressionistic in feel) provides a great contrast to the hard surfaces indoors.

Jack,

When all is said and done  (7)

Love it, Herman

Jack, This is among my favorite type of images and this came out great. I'm a big fan of the type of light presented here. Well done.

BR, Holger

My immediate reaction to this photograph was to put it into my favorites.  The light is to die for here.  "Dutch light" comes to mind.  The shadows are just right, the transition to light is just right.  the balance of objects (your choice of angle and framing) is just right.  And that splash of orange just seems to set off the contrast even more --- accentuating the monochromatic light and dark by which it is surrounded.  It is a gorgeous and rich photograph. 

What draws me to this image is the power of the rhetoric depicted here. An abandoned classroom with shabbily arranged furniture, light coming from a window. A red piece of enigma hastily dropped (perhaps) by a student in a hurry.

Take a deeper look, you will see a helpless amateur thrown onto the arena with the spotlight on. Eager, ruthless onlookers awaiting the slightest chance to shower jeers and criticisms. Their crooked pointed (merciless) edges are in sharp contrast with the tender, organic profile of the 'victim'. Finally, the 'light from above' perhaps is an indication of the helplessness of the little one in the face of the higher powers. The house always wins, no matter what.

It is interesting to note, how the scene completely changes if I block the orange thing with my finger. An uncanny foreboding arises, of someone stepping in all of a sudden. With the orange object in view, The focus of danger shifts from the viewer to the orange object. The viewer's mood (at least my) switches from that of fear to empathy.

.. full memories... Hi

A wonderful study Jack - I like it very much.

Well done,

David