Good Evening:
So said the very wide-hipped Asian woman aged 50-60 who walked past me on Folsom near 16th Street today. She walked with her right arm stiff and trailing behind herself, leaning forward with her jaw tilted as far up as possible. Who knows? I photograph subjects that everyone else ignores; perhaps the subject is uninteresting. See for yourself (iPhone 4, unedited but for an 8×10 crop). Please do not think that I seek to compel you to compliment me; if you don’t like it, I encourage you to say so and say why.
Things On Walls Series: Locked Grate on Folsom Near 16th Street, 17 November 2012
What do you think? Uninteresting or not?
Let’s pretend for a moment that I did create a work of beauty, and ignore the question of whether this photo is good, bad or indifferent. What makes it beautiful? I have speculated on this before and have formulated four hypotheses why:
- The object was always beautiful; I saw the beauty first.
- The object is not beautiful except for a once-in-a-lifetime perfect setting; I simply got lucky and walked past at the right time.
- The object did contain the elements of beauty, but needed someone to capture them.
- The object is beautiful only because I say so.
Thoughts, speculations, guesses, counterarguments welcome.
Vonn Scott Bair
The San Francisco Scene--Seen! 
i like it 🙂
jai long: Thanks for visiting! I’m glad you liked the picture. I have a few other posts with “Things on Walls” in the title. Sometimes I don’t quite understand why I photograph them, but the results aren’t bad. Vonn Scott Bair
Hello Vonn. I think beauty is in the eye of the beholder, some people aren’t prepared to stop long enough to actually behold some things however. I might be silly but I do find your image interesting because of the contract between the two items in it.
One reason why I love photography so much, you stop and “look”at an object. With the aid of a lens you can look at it as a whole or a bit at a time (close up). Sorry, am I rambling?
Jillian: Thanks for writing. The funny thing is that I took the photograph, and yet until you mentioned it, failed to realize just how contrasting the contrasting items are. Aside from the color differences, one juts out and the other does not, one is a pair and the other is not, one has writing and the other does not, et cetera. Thanks for bringing your eye to bear on the scene. Vonn Scott Bair
I admire the “artwork” for the clean and contrast colours.
Thank you Vonnie…
cherrybossom777: Thank you for the kind words. I had hopes that the non-green colors would not somehow “disqualify” the pic. Vonn Scott Bair
I photograph things in a way that I hope people will see the beauty in them also. I won’t say I saw beauty here but I do find it interesting. I am ashamed to admit all i really see is the flaw (chipped paint) do you suppose that says simeting about my personality? Hmmm…..
lingeringvisions: I think it say something good about your personality. Although the picture itself is very simple, people have found all sorts of interesting details. Perhaps that is all for which I could ask. Vonn Scott Bair
Awww…thank you. I like men who tell me what I want to hear, you charrner you. 😉
😀 Sometimes I just say, “the camera made me do it”. I like it.
garyschollmeier: “The camera made me do it.” Now that is a stroke of genius; wish I thought of it myself. Vonn Scott Bair
The placement of the components, the symmetry and how one’s view is pulled to different parts all add up to pleasurable viewing.
I like the parts of the screen where the openings closed up with a film of paint. It brings to mind a flower either being approached by a bee or a bee leaving the flower for another.
planeman: Yes, I see what you mean; for me, another curiosity was the half-painted lock. Vonn Scott Bair
Excellent image for this week photo challenge Vonn 🙂
jakesprinter: Thank you! For your information, I used the iPhone 4 zoomed out as far as possible to enable cropping if necessary. Worked this time. Vonn Scott Bair
An interesting find is part of the process of what as a result can be quite beautiful.
Very true: and even better, the camera allows such a variety of self-expression. Vonn Scott Bair
I think its a great image because of the vibrance of the colours and the contrast between the colours; also the geometry of the objects and the contrast between their shapes. Not being symmetrical adds interest. The framing makes it look like art. I am going to vote for “beautiful”.
Linda: I’m glad you voted! Funny you should mention the framing; figuring out the right crop presented the greatest difficulties for me. Ultimately, I relied on instinct. Vonn Scott Bair