I often take pictures of other people taking pictures. This subject is to photography as 'the play within the play' is to literature, evocative in its self-reflexivity. So, for me, this photo is off to a strong start.
There's more. The posture of the couple in this photo is very expressive. My relationship as a photographer to these two is resonant — we're likely all on holiday in New York. And, there is symbolism in the photo: are these people recently met, having a fling like ships passing in the night?
But what sets this photo apart is the photograph's composition.
I didn't plan this composition. Like much street photography, I was merely in the right place at the right time looking in the right direction. I didn't even see all of the wonderful elements of the scene when I took the photo. I saw the couple and the ferries. Perhaps I subconsciously saw the pilings at left and made sure they were in the frame. But look around; the pairs of things in the photo also include the benches in the foreground. How wonderful that the ferries were close but separate at the moment the woman raised her camera (and I raised mine).
The parallels continue. The people at the railing lean like the pilings, their clothes blow in the wind like the smoke from the ferries and like the bushes in the foreground.
Lastly, all these elements (parallelism included) are richly suggestive. Were these two sitting a moment before? On one bench, or separately on two? Are they waiting for a ship to dock? When the gangway is in place, will they walk it together or will one of them remain on shore and have to wave goodbye?
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19.03
