Awakenings

Street photography, as Jeff Mermelstein described it, is “going out into the real world and searching for an un-staged, unexpected surprise.” Sometimes, this surprise will capture our society’s charisma and ferocity. Other times and luckily, you might grasp the resonance of the bizarre or those socially castrated and isolated. From the homeless all the way to the “white-collar” businessmen, any moment can become eccentric and striking. Street photography allows you to experience the world’s raw, unaltered beauty.

For me, the thought of photographing the real world was overwhelming and intimidating. Mainly because the only talent I had with a camera was knowing to press the button on top and wait for the “click”. Clearly an amateur, it was pertinent to get a feel for how to manipulate angles, lighting, flash, depth of field, and focus. Practice didn’t quite make perfect, yet with the ICP exhibit, Jeff Mermelstein, and this project, I have come to appreciate the art of photography.

With no criteria or limits to what I could photograph, the endless possibilities made it a grueling decision. Not one decent theme came to mind. I perpetually attempted to find one that would be unique, but I ended up with too abstract and confusing of themes. Originally, I intended to use a theme of people sleeping in New York City, yet I backed away, petrified of possible confrontations. I needed to find something inanimate that I could capture, but what?

It was only until I walked around in the 40-degree cold weather of the “Big Apple” that I began to form my idea. As I snapped a couple of pictures, I noticed a subtle similarity within the shots. Almost hidden, I saw graffiti in the background either on the buildings or trucks. With that thought in my mind, I began thinking heavily about graffiti. What does it mean? Why do people do it? Then it hit me. People have the desire to make their “mark”, “imprint”, or “tag” in our bustling society. Parallel to an animal marking its territory in the wild, people have this desire to leave a kind of fingerprint behind for all to see.

This idea opened a wider theme to incorporate graffiti as well as other “marks” that people make. Alas, the final theme was: “NYC: Mark Your Territory.” It ranged from restaurants promoting their small businesses on their outside perimeters to even a lonely pigeon bobbing around in circles, marking its territory on the side-walk. As soon as I organized my vision and plan of action, it was magical and like fate how these “imprints” came my way. Without much effort, I found practically anything and everything that was tagged. On the strangest places from a porter potty to an antenna on a high rooftop, I captured the lengths that people will go through to tag the most unthinkable places. This, I felt, was the perfect theme for street photography.

As I shot pictures, I found that my greatest challenge was my inability to use certain techniques within the pictures. For instance, I could not use black and white color because I felt the variety of colors was crucial in its symbolism and obvious appearance. Also, I couldn’t use any motion pictures or distant views because of the fact that the audience needed to see the clarity of the words or pictures of some of the graffiti or marks. Though I felt my inability to use these aspects might result in too simplistic and repetitive images, I found that each mark was so unique that it was not a matter to fuss over at all.

Looking at the photos, I was amazed by the deep, underlying meanings and symbolisms of many marks. I believe that in one way, people felt a sense of pride when tagging their names onto something, almost “owning” that place. For instance, a gang might mark up and spray their territory so that their rivals would know it was forbidden territory. Especially in the “Stop War” sign, it captured how people share their political opinions to make their mark in society. To add, it showed the creative twist of doing so just by adding the word “war” to an ordinary stop sign. Clearly, these photos conveyed all the levels of making a mark.

My adventure in New York City is one that will remain etched in my mind, just like the permanent etchings people made around the city. Some may very well see graffiti and other imprints as destroying property, but I view it as an expressive art. Making a mark in such a fleeting society, especially one like New York City, just seems worth doing.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 2nd, 2007 at 11:48 pm and is filed under