International Center of Photography

Photography is an activity that I never necessarily tried to engage in at every conceivable chance, but I love to take dozens upon dozens of pictures when a camera is given to me, hoping that a few would turn out well. I was excited to go to the International Center of Photography because this would be my first visit to ICP and I was curious to see what other photographers were exhibiting. As I took my time walking through the galleries and observing the photographs on the first floor, I did find a few of them interesting while others I found to be bewildering. The basement of the ICP housed old, black-and-white photographs and a few colored ones from the time that JFK was president. I enjoyed viewing those as well.

The picture above, named Walking Wawa Parking Lot, taken in Philadelphia in 2008, was one of the photographs that I found to be exceptionally interesting. It was hung on the side, next to the entrance to the room with the projector, and could have been easily missed. At first glance, I saw a man walking on fog or clouds above what looked to be buildings, it seemed, with mountain tops on the right and clouds above. It seemed surreal to me, and it didn’t fit with the theme of the other pictures, and I took a closer look. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the whole image was the result of the reflection off of wet concrete. The ridges at the top of the painting were not the result of debris in the air or the camera lens being dirty, but rather, it was the particles of the concrete emerging from the water. At the bottom of the painting, where the subject’s feet are, you can see the cut-off of the actual person’s feet, with more detail visible on the sneakers because while the image was distorted due to small ripples in the liquid, the actual image remained intact.  The objects at the right of the photo, what I had mistaken for a mountainous ridge of some sort, was actually the reflection of the Wawa store, a car, and other parts of the parking lot. I found this picture to be interesting because unlike the other photographs that had “covert” meanings or symbolic messages, this one caused me to imagine something entirely other and surreal for a whole three to four seconds before seeing the reality. Additionally, the circumstances of the photograph was something that I found to be original because while most of the pictures I’ve seen of reflections tended to be reflections in the mirror, this one was a reflection from wet concrete, a perfect symbol of the city in which it is located and displayed.

Overall, I enjoyed this experience and look forward to numerous ones like it and to visiting ICP on different occasions in the future.