I email the photograph to myself as part of process of writing that relates to this photograph, and write some 'starter' notes:
- went to the Royal Festival Hall with my iPhone.
- tell myself, 'give yourself five minutes to get into thinking about writing that relates to your photograph'.
- imagine yourself into thinking about 'writing'; translating disparate 'visual' thoughts into a sequence of words, a sentence, a paragraph.
I write.
This photograph, like many of my photographs, means little in itself.
In a sense a photograph for me is part of a social process, an experience that is not observed in itself, a reference point between conversations.
So what does this photograph mean for me?
In one way this writing (and photograph) is about learning to make a photograph with an iPhone 4S. The 'Info' in Apple's iPhoto shows me the photograph is 3264 x 2448 (pixels), 3.0 MB, ISO 800, 4.3 mm (equivalent to 33mm in 35mm format - Shea Chen has done the maths ) and 1/15th of a second.
I found an object to rest the iPhone on (to keep it steady) and still have an image near to the original framing that initially 'caught my eye'. A fence post acts as a support.
The clock face and the light stay framed in the 'eye', a latent thought about a 'view' of space-time manifests itself in the image. A visual note to be saved for possible later thought.
In another sense the photograph relates to a blog post, a comment, a meetup, a tweet and a conversation about the possibility of a group of people becoming involved together in making and thinking about our photographs.
A third meaning generated by this photograph references my thoughts and feelings around the time I made the image. A good memory of a cold, crisp, blue day. Using the Underground to travel rather than my bike. My back being 'wobbly' which makes me less confident cycling. First time I've visited the Royal Festival Hall at a weekend for a long time - the place wasn't too busy, but I suspect will be when the weekend events seasons get going. I have a wander, sit down in the Green Side (feels like a non-place) on the second level and write some words that are milling around in my mind - iPhone Photowalk. Leave my bag at home. Make A Photograph . Make A Paragraph . About?: 1. Getting out 2. Between 3. Being 4. Presence 5. Relationships 6. Dreamwork - theory/fictions 7. Continuities 8. Implosion 9. Inhabit 10. Home 11. Public 12. Debt/Credit - human economics 13. Collective / Communal 14. Critical Theory - Here/Now 15. Thinking as Dialogue 16. Photography as Dialogue 17. Public Screens 18. Edges . 19. Nature 20. Reflective 21. Reflexive Photography 22. Photographic Praxis 23. Ground 24. Autobiographical 25. Cafe 26. Royal Festival Hall 2-4pm 27. Something happens each week 28. Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, Ning, Posterous, 29. interactive Wall 30. Collective Memory 31. Bruno Latour / Networks 32. Living On The Edges. 33. Connections 34. Critical Practice 35. Ambient 36. Contemplate 37. Doubt 38. Gardening - metaphors 39. Rhizomatic, Trope? maybe
And so on throughout this year. And I say to myself, that's enough.
I have a glass of water and head for the Waterloo Underground station. As I cross Belvedere Road, behind the Royal Festival Hall, an image catches my eye and captures my imagination.
And now I send the email to flickr to share in our conversations.
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