Sunday 28 October 2007

Times change (contd.)- # 275

So here we see how the 18th century stables for the 70 barge horses have been recently coverted from an "old forge" (i.e. a car repair shop) to "upscale cottages" for "knowledge workers". Down below we see how the lane down to the river has gone from "approach route for industrial towing horses" and "muddy run for stream and village sewer" to "somewhere to park my Mercedes (if I'm lucky to get there first)".
The original posting was also an exercise in "how to evoke atmosphere by visual means". The picture was very empty because I wanted to evoke "change, passing, disappearance". (In my opinion it didn't work that well). Richard's (justifiably) acid comment was in the context of a discussion we have been having on the evocation of mood in photographs, and why some things fail, or provoke different reactions in different viewers.

The photos here are just illustrative "snaps" and would mean nothing at all without words. But some photos do not need words to evoke powerful emotions.

(For Ming in NYC......the rivers and canals have "tow paths" on either side. The horses tow the barges up and down the river and the bargee steers it out from the bank - a tricky operation. You do not have a horse on each bank. I hope that helps. There is a very old written reference to Ham being a change over point).


5 comments:

  1. The pictures and commentary certainly complement each other here and make the point rather nicely. No-one's going to deny knowledge workers their cottages - but I keep feeling that priorities are a bit skewed. (I'm going to be mischievous and ask why they don't build underground garages for their Mercedes..)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love the first photo of the stable. I like that it was taken so low down on the ground.

    As for your attempt to portray a mood of "change, passing, disappearance" in your photos, I don't feel them. But to be honest, I don't know how one would go about creating a visual presentation of those moods either.

    So bravo for the attempt. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree with Ming...the low aspect of the shot gives it interest...the blurred leaves and pebbles in the foreground with the rest of the shot crystal clear...nice

    ReplyDelete
  4. Really nice and interesting to read episode one and two. Times change, but the landscape is and remains obviously just beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  5. great photos and great background... thanks for sharing with us.

    T
    :o)

    ReplyDelete