I don't have anything to add other than I agrre with the thoughtful comments and thank you for sharing this beautiful and powerful essay. The images have been in my mind since I first saw them a few days ago.
These images remind me of first- and last images on film rolls. I always kept them, because of the randomness presented. An overexposed half, or fading blobs, or double exposures.
Yours do lead straight to introspection. No chance of "Just looking" or "Only browsing" here.
I end up needing to rub the photo's lovingly between my fingers while feeling happy that I could become sad through the experience.
These are very personal images. As an outsider, I'm full wonder about the people who have been photographed. The overlays add complexity and begs the viewer to compose and resolve relationships and place. It's easy to get lost looking at these and there is no reconciliation, just more questions. Qualities that I find attractive in creative work.
Well John, you had so far 54 viewers of your essay and I imagine that people became very meditative and a bit aloof to say anything.
Also, pretty much like always, Paul analyzed it perfectly, in my opinion.
Needless to say that for me the searching, intent, probing gaze of the little boy won me instantly. I would have been as happy with the first two images and the last one but a little explosion of color, even if it's not the way I imagined it, brings some accents to the topic and I like this a lot. There is not always grey, blur, pastels, fog and melancholy when looking back.
I am a world-class sucker for multiple exposures, collations and juxtapositions. It's my restless imagination: only about 1% of single exposure photographs hold my attention for longer than a single second, while 99% of multiple exposures thrill and fascinate me infinitely. Your images here are endlessly stimulating. They can be relished on any (or all) of several levels: nostalgia, pure aesthetic, craftsmanship. But for me the most substantial of the many qualities of this collection is that it invites the viewer to personalise the images to fit his/her own history, family and experience. It's an adventure with a different story at every reading. Who could ask for more than that?
Individual comments:
• overlap of the generations : 10/10. This one became self for me. A little melancholy it left me, reflecting on mortality.
• reconstructions of the past: 9/10. Evoked the connection between people and places, made me reflect on paths taken within a family, and the disparate fates involved.
• beginnings and endings: 5/10. The only one that didn't much engage me. I probably rebelled against the excessive solarity, a word I think I have invented as my excuse.
• devotions of the landscape: 7/10. Almost got me, but just a tiny bit too accessible to thrill. Does that sound overly-affected? Yes, I think it does.
• Marcia and the sunrise: 10/10. Nearly too easy, but like many wonderful things its apparent simplicity is whatever is the opposite of 'flatters-to-deceive'. It's more complex and more lovely with every moment's consideration.
A beautiful reflection and contemplation. Thank you.
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