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Lower East Side

{ 3 comments… add one }
  • Eric Levin December 18, 2013, 11:50 am

    Joe: Your words—”Never fear the shadows”—often pop into my head. This photo reminds me to be more courageous in that regard. The subdued pallette is dreamy, somber and beautiful. The picture is almost a B&W, and would work fine if you removed the color. Yet, as in all your photos, the color is not just hanging around, an innocent bystander. At the opposite upper edges, the two signs stand like sentries at Buckingham Palace, minus the funny hats.

    Meanwhile, the rolls are both comic—”Look, Joe reinvented the wheel!” or “Is that toilet paper for elephants?”—and a bit sad, sagging, wrinkled, elderly. And who is the loner among them, separated from the gang as they get ready to roll out? Or are we looking at a three-dimensional calendar, to be read right to left?…On the seventh day, God rested.

  • Joseph O. Holmes December 18, 2013, 4:47 pm

    It’s true, I love to find those scenes where a bright details pops out of the shadows.

    And now and then I still try black and white, but in a case like this, I think it takes something away. Leaving the image in color emphasizes the reality of the huge white rolls in that environment. In B&W, I wonder if it wouldn’t look more like a gimmick.

  • Lidice January 10, 2014, 10:26 am

    I love the dialogue here! Happy New Year, Joe! It looks as though I missed one of your emails. My apologies for not having responded. An oversight. :(

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