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Ana Carloto O'Shea | all galleries >> OLD WORK >> Random Stories >> In Black & White > Going Home
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14-JUN-2006 Ana Carloto

Going Home

It was a long busy day.
The ride home was strange, silent, with rain
that doesn't quite fit at this time of the year.
Looking out the windows of the boat and see nothing
but grey, made me feel like I was in another country.
It feels good to always have a camera
at my side. I am never quite alone when I hold it.
And the world always feels more real when I see it
through its lenses...
These days I feel I am one with the camera,
I've never loved it as much as I do now.
It's a beautiful love story.
One that I am sure it will never end.

Kodak DX7630
1/45s f/4.0 at 10.7mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto
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Guest 31-Jan-2007 14:25
this is a very powerful composition -- superb
and kudos to Niall and Ruth for their comments
Guest 22-Jan-2007 14:43
I like that we can see the skin texture on his head.
By the way, I'm back here again.
Diana
Guest 22-Jan-2007 04:53
So very beautiful,the image and the caption.
Chris Sofopoulos16-Jun-2006 09:18
So beautiful image and mood you captured Ana.
v
Sam_C16-Jun-2006 03:57
Truly outstanding light, and sharpness you've achieved Ana! Superb b&w tones,
I love it! Your note says it all, and it shows in your work! Best, Sam
SRW16-Jun-2006 02:10
Everyone below has already expressed how I feel about both the words and the picture... -- so, simply... (V)
Guest 15-Jun-2006 21:54
Oh Ana this is simply wonderful....The words and the picture combined poetry....V>
Robbie D7015-Jun-2006 21:06
Interesting and unusual yet im sure most photographers on here understand your views.
Go for it girl.
Rob Rosetti15-Jun-2006 17:19
Beautiful shot! Roberto
ruthemily15-Jun-2006 15:20
i know exactly what you mean about your camera, Ana. i feel lost without mine, but so safe and confident when i have it with me. i know i can deal with whatever comes my way because i have a tangible means through which to express how i feel and make sense of what's going on. they took my camera off me in hospital (not even because of any sort of privacy issues, more of a bribery thing i think), it was like a part of me was missing. it wasn't necessarily that i had a burning desire to take photos, i just wanted to know it was right near me just in case. it's hard to explain to people who don't understand, but hey, i know you do :)
as for the photo, it's hard to add to Niall's so very eloquent essay (i had to look half the words up, but ssshhh). there is such a great sense of stillness, silence and contemplation. even though we know he is on a journey through time and space it feels to me as though, for a while, everything has stopped still and we become as deep in wonder about what he is thinking, as he is in doing so (hope that makes sense). it reminds me to slow down, to stop running, to take the time to figure out where i am, how i got here, where i want to go next.
david procter15-Jun-2006 13:57
Theres always great narrative strength in journeys, especially when water is involved. I love how your love affair with your camera is also your audiences.
type15-Jun-2006 13:54
Conveyed almost without will through the humdrum of daily life, he is moving yet stationary, purposeful yet directionless, an individual with a name, with debts, with kids, with private passions and a car with an iffy exhaust – yet he is anonymous: representative. The shaved head, the checked shirt, the thick neck seem to confirm our bias that he is the archetypal worker of the western world eulogised by rheumy-eyed novelists and chattering sociologists. Sure enough, here he is, playing his part placid and obedient, journeying with blissful automation to what seems like his destiny: an existence at once cushioning in its familiarity and savage in its stealth war of attrition of the body and spirit. Here is Everyman of the late century.

But it’s all too easy to reduce our Everyman to a 2-dimensional pawn in a cold, arrogant theory. The marvel of this photo is the sense that we are so close to him that we can almost smell his humanity, hear if we struggle, his most hidden thoughts, graze our noses against his innate frailty. His face MUST be hidden for us to see what lies behind it. We thrill at this tremulous specimen; exhausted yes, but still here, still surviving, still defying in his little ways… And we’re comforted by the hope that, in recalling a moment of happiness or by disappearing into his imagination, by these tiny assertions against oblivion, he can momentarily dismiss the forces of life and death ranged against him. We yearn to empathise. For me, he is ‘man’ at his most ordinary – and courageous.
Kal Khogali15-Jun-2006 12:57
I am so glad your web cam affair has ended...so dangerous to put your true partner at risk...at least this one does not always have to stay at home ;-))K
Roe..15-Jun-2006 10:33
you made a simple subject full of emotion..the window reflection is perfect..I feel lost without my pacifier..brilliant!..v
Guest 15-Jun-2006 10:14
C'est absolument superbe...
Guenter Eh15-Jun-2006 10:03
Ana - you speaks out of everyone`s heart - we all share that love of having always the cam with us! Your picture in context with your text has a strong beautiness in his simplicity - poesy pure.
Marc Demoulin15-Jun-2006 06:37
I like the simpleness of his picture full of mystery and nostalgia Ana.
Marc
Guest 15-Jun-2006 03:12
Ana, wonderful image. Just great. One of your best. I prefer not to comment more. Just tell you I love it.
Offer Goldfarb15-Jun-2006 03:08
I feel the same, Ana. Great shot.
Pepe Zyman15-Jun-2006 01:25
Excellent job and I agree with you in regards of having a camera always ready!
Craig Persel14-Jun-2006 23:18
Wonderful shot.
suse14-Jun-2006 23:16
Great textures in the photo. And the narrative. A great poetic quality.
jude14-Jun-2006 22:35
I can't imaging going to work by boat.. how wonderful, really.
Great low-light peek at this man - a fellow passenger who was probably taking a photo of the person in front of him.. ;)
I feel more confident and stronger with my camera within my reach.
Guest 14-Jun-2006 22:33
You have a boat trip back and forth to work - so cool! I used to commute by boat many years ago (and so often in a grey rain) and miss it greatly. Really enjoyed the ode to your camera, and I share that love of having a camera in-hand. John
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