You begin with a simple study in shape by choosing an incongruous vantage point and then expose so that water becomes an abstraction by going black. This abstraction triggers our imagination, and turns an exercise in form into expression. Only a tiny rope and a hint of the pier connects the boat to the real world, which makes this image into a metaphor for the beginning of life. The rope is a metaphorical umbilical cord, and it seems to be infusing the boat (all of us) with vitality, symbolized by the golden and orange light, which resembles the light in womb photographs we've seen. Geometry works for you as well -- the diagonal flow of the pier is rhythmically echoed by the stern of the boat. Even the rope on the floor of the boat has symbolic value to me -- it represents even more potential linkage to the real world, should we need it. It is more than a pretty image, an exercise in form for the sake of form. It is an expression of an idea through displaying a commonplace subject in uncommon light, color and position. You have turned the ordinary into the extraordinary here, Beth.
Guest
03-Aug-2004 21:52
very nice composition...
I love this orange shot.
ciao
Andrea
