Mirrors and Windows

Topic one

A window to the past.

Shot on the Greek island of Crete.

This is an abandoned cafe in a tiny village near the Samaria gorge.

It’s on the outskirts and as the village decreased in size and visitor numbers dropped it was abandoned.

I felt I needed to add to my post....

Although I didn’t know it at the time, this shot captures both mirrors and windows perfectly for me. When I first saw the shot, I wanted to capture, through the broken glass of the window, this moment in time showing the abandoned café interior almost looking into the past with the broken glass acting as a mirror of the present. At first, I positioned myself out of the shot completely but then I decided I would like to be in it so took another shot where you could clearly see me taking the image. I changed my mind again, there was too much of me in the shot, so I took this final image where, if you look closely, you can just see my legs in the broken glass on the left. I had to burn in the broken glass area to show detail but as I shoot in RAW there was enough detail there to bring out. This way, I thought, I am both in the shot (if you really look) or not if you only look superficially. For me, this makes the work a window into the past and a mirror of the present and leaves the future an unknown. What will happen to the café, will it ever reopen, or will it become another type of shop? I decided I would revisit the site after a year or two and see what has become of this abandoned cafe, I look forward to sharing my findings. Addition I have been contemplating whether I am a window or mirror photographer as a direct result of this topic. Initially, I decided that I was a window photographer based on my previous work with live bands, weddings and portraits etc. I would work primarily in a documentary style, recording what was in front of my lens but deciding, in a fraction of a second, what to include in my window and what to omit. In the face past environment of live band photography, you only have the first three songs in which to grab the shots you, or the editor etc require. The lighting is almost constantly changing and the performers are moving about the stage making exposure incredibly difficult to nail. You have to frame very carefully, do you include just the singer or the singer and guitarist? You are always looking for expression and emotion from the performers as you try to capture their passion under very tricky lighting situations. I chose the window through which the viewer got to see the band or artist and what they did not see. After thinking about this a lot I came to the conclusion that I am both a window and mirror photographer, allow me to explain. Although I chose the window, this is also a reflection of how I feel about the subject, the image mirrors my thoughts, feelings and views. I would, in the main, try to make work that I knew the band/management/press would want to use. If, however, I was photographing a band I loved, these considerations were present but my overriding thought was "I must get great shots the band will love" as I did not want to let my musical heroes down. My work was both a window into a moment in time where I framed the window and a mirror of my thoughts and feelings about the band.