Tuesday, October 16

Living With Dead

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When you’re young they say that the days go on forever and death’s little more than a rumor at the end of the road.

In southern Italy’s small towns they paste wall banners memorializing anniversaries of the passing of loved ones.

NOTE: You will often find in-depth descriptions of this Italian visit among the comments below both as I add onto them and as you prompt my memory. I'll try to restrict my thoughts exclusively to today's image here on the home page. Those comments begin here.

5 comments:

Debra Trean said...

Wow isn't that a different thing. I like that idea actually. We live int he country and it is common to see a cross on the road where someone has passed. I have thought about capturing them but something just did not feel right about it. Watched one right in town be decorated for every holiday for like 3 years. As americans we deal with death in odd ways I feel.

Andreas said...

Ted, that's absolutely fantastic. I really like the way you extract the peculiarities of a culture. And the image itself, gorgeous. Did you wait until someone would come along? Was this the first person to come? Or was it a lucky accident?

In other words: was this planned and do you allow your plans to slow you down :-?

Andreas

Ted said...

(pnf) It is interesting how this small town lives with its memorials. Yes you are so right, they are something quite like the crosses we see at the sites of traffic accidents. But here they celebrate everyone and in a quite democratic sense (unlike places which erect large statues to only the 'important').

(Andreas) I saw the posters, saw their environment and sensed their value as a stage set. So I stood, ostensibly photographing them, but through my wide angle. Hence each passer-by was generally unaware that they were a critical component of the scene.

I really set it up for a woman and her child who were walking along, and while they were a strong contrapuntal element to these death notices, that idea I expressed in the first line of the caption was rolling through my head and when I saw this spectacular man coming along, I knew he was the star of this picture. I only had to click him once to communicate the essence of the idea.

Thanks for each of your kind words.

Chad Oneil Myers said...

Hey, Ted!

I'm glad you enjoyed my "Susie" post ;)

I always appreciate your visits.

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