An Ineluctable Progression of Doors...
© Priya Tuli
Among the squadrillion other reasons why I will never forget my first trip to Greece, are the 89,000 photos of doors I now have in my possession.
Practically anyone who's ever been to Greece would know exactly what I'm talking about. There is an ineluctable magic in those doors. The paint is often chipped and peeling, the surrounding walls often leprous and damp...and this is exactly why they make the most stupendously graphic visual images. As a matter of fact, the more old and leprous, the better. Ohhh look, there's another one!
You whip out your camera, and uh oh; that's a surefire signal for that multitude of little voices in your head to start on you. They've all become regular drones, nagging you in whiny tones ranging from baritone to soprano, "But do you really need one more photograph of a door?" and "This one looks exactly like about 23,000 others you have, down to the colour and number of panels!" and "What d'you plan to do with them all anyway? It's not as if you're George Meis, with a signature-postcard-and-calendar empire..." Hrmm. Being a reasonable sort, you let them all have their say. You mull over their observations and see the merit in them and you know what? They're right. Enough with the doors.
In fact, everywhere you look, there are photo-ops staring you in the face. There are faces, and fabric, and donkeys, and tavernas, and bouzouki, and cobbled streets, and cats, and beaches, and boats, andandand...butbutbut ohmygod, look at THIS door!!! It's so graphic!!! And there you go again.
© Priya Tuli
Fortunately, my last trip went a little better. The door count is down, the window count is up. I also found some shiny newly-painted doors, all acrylic emulsion or whatever it is they use to paint doors. So this was already a departure from the I-am-going-to-take-a-million-shots-of-these-wonderful-old-doors mode of the first trip.
Unfortunately, the high gloss is a bad idea because it bounces the light and the results are not always pleasing. To my mind, they lack depth and character and yes, most definitely, they entirely lack that deliciously tangible ineluctability (yesss, I love that word!) that the old, leprous ones smite you with. So ahem, yes I did take some more of those, too. But my next trip, for SURE, no more doors. None.
Not. A. Single. One.
Among the squadrillion other reasons why I will never forget my first trip to Greece, are the 89,000 photos of doors I now have in my possession.
Practically anyone who's ever been to Greece would know exactly what I'm talking about. There is an ineluctable magic in those doors. The paint is often chipped and peeling, the surrounding walls often leprous and damp...and this is exactly why they make the most stupendously graphic visual images. As a matter of fact, the more old and leprous, the better. Ohhh look, there's another one!
You whip out your camera, and uh oh; that's a surefire signal for that multitude of little voices in your head to start on you. They've all become regular drones, nagging you in whiny tones ranging from baritone to soprano, "But do you really need one more photograph of a door?" and "This one looks exactly like about 23,000 others you have, down to the colour and number of panels!" and "What d'you plan to do with them all anyway? It's not as if you're George Meis, with a signature-postcard-and-calendar empire..." Hrmm. Being a reasonable sort, you let them all have their say. You mull over their observations and see the merit in them and you know what? They're right. Enough with the doors.
In fact, everywhere you look, there are photo-ops staring you in the face. There are faces, and fabric, and donkeys, and tavernas, and bouzouki, and cobbled streets, and cats, and beaches, and boats, andandand...butbutbut ohmygod, look at THIS door!!! It's so graphic!!! And there you go again.
© Priya Tuli
Fortunately, my last trip went a little better. The door count is down, the window count is up. I also found some shiny newly-painted doors, all acrylic emulsion or whatever it is they use to paint doors. So this was already a departure from the I-am-going-to-take-a-million-shots-of-these-wonderful-old-doors mode of the first trip.
Unfortunately, the high gloss is a bad idea because it bounces the light and the results are not always pleasing. To my mind, they lack depth and character and yes, most definitely, they entirely lack that deliciously tangible ineluctability (yesss, I love that word!) that the old, leprous ones smite you with. So ahem, yes I did take some more of those, too. But my next trip, for SURE, no more doors. None.
Not. A. Single. One.
© Priya Tuli
posted by Priya Tuli at
8:48 pm
1 Comments:
Axxx, I would be eternally grateful...my scanner's on the fritz as you know, so my stack of prints&negatives is therefore languishing and of no earthly use to me right now...!
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Priya Tuli, at 22/9/04 16:28
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