Another Brick

13 Nov 2005

This is quite a departure for me. I don't usually post photos that on the surface appear quite mundane... but as I was going through my recent archives I came across it.

I remember taking this as a 'throw-away' shot... something that when I first looked at the scene I thought I saw a possible picture in, but after trying various framing and perspectives without satisfaction I took the shot knowing it'd never see the light of day. Might as well throw it away. - But as I mentioned somewhere before, I'm a digital pack-rat, I never delete.

Let me back up a bit... this was a day, the first time in a while, that I'd wandered into town in search of alley art. Sometimes when I go hunting I find the odd goldmine or two, certain alleys or streets that have been hit with a few good pieces. But this day it was the complete opposite. I walked around for hours, to lanes and areas I hadn't searched before, but still I didn't really find anything. - So I went out of my way to revisit a couple of spots I knew were usually good ... but they'd been painted over! As I walked down one such alley, pissed that the day had been so fruitless I passed this wall, and was struck by the repetitive pattern of bricks. But the mood I was in, it was a doomed 'throw-away' shot. - Actually, after taking it I gave up for the day and just walked home.

So six months on, I'm glancing through the thumbnails from the day and re-notice this one. I see it's a RAW file, so I decide to give it 2 minutes and see if I can get anything out of it. First thing I do is drop out the saturation and suddenly it's a whole new shot. Then I pump up the shadows, which gives it a certain something I'm starting to like. Lower the exposure, balance that with some brightness, and give it some contrast for punch.

It's a boring wall, I know that, there's nothing interesting about it, but fuck I like it.

[edit 14/07/06 :: submitted to Photo Friday Remarkable - My logic here for submitting this under the challenge 'Remarkable' is that this brick wall is the antithesis (the exact opposite) of remarkable. It's a wall, and it's neither exciting nor interesting in it's own right. But you know what? I love this shot. It's remarkable I even took it let alone processed it into one of my favourites! (It's also remarkable I got the #5 entry this week on PF. Right time, right place baby!)]

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