Cross Wall (urban)

[AFairley]

I'm getting back into things after a long hiatus, this is the first thing I've shown publicly in about 20 years.

[attachment=19659:Cross_Wall.jpg]

[Christoph C. Feldhaim]

I like it, but I'm not yet exactly sure why.

Maybe its because the image has no real interesting "motive" but has a mix of lines and colors I like.
Like an abstract painting that looks like something just by coincidence.

Red, yellow and blue primaries contrasting with that grey wall.
The crucifix shadow cast as an old symbol (Actually the crucifix is an abstraction of the human body ...).
Hmmm ... maybe that crucifix shadow as a symbol is the motive - like a hidden self-portrait?
Finding yourself back after 20 years in the middle of a grey space surrounded by primary colors ?
With a door leading back out of the grey building (20 years of prison in the non-photography world?) into the colorful world of photography and images of others in your neighbourhood ?
Who knows ...?

Well - I most likely read that image like this because its my own situation as well (20 year hiatus - coming back to photography now).

An image out of the dreamscape ....

Thats how I read it.

Cheers
~Chris

[John R]

I am not sure about any symbolic qualities but it is a well balanced old urban scene which has many interesting elements in it that engage the viewer. What I would say, off hand, is that it has a certain order which was fashioned out of disorder.

JMR

[AFairley]

Thank you for your replies.  One of the things I like about it is that it is balanced while being unbalanced and symmetrical without being static.  You have repeating elements on the left (two wall posters) and on the right (cross shadow and lamppost).  Diagonals move you from left to right, but when you get to the right, the lamppost blocks your exit and then the diagonals of the wires, street sign and crossbar of the shadow feed you back into the middle.  In partcular the line of the roof and the wires are feeding into the cross shadow.