By Blane Coulcher.
This is an old picture taken with my old Pentax KM, plus unknown lens back in 1988″¦ and so obviously film. The quality is so-so having been scanned from an old print. But after all these years this is still a favourite as I wonder what was going through the American’s mind as he stared at the Statue of Liberty that summer morning. So many stories, so many memories, so many hopes. I send this, not for the quality, but for the composition and emotion.
NY88
By Blane Coulcher
Don’s response
This is a tough one. I like this image, but not for reasons to do with the technique. As Blane says, it’s in fact a scan of a print which in turn was made from an out of focus negative with a blown out sky. This should be a throwaway. But somehow it works for me, even though I’m not entirely sure why.
Maybe it’s to do with the way the featureless, white sky reminds me of a steamy summer day in New York and how that rail establishes an explicit foreground “layer” (try to imagine the picture without it).
Clearly though, the real power comes from the tension that springs up between the man and that most iconic of American icons.
Between his posture and his gaze and the distant statue, something magic happens for me.
