A prayer

When a dramatic encounter with Life strips away all nice and pleasurable aspects of daily existence, we are faced with the core essence of our being.

In days like that we may (like myself) search for reassurance in visual art or may read poetry, listen to music, go for walks. This is when our culture gives us an abode into which we can pour powerful emotions and to search for guidance, as to what to do next.

Alternatively I could meditate, cook a meal, wash clothes and simply accept what had happened.

But we all know that it is not easy to quell one’s heart.

So, instead I looked through photographs I took years ago of a play “Iphigenia in Tauris” by Euripides, when it was staged in London. Most of them were classic images of the theatre performance showing action on stage. But one was different. Here the exposure to the harshness of the situation is shown without its setting or narrative. Here a person is faced with a tragedy, which is beyond explanation or reason.

It all came back to me. I was in an auditorium, and while planning my next shot I noticed that a powerful light concentrated all our attention on two people in the middle of the stage, leaving other performers in deep shadow. The central couple were as if suspended, away from all what is mundane, trivial, unimportant.

I decided to accentuate what was crucial in that moment and to ignore all what is irrelevant by choosing a long lens, which cut out the rest of that scene from the frame. While printing this photograph on a high contrast paper, I strived to achieve almost abstract visual forms. I suppose, almost subconsciously, I was creating a simple image of an extreme feeling.

It is because the profound emotions are straightforward and all embracing.

Like a dancer at the apex of a jump.

Like a prayer.

“Iphigenia in Tauris” by Euripides

Camera Mamiya 645

Lens 210mm f=5.6

speed 1/125 sec

Fuji Neopan 400 ASA

Albert van Nierop (Kew Gardens)

Canon lens 50mm f=8

Speed 1/250 sec

Fuji Neopan 400 ASA