Second part of my descrition of:
Photograph 1
Because of the clothes, the bare legs and short sleeves I am guessing it is spring or summer and yet there is a greyness of light that places the couple in a city environment, possibly London. It is not clear if they are in shadow or the day is overcast but there is a dullness only emphasised by the run down atmosphere of the architecture and surfaces that surround them. Top left of the frame is a blue/grey wall, perhaps the wall of a building sited on a higher level to the road the couple are standing on. In front of that wall a parasitic buddleia hugs the edge of a brick and concrete structure. It only overhangs the wall by a foot or so but seems to be the cause of a livid brown stain that stretches down the wall almost to floor level. The wall itself comprises the approach and structure of a bridge or viaduct under which the couple are captured. The structure is tiled all over in white tiles or white-faced brick in an offset pattern. Some of the bricks and pointing is discoloured and there are pleasing areas of focus in the uniformity. Zip-like columns of connected and darker pointing run down the wall. There is a horizontal white ‘rub’, just above head level, which cuts through all the conflicting surface noise. The dark horizontal dashes and misaligned tile levels all add to the sense of decay. The right third of the photograph is dominated by the black underbelly of a brick arch under which the couple is standing. The brickwork has been maintained and traces of that work is visible as the wall appears patchy and uneven. The arch itself has a five-tiered lip, which echoes in the lines on the woman’s nautical shirt. The space under the bridge has a graphic quality that connects naturally to the black horizontal line running along the joint of the wall and the pavement. Tapering as it leaves the frame this line serves to emphasise the potential movement of the man with the toy. His future speed is also picked up in the rubbed out line on the wall which describes an action by one moving thing against the wall, perhaps a lorry or vehicle unknown and acts as a second marker to the mans direction and energy. The road is complimentary patchwork of trip hazards and functional repairs. It is a rather delicate mixture of browns and greys. There is a strong perspective implied here or actual. The flagstones look as if they were laid on a different alignment to the wall and they really open up as if I was looking at a stage. Could this photograph have been taken with a specialist lens?
There is an odd anomaly butting into the scene at the bottom centre of the photograph. My best guess as to what it could be is the top edge of a bicycle handle bar. Possibly the photographer’s or alternately a random one affixed to railings on this side of the road. It reminds me of the jolt when a boom becomes visible in a TV drama. This detail seems to locate the image within a framework as if my eye were hooked to it and left to roam back and forth across the snap. It looks like a mistake, or something untidy and somehow this connects, laterally, with the dilapidated state of the wall and its environs and denotes a tenderness and appreciation of looking at stuff, anything, and finding quality in it.
