Isolation Photos
My daughter Emma recently updated her website with some photographs and an essay on solitude. (Here’s a link to Emma’s website)
It prompted me to pull some isolation/solitude photos from my files.
Emma included both positive and negative aspects of the idea of solitude, “To show that feeling of isolation has many facets.” Where I, not so much. By negative I don’t necessarily mean depressing or morose, I’m just not focusing on a meditative or soothing solitude. I guess I am looking for people who look alone, even in situations where they might be surrounded by others.
I’ve always felt isolated. I remember recurring dreams from when I was three years old in San Diego and being able to flap my arms like wings and fly above all the people below. I could watch them from above (maybe a precursor to becoming a photographer, watching) but I was never noticed from below.
My photographs of these “isolated” people are perhaps a way for me to try to come to terms with my own form of isolation. Put it in perspective, if you will. Or maybe the photos are simply a way for me to connect somehow with these unknown, yet connected in some manner, brethren, whoever they may be.
It prompted me to pull some isolation/solitude photos from my files.
Emma included both positive and negative aspects of the idea of solitude, “To show that feeling of isolation has many facets.” Where I, not so much. By negative I don’t necessarily mean depressing or morose, I’m just not focusing on a meditative or soothing solitude. I guess I am looking for people who look alone, even in situations where they might be surrounded by others.
I’ve always felt isolated. I remember recurring dreams from when I was three years old in San Diego and being able to flap my arms like wings and fly above all the people below. I could watch them from above (maybe a precursor to becoming a photographer, watching) but I was never noticed from below.
My photographs of these “isolated” people are perhaps a way for me to try to come to terms with my own form of isolation. Put it in perspective, if you will. Or maybe the photos are simply a way for me to connect somehow with these unknown, yet connected in some manner, brethren, whoever they may be.
Lone elderly diner at Mill Valley, Calif., cafe
Man near San Francisco Embarcadero fountain
Cattle auction near Ghost Ranch, Northern New Mexico
Lone bicyclist, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Nun, Jemez, New Mexico
Man with cowboy hat sits outside Espanola, New Mexico, Walmart
Alt Fashion, taken at Cedar Crest in the Sandia Mountains east of Albuquerque, New Mexico
Lone man waits for Fractal Foundation presentation in auditorium at New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas, New Mexico
Man with guitar on back walks down Central Avenue, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Commuter on train, Detroit, Michigan
Mother and infant, Los Angeles train station, Los Angeles, Calif.
Espanola, New Mexico
Isolated man peers out second story window somewhere in the midwest
Elderly woman in San Francisco, Calif.
San Francisco street scene. Waiting to cross the street.
Accordion player, San Francisco, Calif.
Bus stop San Diego, Calif.
San Francisco gay pride parade
"Welcome to the Valley Hoopers" commune near Nelson, BC, Canada circa 1970s
Torrey Pines Beach, San Diego, California
Normally when I think of isolation I immediately think of images with people, but when I encountered this small church that was used in an unnamed movie or TV program at Ghost Ranch in Northern New Mexico, I thought "isolation." It looks like it is in the middle of nowhere and the light snow falling added to the loneliness I wanted the image to reflect.
To contact Bob Eckert for assignments, consultations or workshops, please email bobeckertphotography@yahoo.com
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