Details

Tonight I saw Inception and instead of boring you with another positive rant about the film, which you could find almost anywhere (although the movie was one of the best I've seen in years), I wanted instead to mention briefly what happened afterwards. I came out of the theater and I felt like I was still watching the film. My eyes were just as aware of everything else that was going on around me as they were watching the film screen. I came out of the theater and I decided to walk to Central Park (which was only a few avenues over) instead of going home right away. One block over from the movie theater was Park Ave and for anyone who isn't familiar with the city, here is a picture of what it looks like:

Image taken from here.

Anyone who has seen the film would understand that I literally walked out of the film and came upon this street and immediately re-entered the movie. It also started lightly drizzling but it was the bizzare kind of rain that comes when it is sunny and there doesn't seem to be any clouds in the sky. It was completely surreal. You know a film is good when it doesn't seem to end. I kept thinking about the film and it also prompted me to think about other things, like filmmaking and the visual arts.

My dad recently said that it is important to look back at all your old work to see a common theme or trend that might somehow work its way into your thoughts. I was thinking about my blog posts and that how recently I've been really interested and therefore concentrating on films. I spent a long time watching, thinking, and writing about the short commercial films for fashion companies, and watching amazing films like Micmacs and Winter's Bone. I feel as if recently I've been thinking more about films than I have about photographs. That isn't to say that I haven't been looking at images but when I went out and walked around Central Park today, and also in the past month or so, I was noticing small details as scenes and moving images, not still ones.

There was a woman dancing on the Central Park Bandshell and she was posing and twirling around as her boyfriend or husband took some pictures of her.

Central Park Naumburg Bandshell image from here.

As I passed by the bandshell, I also came across a woman and out of the corner of my eye I saw her look at the couple doing the impromptu photo shoot and I saw that woman smirk just as I passed her. There was no one else around. It was getting dark by the time I passed the Dome and with the fading light it was something right out of a movie. I saw the entire scene in my head with the film rolling and that scene was all about the woman with the smirk.

A little while later I was walking back to my apartment along 75th st. I looked up at a beautiful townhouse with the entire top floor made of floor to ceiling windows and I thought of all the gorgeous light that must pour into that room. I kept walking and about 4 or 5 houses down I saw a man through the second story window. I always love being able to see into houses or apartments in the city but it took me a split second to notice he wasn't wearing anything. He was walking away from the window but I could see his ass and I was glad that he at least had one that I could admire. I never stopped walking but the step I took after I noticed that he wasn't wearing anything, the view of the apartment shifted so I could see into another room and there was the silhouette of a woman with long hair looking towards the direction of the man. It was a beautiful scene and I immediately thought that it wasn't a moment for photography. It had to have been captured by film or else the perspective wouldn't have shifted in order to see the girl waiting for the man.

I'm not sure why recently I've been seeing these scenes and noticing them more than stills. Maybe I've been more captivated by film than photography or maybe I've just gotten into this groove of noticing these scenes rather than stills. It is weird to notice since as long as I can remember I have always looked at things from the perspective of a photograph, looking out for small single details that I could capture in a frame rather than a scene or an extended moment. Maybe movement is more interesting right now?

Posted in: Central Park,Inception,Park Ave