Turn Around, Bright Eyes

[cbertsch]

When I returned from this year's installment of the 20th Century Literature conference in Louisville, Kentucky, I brought back many photos worthy of sharing. I've been pretty circumspect about doing so, but the fact that I'm writing something about my experiences on that trip right now prompted me to "repurpose" one of my favorites, which my regular readers will probably remember, in order to make a point. Here's the photo:

What I like about the image is its serenity. There may be something seething underneath these cool surfaces, but one's first impression is of calm and solitude. But that impression was founded on an illusion. The room was actually quite loud. Between the concert blaring in the next room and the noise of conversations behind me, the only peace I found was a manufactured one. This is what I saw when I turned around:

Together, these two views comprised a diptych in time. I spent a long time looking back and forth between them. The more I think about it, the more I'm struck by the sense that the contrast was sublime. Sometimes it's merely a question of where you stand.

Comments

[kdotdammit.livejournal.com]

Funny. I don't get serentity at all from the first photo. I get edgy, edge. Just goes to show that interpretation is in the eye of the beholder.

[cbertsch.livejournal.com]

I agree that there's definitely a sense of something seething underneath. What I meant was that initially it looks like a quiet, empty place and that, for that reason, it contrasts sharply with the busy scene I could see when I turned around. But I'm glad you perceive the edginess in the first photo, which works, I think, because it becomes more complex the longer you look at it. Maybe that first photo is also a "diptych in time" then, which means there's a doubling of diptychs!