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Portraits

rachelr's picture

In our representations of this campus, our images were starkly bare of humans. Usually from my spot near the end of senior row I can watch a trickle of people either making the trek up-campus from Brecon or down-campus to the gym or Park.

Perhaps the week before break at 7am was not the best time for this site-sit experiment, but as ekthorp said when she held onto her decision to have class outside, I wanted to stick to my plan.

So here is a view of human activity from my site-sit. People were staying on the sidewalks, following the man-made paths and giving me what felt like a distant vantage point. My photo quality is testament to that, although it works to my advantage for maintaining the anonymity of my subjects.

The squirrels and I were in cahoots here; they, unconcerned with me and my stillness on the bench, kept their distance from the people passing by, just as I did. Watching.

At 7:43am the lampposts all blinked off in unison and I noticed that the foggy mist had lifted considerably. 

I felt voyeuristic at first, but then realized that although these people were not looking at me, they could be. I wasn’t hidden, peering out at them; they just weren't looking.

I have to say that I got bored with the people. They were just going. The squirrels were doing. Although I don’t know how many people would want to watch the trees, the bench, the grass, and me just being. 

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Comments

rachelr's picture

Thank you!

I wasn't expecting them to, nor am I really suprised that they didn't. I guess I was more reassuring myself that I wasn't being that voyeuristic, that I wasn't hinding and "spying" on them. They could have observed me the way I was observing them, but they were focused on the going, which I wasn't.

Srucara's picture

Your images are really great

Your images are really great and this past week has been quite foggy and grey in the mornings and these pictures capture that well. I was also just wondering, when you said "although these people were not looking at me, they could" - if you were expecting them to? Or are you surprised that they did not?