cinema of sleeplessness and snow
4.5.10I've been having trouble falling asleep for the past couple days, so last night, rather than toss and turn and inevitably tangle myself in my bedsheets I wandered around the dark apartment and watched the rain from every window.
This is something I used to do in the old apartment. From time to time I would photograph the raindrops that would rest on the windowpane. Since there was no one else in the apartment to disturb with the sound of the camera, I had perfect opportunity to photograph this midnight rain. And as my new obsession is now shooting video, I took some of that as well.
This is something I used to do in the old apartment. From time to time I would photograph the raindrops that would rest on the windowpane. Since there was no one else in the apartment to disturb with the sound of the camera, I had perfect opportunity to photograph this midnight rain. And as my new obsession is now shooting video, I took some of that as well.
I have no purpose for these videos as of yet, but then I don't really have a purpose for a lot of my photographs either, other than to document what I'm seeing or experiencing at any given moment. The movement in the video captures something else though. The hum of a still apartment, a flash of light giving us a quiet reminder of traffic outside, the rustle of the wind in a bag on the balcony (the balcony is so cluttered with junk right now - weekend project will be to tidy that up).
Something that my videos lack though is the crispness of the photograph. The black are richer, the details sharper. I'm also inclined to look at a photograph a lot longer. I find that with still images I examine details that on film (the cinematic kind), may disappear in an instant.
Eventually I did fall asleep, but after exploring the shadows of my apartment by night, I woke up to a completely different scene that without my glasses was almost blindingly white. In the early hours of the morning, the more conventional springtime precipitation had turned to snow.
It was the wet and miserable kind too. The kind of snow that sticks to your ribs, soaks through your boots, and turns sidewalks into icy sludge. I know. I was working from the home office today, so for most of the morning I only had to experience the weather as a passive spectator. However, later in the afternoon I had to run to the post office to pick up a parcel and even though the post office is a mere two blocks away my boots were soaked through in a matter of minutes. There was no bypassing the deep puddles that had formed at the edge of every curb. Even with my long legs I could not jump over those miniature rivers.
I had forgotten what this springtime snow could be like. Before heading to the post office I had naively thought I might delight in taking some photographs, that I might find something beautiful in this brief reminder of winter.
But there was nothing pretty about being outside in all that mess. I hope it disappears as quickly as it came.
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