Seeing double

click photo to enlarge

Many years ago I was talking to some people about my home town. It turned out that they drove through it regularly on their way to their parents' house. "Yes, we know it", they said, "That's the place with the church on the right hand side of the road that looks like it's full of water." Well, I was puzzled. There is a church where they described, but "full of water?" However, the next time I went to my parents' home I looked with fresh eyes at that church, and yes, I coud see what they meant! The windows had green stained glass, and if you looked at the building in a certain way you could well think it was full of sea water.

This photograph of a street light that I took in Garstang, Lancashire, reminded me of that conversation. The strikingly thrown shadow makes the light look like, it too, is full of water. I imagine the effect is due to imperfections in the glass. Quirky occurences of this sort appeal to me, as do strong forms and shadows. I decided to shoot the upper part of the light simply because that is where the visual interest lies. I could have wished for there to be no wires, but they are there, so I have to live with them! Black and white seemed right for this shot too, because it accentuates the original qualities of the photograph.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen