NZ Visual Diary - entry 370

figure & ground - Silo Park

I am preternaturally gregarious, known to say hello to people napping on park benches, much to the chagrin of those weary souls. I enjoy the pleasure both of engaged conversation with a friend over coffee and the casual exchange with a fellow raconteur on the street. It may be somewhat odd, therefore, that in today’s photograph I have reversed my customary preference for presenting people as the figure, or point of interest, in my street photographs.

This entry’s image pushes an element of [back]ground, visually speaking, to the centre of the stage. Silo Park is the point of interest - the visual figure - and specifically one of its legacy silos and notably one that at night has been illuminated with coloured lights.

The people are portrayed as the visual ephemera, captured as momentary [fore]ground on a canvas whose visual weight - the figure - is transferred to the park’s namesake but also its customary ground, substantial as the silos might be.

A former cement-storage silo, bathed in golden and reddish hues from nearby artificial lighting, is the headliner, and I have attempted to signal that intent and significance by applying a mild motion blur to the handsome assemblage of park dwellers.