Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Points de Repère

Il y a quelques semaines une amie m’a invité à Roosevelt, Utah (près de Vernal) pour assister à sa réunion de Sainte-cène où elle allait faire un discours avant de partir en mission. En y allant je suis passé par une vieille station service au milieu de nulle part où, il y a plusieurs étés, j’avais arrêté pendant un voyage à Vernal que je prenais avec des amis. Mais cette matinée froide, j’ai remarqué que la même station service isolée avait fermé ses portes ; Il n’y avait personne pour nous accueillir comme je me souvenais et comme je m’attendais. J’ai arrêté la voiture au bord de la rue pour regarder la structure, réfléchissant à cet été passé avec mes amis. Cette station était pour moi un point de repère à la fois sur la route et dans la mémoire ; elle était la seule structure dont je me souvenais de la route qu’on avais prise, et maintenant seuls les pompes et l’immeuble abandonné s’y tenait. En regardant la station froide et déserte j’ai ressenti un vide; ce point de repère que je tenais dans la tête n’était qu’un squelette, une ombre d’un bel été d’autrefois que je ne retrouverai pas, mais que je garderai à jamais.

Nous avons tous nos propres points de repères. Qu’ils soient littéraux ou figuratifs, ils existent dans la vie de chacun de nous. Parfois ces points ne disparaissent jamais ; de temps en temps, ils ne durent qu’une petite partie de la vie.  Néanmoins, ces points de repère sont souvent archivés dans l’esprit pour se rappeler plus tard ; on les nomme pour donner des directions ou pour se souvenir d’un bon moment. Ils ne nous laissent pas : quand on est plus âgé, on espère voir certaines choses qui nous rappelle la passé, qui évoque la nostalgie. Les points de repères sont personnels ; ils sont nos propres indicateurs, nos plans dans la vie, et, même si on les oublie, ils seront une partie de nous à jamais.







6 comments:

  1. The sharpness, clarity and color of these shots are gorgeous! I really like the thought of these places as landmarks, both physical and emotional. In how many people's lives have these places played a part? The second photo has a great contrast between the brand new building and the old car- I think it kind of encapsulates the idea of all new things eventually becoming old and irrelevant.

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  2. In each of your photos you have the blue of the sky, the brown of the mountains or the ground (or a bush as with the second photo) and then another color that pops out (first the yellow of the field, then the red of the store, then the white of the abandoned gas station, the green of the grass and the bars, and in the last photo the gray blue of the farm? rooftops and the orange of the thing to the left). All of the photos are outdoors and include a rundown or forgotten item or structure. All of these aspects link the photos really well, not to mention that they are visually thrilling because of their vividness and their incredibly strong lines. That second to last photo just blows me away with the lines of all the shadows and that strong diagonal through the center.

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  3. This is a stunning essay! I love the Eggleston-like saturation of color, and especially that the main colors you highlight are basic blue, red, and brown. Because there isn't a whole slew of other colors going on, it keeps the photos simple and pure. The strongest photos are the one of the red barn cafe with the awesome old truck, and the last one of the barn buildings, whose slanting roofs mimic the lines of the mountains in the back. The only photo that kind of confuses me is the second to last one. I'm just not sure where my eye should be focused.

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  4. This is a beautiful essay! I must prefer color photos to black and white because I'm commenting on color essays. Anyways, I love this essay for the simplicity that the photos are with the complex details in them. For the most part there are a lot of parts to these photos; the fences, the gates, the mountains, the trees, the gas pumps, but yet with all these elements the photos have a very simplistic feel to them that just seems natural. The sharpness and clarity really makes the essay appealing to the eye. My personal favorite was the last one with the farm buildings under the mountains, they buildings almost look like another set of mountains in the foreground.

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  5. The two things that really stand out in your photos are the color quality and the strong composition. First, I just loved the colors. THey feel very saturated and rich. Second, the angles you chose to take in these photographs really made the essay. For instance, M. Olivier already talked about the cool shadows of the barn and the rusty iron gate. In addition, I love the last photo in which it seems that the barn below is a reflection of the mountains behind it.

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  6. As discussed in class, photo number four is really amazing. The shadows, the lines, the focus, and the message are all pretty close to perfect. In addition to photo four I think the whole essay is very strong. The use of color in image number two with the red barn adds just the right amount of contrast to the others to make it interesting to the very end. Photo three also stands out to me because of the repeated color of the adjacent hill and the worn down structure of the old gas station. Great project Jon.

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