The Passing of Time

[Fred Berg]

........

 

[The_Traveler]

I get your intent here but there are two things that hurt this for me; first, that is not so obviously a clock unless I look at it a moment and figure it out, the natural symbolism of the clock face and hands are missing and I need to decide intellectually that must be a clock.
Second, there is a peculiar kind of distortion here that is sort of disturbing to me because it makes me acutely aware of the camera, etc.

Note how the viewpoint of the lower flat surface is fairly, for want of a better word, 'full' and yet the top flat surface of the clock is only barely seen.
That 'distortion' constantly makes me aware of camera position rather than looking at the silhouette of the clock(?) and the man passing by.

Sorry.

 

[Fred Berg]

I get your intent here but there are two things that hurt this for me; first, that is not so obviously a clock unless I look at it a moment and figure it out, the natural symbolism of the clock face and hands are missing and I need to decide intellectually that must be a clock.
Second, there is a peculiar kind of distortion here that is sort of disturbing to me because it makes me acutely aware of the camera, etc.

Note how the viewpoint of the lower flat surface is fairly, for want of a better word, 'full' and yet the top flat surface of the clock is only barely seen.
That 'distortion' constantly makes me aware of camera position rather than looking at the silhouette of the clock(?) and the man passing by.

Sorry.

I haven't got back on this till now as I've had a touch of flu and wanted to print it first and really look at it for a while, which I've now done.

For me, the cogwheels, pendulum and bell are universal enough aspects of clocks to carry the idea over despite there being no dial with a face. I repaired a toy for my daughter recently that wouldn't wind up any more. When I took it apart, it was full of little wheels like the ones seen in this image: it was a clockwork toy.

I don't really understand your point about being aware of the camera due to the peculiar distortion, but I've given this some consideration and an explanation might be appropriate: The clock is in a slightly elevated position compared to street level (approx 8 steps up) so the angle of view needed to take this in to account in order to be able to capture the passing woman. This means the viewer is looking both down and through the clock at the same time.

Imagine yourself at a library looking at the books on the shelves. You see a book that interests you which is on a shelf a little below your eye level. As you reach down to lift the book off the shelf, this is the sort of perspective you then have: the shelf the book is on you see quite fully, the shelf above only as a line. The one flat surface is full, the other barely seen.

I'm glad you were able to see what I wanted to get over with this photo, my intent as you put it, and thank you for your detailed response. It gave me something to think about, which is always good.

 

[rexbobcat]

I think he means that the keystoning draws attention to the position of the camera since it there are a lot of vertical lines that "unnaturally" bend out toward the top of the frame. I see what you're trying to do as well. However, I would not have known this was a clock had the title not been what it is.