Speaking of Friedlander

[ceeboy14]

 

[pgriz]

Wow. Too many reflective and semi-reflective surfaces. My brain hurts trying to make sense of it. But that's actually not a criticism - it's not often that you spot such a collections of image fragments all jumbled together.

 

[amolitor]

I like it. It's insanely busy, but my eye settles quickly on the man walking away. Questions are raised, both visual and of the "what's happening here" sort, and that's good.

Friedlander generally used a cleaner frame, but there are a few things he did that approach this level of busy-ness. This one feels quite different, although there are the obvious stylistic references. Friedlander seems to have had a much more nihilistic notion generally. I feel like he wanted to strip away the veneer of meaning from the banal, and rub our noses in the banal. This photograph here feels more like traditional street, although most of the "mystery" is really visual, rather than about the people in the frame, it still has that same feeling.