[matthew]

Working with the reversed-image of my hasselbald is still confusing – this isn't what it looked like through the viewfinder.

[nia]

Dear Matthew, do you know what I thought when I watched this photograph, (but sorry for my language, I'll try to explain my thought) if I would have been there (I mean where you took this photograph) probably I wouldn't have seen this "B"... But when you made it a photograph, it is amazing how comes a very special image! This should be your eye-of photography and also your creative world. I know your interesting is much more these kind of things, letters, etc. And you really get an amazing and interesting image of them. Like this one. This "B" standing very impressively, Who is this B or whose this B, should like this photograph as their image or etc.

Thank you dear Matthew, it was nice and I hope my words were understandable
with my love,
nia

[Irma]

Nia is right Matthew, your pictures are amazing and so is this one. I like it a lot and also the room you give us to make fantasies with it. I rotated my head and I found two tunnels and I imagine those two poles like the rails of the train....

I love this kind of pictures that trigger my imagination...

Thanks a lot for sharing.

[Wedding Shooter]

Love the shot Matthew.

[Zig]

Me too; classic matthewpiers; love it.

[matthew]

Thanks, everyone; I was pleased with this for a fun end-of-the-roll image.

[Toad]

Hi Matt:
I've been looking at this one for a few days now, trying to come up with something meaningful to say. I'm not sure how I should react because it is in *Snapshots* yet it is cropped and signed and some processing work has obviously gone into it.

I can't honestly say that I really get it. It's interesting to me, but I'm struggling to understand what I am looking at and how to place it in context. I am really feeling rather dull and thick in this regard, because everyone else seems to get it just fine.

I guess the continuous rain is making my brain soggy.

[Zig]

Worry ye not, Master Toad; I don't get it either...and it's that I find really intriguing: I mean, the reverse side of a fabricated alphabetical letter: is it merely a 2D assemblage of lines and spaces, and if so, why aligned and composed thus? Is the title meaningful and part of the image, or is it the artist in some way also disengaging from trying to work it out? And why the reverse side? Is there an impicit "turning of one's back" on the meaning...is it commenting subliminally on a society which marginalises, forces to the edges and in so many ways turns its back on people's needs?
I reckon it works because it allows so much freedom of exploration by the viewer, like an excellent poem works to suggest or just to "be" rather than to "mean", as T.S. Eliot said of poetry.
Makes me sick that Matthew's put it in the snaps section...don't tell him...

[Toad]

Thanks Zig. That helps a lot to conceptualize it for me.

[matthew]

I've been looking at this one for a few days now, trying to come up with something meaningful to say. I'm not sure how I should react because it is in *Snapshots* yet it is cropped and signed and some processing work has obviously gone into it.

I've adjusted the tones a bit to get them into shape, and it's been slightly cropped to remove a pesky tree branch that snuck into the frame. The watermark is automatic for any photo that I upload into my 'blog' gallery, where most of my personal photos end up.

I can't honestly say that I really get it. It's interesting to me, but I'm struggling to understand what I am looking at and how to place it in context. I am really feeling rather dull and thick in this regard, because everyone else seems to get it just fine.

I suspect that you're working harder than most - there's actually not that much here, so I can see how looking for more can be frustrating. I'm just playing with the shape of the letter, which I do often enough (but not enough recently). Having it reversed makes the shapes themselves easier to see, which was what attracted me to take the photo. I keep a collection of photo-related thoughts together on my blackberry, and one is a quote from Armin Hofmann (an influential Swiss graphic designer) saying that the symbols of our lettering system are too familiar to provoke us into reflections on their basic construction. So here I was with a giant steel letter on a pole, creating an opportunity to reflect on its construction both physically and typographically.

Like I said - not much here.

I reckon it works because it allows so much freedom of exploration by the viewer, like an excellent poem works to suggest or just to "be" rather than to "mean", as T.S. Eliot said of poetry.

Zig, when you get going you're unstoppable and irreplaceable. Thank you for that.

Taking it in reverse, it's in the snaps section because it suits how I took it. I'd spent a while taking far more serious photos, none of which were working for me, and found this on the way back to the streetcar. It's outside a large conference centre, and serves as a beacon to tell people which exhibit hall is beyond it. As I mentioned previously, getting the reverse aspect of the letter is part of the appeal, but it's also the one that I could get a good angle on (from the conference centre's steps) with a blank sky for the background. I chose my position to get as little angle as possible, largely to flatten the image by stopping the poles set at right angles from adding a perception of depth, and took the shot. This was #11 on a 12-shot roll, and I didn't find anything else to spend the last photo on that day.

The title is an aural pun, as it's both the letter "B" as well as the expression 'let her be', i.e, leave it alone; it doesn't particularly relate to the subject beyond the photographer thinking that he's funny. Of course I'm quite flattered that that hasn't happened here; once this does eventually make it only my little photo blog, I'll remove the pun and just leave it as "Letter B".

Reading your list of questions illustrates one of the great things that I love about minimalist art, although I don't mean to claim that distinction for this photo. I just enjoy how much room there is, and what we each can bring to it. But I can't really answer the deeper questions for you.

And just because it's a snapshot doesn't mean I don't like it - thanks again for all of the comments.

[EnglishBob]

Not sure i understand it, but I sure do like it!

[NT73]

If that is a snapshot, I had better find my re-cycle bin, and start practicing again.. :/

[Zig]

Do 'im Matthew. :|