Departure, series Insomnia – Hotel Noir, photography by Douglas Stockdale
Well, I have competed a number of iterations on the this photograph, varing all sorts of aspects related to color and tonality. Sometimes you start to wonder which one is right, but then implies that you don’t know and someone else does. phooy. I keep making the changes until it just seems right. And I have the perogative to change my mind. Many times!
I am not very happy with the crude appearance of my earlier version of this image that I posted here, so I thought that rather than leaving eveyone with that dismal image, I needed to provide one of where I seem to be ending up at. Or at least it is a sight better than my earlier attempts. It is also more consistent with the feeling I have when I pack up and get ready to return home.
I am implying that Hope is in the room and related to the suitcase, but it may be the act of packing that suitcase, knowing that the packing and thus the packed suitcase is part of the process to get home and reconnected. So hope comes from many things, many angles and probably an openess to it and wanting to sense its presence.
And so I continue…
Best regards, Dou
Attention to detail always pays off! The picture provokes many thoughts about what is usually a non event of checking out of a hotel, case packed, keys at the ready etc. I think that this will be a really interesting series Doug, as a sufferer, just the word “insomnia” gets me interested.
I think the changes work. Before, I was left with a little confusion (sometimes that’s good) about light sources. I prefer this second version with warmth contained in the room with the bed and suitcase. Now, I see that the light on the chair comes from a lamp on the table. For me, the change removes a bit of intriguing ambiguity, but strengthens the narrative.
I would be willing to go out on a limb and guess that this is a very haunting but familiar image to many people.