This one has been taken on 18 Septemberplein, Eindhoven. The biggest square of the city, on a Sunday. I was looking at the ground and decided to compose with a branch of a star engraved in the ground. I started to put my props in place, unpack my tripod, place my camera in the middle of the very crowded place. I guess people started to assume I was doing some kind of performance and started to gather around me. By the time I was taking the photo you see here, after multiple tries and tweaks, I was surrounded by a crowd, that I wasn’t able to see, because I was focused on my vision for the photo I was trying to make.
I left, and the crowd faded slowly, getting things back to normal.
But why am I telling you this story?
Because the presence and look of others helped me to build the character of this image. People react differently when they know they are observed, and I am no exception.
I could go to this place today, which will be empty because of the virus, I could spend a long time to rebuild this image, and yet, I would not be able to get an image as powerful.
Sometimes, what is not on the photograph is as important as what’s in it.
