Interesting article on the homepage of LuLa about Adam Krawesky. Opinion about the merit of his images is divided. If you haven't read it by now, make sure you do:
https://luminous-landscape.com/profile-looking-for-light-with-adam-krawesky/On of the images was this one. I didn't immediately "get it" at first. It has interesting rhythmic elements like some of his other images, but it appeared a bit out of balance, and it wasn't until I spotted the bird in the upper right hand corner that it formed a complete image for me...
(image by Adam Krawesky).
And it makes one think. What does it mean that we dive off of a large structure like that? What are we trying to accomplish? Where's the pleasure in that? Diving off of a structure directly into the water and starting over again. The pleasure, of course, is in that short moment of feeling free from gravity, suspended in mid-air, as close as we will get to flying without additional means.
Evolution however, didn't favour us with wings though, and so we are bound to splash back to earth, swim to the ramp, crawl out of the water, crawl back up the ramp, and straighten ourselves for the next jump, start over again, because we keep trying to fly. Evolution? Didn't we crawl out of the water at some point in time, according to evolution? Crawling up the land, slowly straightening up till we walked upright? But we weren't meant to fly though, because evolution didn't bestow upon us any wings.
There is a certain rhythm to that progression. That progression then is so perfectly depicted on the left half of the picture. We see one person diving elegantly off of the ramp almost as if flying. We see people swimming in the water towards the ramp, we see someone crawling up the ramp in half hunched pose on four legs. All in one beautiful moment of circular rhythm. The rhythm that just happens to coincide with that idea of evolution.
But it also is a rhythm of life. We can totally empathise with these people diving off that ramp for sheer pleasure, to feel free, to fly for a brief moment. It tells us in essence also that life is exactly like that: we keep jumping, falling, and crawling back up, because that is what life is, a series of successes and failures that forms us humans.
And why are we reminded of flying? Because right up there in the righthand corner of this image we see a bird in a clear blue sky, doing exactly what the diver is trying to replicate against the background of that same clear blue sky, with an elegance that immediately reminds us of the elegance with which some birds manage to roam the skies in total freedom.
That then is some beautiful, narrative, thought provoking image.
Note that this is merely my
opinion and thoughts based on my observations. Did the photographer really want to allude to evolution or the cycle of trial and error? Did the artist have a similar feel about it? Who knows. It certainly is clear that the bird and diver are both an integral part of the image and it makes the image a complete, more balanced composition. A balance that I didn't see without the bird. The fact that the bird is right there at the edge of the frame which may not be considered good framing, and is perhaps a result of being limited by a fixed lens and position, but at the same time, it is also the position where it draws our attention most, being as small an element as it is. Just think about how easy it is remove that element and replace it with clear blue sky? It is certainly there for a reason.
Personally, if I were there, I'd probably try to capture just the diver and the bird, and then feel totally stoked about having captured a simile. Thank god there are real artists out there...
