Male Beauty UnPlugged

Weekly Photo Challenge: Monument

About this image: We all have a conception of beauty that is both individual and socially contingent. Having acquired a taste for male beauty with a determinately classic Greek slant (feel free to blame Louvre’s collections of antique sculptures for the bias, if you will), leave it to the new world to unsettle one’s discreetly cultivated status quo.

This particular New York “monument” challenged my preconceptions of what ought to be included in that category (of beauty, rather than Greek sculpture). This male specimen does share something with his classic predecessors: a disregard for actual human proportions. Just as the ancient sculptors used an “ideal” model for their art, often at odds with reality, so did the present artist. Although I believe that while the first promoted a particular vision of beauty, the latter attempts to do the reverse. It questions ideas that would otherwise remain fixed.

What I particularly like about this photo is the fact that not only the statue, but its two onlookers became part of the narrative. It was their discussion of the piece that prompted me to stop and reflect.

Shadow Selfie

Weekly Photo Challenge: Selfie

I like breaking the rules, especially when it comes to photography. That is easier said than done and it took me a while to find the perfect image for this particular challenge, hence the delay.

The urban dictionary defines a “selfie” as a picture taken of yourself (tick) to be uploaded on any social networking site (almost tick) and where you can usually see the person’s arm holding out the camera, proof that the poor fellow is quite friendless and therefore has no one else to take their picture (this one made me laugh out loud). I wonder… is our modern world of ultra-connectivity populated by lonesome multitudes?

About this image: My shadow self in Central Park, New York. Curtesy of smartphone reliability, it aims to be a representation of how much we hide in our digital self-portraits. Selfies are seldom candid.

The Big Apple

 

Predictions have never been my strong suit. There are few things in this world we can rely on. Seasons change. Time passes. New Yorkers continue to navigate Manhattan in those signature yellow cabs and the Chrysler Building continues to hold its spire to the clouds, whether I’m there or not.

I love the 1930s – for its fashion, music and cocktails, certainly – but perhaps more so for its architecture. It is not an accident that I should choose this building over all other Art Deco gems in the Big Apple. Originally erected in 1930, this landmark building features unparalleled 360-degree views of Manhattan and the outlying area. It overlooks the East River and Central Park. It peeks over Times Square and Grand Central Terminal. And although it will always keep the on-looker at a distance, from within its bowels you hold the city in your palm.

Daily Prompt: Predictions