James Brophy
BY JAMES BROPHY
My favorite part of street photography is its unpredictability— sometimes I go out certain of what I’m looking for, then find it and realize the result is unsatisfactory. Other times I shoot with no premeditated purpose, then stumble on something that radiates a singular expressive clarity.
It had been a busy day, and by the time I managed to head out with my camera it was dark and raining. Not having much experience shooting in that type of weather, I just tried to keep the camera dry by wrapping it in a plastic bag. Eventually, figuring I’d done all I could, I got back in my car soaking wet and planned to head home. But just before I did, I noticed raindrops on the windshield and decided to try one last thing, which is when this picture emerged. After all that soggy effort of tramping around in the rain, it turned out that the best way to capture its essence was from indoors.
Wallace Stevens believed a poem “must resist the intelligence almost successfully,” a concept that I find applicable to this photo—a small handful of familiar elements, but each abstracted just enough to create a sense of mystery.
