“Sitting on the High Line” by Matthew Pilsbury
A photograph of two people sitting on some steps in NYC, looking at what can be assumed are their phones. Part of Pilsbury’s “Cityworks” series, it’s a photo intended to show life in the city. Unlike other photos in the series however, this photo is noticeably more “empty”. Rather than containingĀ the bustling energy that most come to associate with city life, the photo carries a feeling of isolation and loneliness. There is a feeling of fleetingness, that the people in this picture might just disappear any minute, demonstrated through the motion blur. The ephemeral is used, not to highlight the liveliness of every day life in NYC like in the other photos, but how it can prevent people from connecting with each other.
This feeling is contributed by certain elements in the photo. The leading white lines direct the viewer’s attention towards the male figure to the right. The viewer’s eye then strays to the white glow of the lights behind the fence, contrasting heavily against the dark grey colors. But the diagonal lines also serve a purpose of separating the two subjects from each other, reinforcing this sense of isolation. The contrast between the white glow the viewer sees in the windows and the dark buildings they’re on inform the viewer other people’s lives are going on in the photo beyond just the subjects’. There is a sense that the lifestyle city people live is constantly active, but most of that is located behind a glass screen, leaving the rest to the viewer’s imagination. Cities are often imagined to be crowded and consistently busy, creating the assumption it’s easy to create an active social life. Yet in this photograph, the subjects are too wrapped up in their own lives or screens to pay attention to Ā what’s going on around them.
Nicely stated. I think you are right that this photo conveys the sense of isolation in urban life compared to the energy and excitement that one feels in many of Pillsbury’s other photos.