One evening, after returning home late, I took this photo in the alley behind my house. I was in the process of deciding whether to take the photo at all, when the woman came into the alley from the street, and made her way past me towards the other end.
I think she was drunk. She was wandering around in a peculiar manner, and eventually went into one of the apartments further down the alley. She was wearing high heels, but she seemed a bit dishevelled. I imagined she had driven herself to a party but had become unable to drive home. Or perhaps she had been on a date that went horribly wrong.
I wished I could have photographed her up close, but I’m pretty sure she would have refused if I had asked permission, and I think she would have been frightened if I had just gone ahead and photographed her.
The blurriness enhances the eeriness. Not a picture you want to look at with the lights off :-)
I keep wondering who the woman is – and where is she going?
The blurriness is caused by my focussing incorrectly. It was almost enough to make me reject the image, but I came up with enough rationalizations to overcome this reservation. The figure is more blurry because it was a long exposure, and she was moving. I like this, because it makes her seem insubstantial. I keep imagining the scene as I would report it to the police, and this image as a representation of a hazy memory of a fleeting moment.
Officer, showing me a mug shot: “Is this the woman you saw?”
Me: “Well, I can’t be sure. My memory is not clear.”