Obsessions

I seriously can't recall when I became obsessed with streetlamps.

Perhaps it's simply that they're ubiquitous, like you can't escape them, totally a part of the background, almost competing for the spotlight. 

Parco Ducale (Parma, Italy) - 2013-02-01

Or maybe it's 'cause they have their personality: some of them all dressed up with curvaceous metal and pretty iron ornamentation, and then others all modern and sorta bland. And then, of course, there are ones that stand ridiculously stiff, acting high and mighty. And don't forget about the ones that lean over and curve like a wise, older gentleman.

They're surrounding us at all times, and, in all honesty, I've started to pay a lot of attention to them, even when I don’t pay attention sometimes, even when I'm not even thinking about them, sometimes!

“However, there was enough light for our purpose.” (Bram Stoker, “Dracula”)

So today’s photograph is of a streetlamp, taken precisely 13 years ago, February 1, 2012. I can totally recall that day: the snow blanketing everything in its soft, quiet shroud, and the air having that eerie quiet that comes when it snows. That lamppost sat relaxed, minding its own biz, with little icicles hanging off it, little gems crafted by the cold. Little and unobtrusive, yet, forever trapped in this photograph.

Now, glancing at this photograph all these years later, I can't help but wonder why I took it at that specific moment in time. Perhaps it was the contrast between rough metal and delicate ice. Perhaps it was simply that it was cold, not warm, and I'm a warm light kind of man, but in all honesty, I can't even recall, but I must have thought it cool, 'cause I took a picture.

So, I've taken a lot of photos of streetlamps. I mean, if they keep appearing in my photos, then surely there must be a reason for it, isn't there? Perhaps one day I will work out what that reason is.