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| Photograph Copyright ©2013 Loo Yen Yeo. All Rights Reserved. |
Following a stream of tourists on their ascent to
Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence's Oltrarno district, I stumble across
Giardino delle Rose whose modest side-entrance barely registers with the climbing barbarian horde. Jean-Michel Folon's installation, '
Partir', is a red rag to a bull.
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| Photograph Copyright ©2013 Loo Yen Yeo. All Rights Reserved. |
It's pretty obvious that Jean-Michel's drawn from Masaccio's 'Holy Trinity' in
Basilica di Santa Maria Novella; there has to be one sweet spot where everything comes together, but there's no handy 'x' on the floor. Close-up and focussing on the installation doesn't cut it.
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| Photograph Copyright ©2013 Loo Yen Yeo. All Rights Reserved. |
A slightly lower vantage point and focussing on
Palazzo Vecchio's bell tower remains unconvincing. The sweet spot must be behind me and I start drawing back. Also, there's no visual 'hook', no relationship... apart from the installation to the view, which would only result in a "that's nice" sort of picture.
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| Photograph Copyright ©2013 Loo Yen Yeo. All Rights Reserved. |
As I back up, a fellow tourist-photographer walks into shot. Suddenly there's the possibility for a stronger three-way relationship between her, the installation, and the view.
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| Photograph Copyright ©2013 Loo Yen Yeo. All Rights Reserved. |
I want to keep my distance so that my presence doesn't distract her, so I use the zoom on my hand-held camera; and take two steps to my right to bring
Palazzo Vecchio's belfry deeper into the installation frame. I'm still missing the sweet spot.
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| Photograph Copyright ©2013 Loo Yen Yeo. All Rights Reserved. |
One more step to the side and I'm there. The relationship between the girl and the frame is good, but the interaction between my camera's frame and '
Partir' feels wooden. Also I'd like to exclude the gentlemen on the left from the shot - I turn my camera on its end and soften my knees to lower the perspective, so that I can look 'through' the ship's funnels more...
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| Photograph Copyright ©2013 Loo Yen Yeo. All Rights Reserved. |
The moment's perfect - we're looking at her, and also what she's looking at. The lower perspective unifies the relationships and also positions central Florence through the ship's funnels, heightening the depth of our visual field. The framing adds dynamism and excludes the unbalancing presence of the two men, while retaining their shadows to add symmetry. The young woman and her scarf counterweight the square patch of paving.
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