Blue Door and Handle

There’s something about the aging of wood that adds to its visual interest. And when the paint on it also starts crackle and split, then the surfaces really begin to excite me. I know this all sounds a bit daft, but bear with me!  So often the photography you see in the media thrusts the ‘shiny-new’ at you and more often than not that ‘shiny-new’ results in a bright, ageless, plastic finish – it’s all a bit in yer face.

This blue door and handle, (shot near our media centre for photography holidays in France), is the antithesis of the ‘shiny-new’ as it perfectly describes the aging process, or rather the passing of time.   It’s current state of repair, or disrepair, is not what the maker originally intended, as time and the elements have taken its toll.

A photograph of a brand new door and window would look like an advert for a building supplier, as there’s no narrative, whereas this has a separate poetry and tells quite a different story.  I’ve included the “before” to show you that that story is there even before I started to edit it.

Blue Door and Handle - Before

Blue Door and Handle - After