I've always loved "looking in" houses at night. I can remember even walking the streets of NYC when I lived there and glancing up, into apartments lined with books, the warm light.
When I was a small girl, we'd visit an aunt on the other side of Melbourne. Driving home late at night, through the inner city streets, I loved looking up into the apartments with no curtains drawn. Later on in life I learnt the meaning of the word, 'voyeur' and wondered if I had been a weird child...:)
The ones with lights seem sweet to me, and the dark one is creepy. I have a general rule of not taking photos of currently lived-in houses, except my own, but sometimes that rule just needs to be broken. thanks, sp
I do this with places too, particularly small towns. What would it be like to live ?
Somehow I have the feeling that most of the time it wouldn't have been as positive an experience as the one we had in that small Eastern Shore town in which WCollege is located ....
But the stories I tell myself about living in them!
I love the concept and love these images. I, too, have always been fascinated by looking at people's houses at night when the curtains are open....little vignettes of life...mostly the eerie glow of the t.v. screen. There were are, each in our little box, barely separated from the world but for 2 by 4s and sheet rock. I could just riff on that idea for a long time....
It's even more magnified in my current apartment...I sleep practically on the sidewalk with cars racing by at all hours of the night. There I am half-dressed lounging on my bed with a good book and 20 feet away, a young couple is going through the death throes of their relationship -- loudly, on the sidewalk.
Cro, it did indeed feel more than a little creepy walking around my neighborhood snapping these pics, but I didn't use a flash, so it was all very clandestine. (I'm pretty harmless, all in all.)
Foxessa, I find that this activity of peering into other lives really stimulates the imagination. I know you're not a facebook devotee, but that venue also is a tiny window into others' lives, albeit by the written word or the occasional link. (I'm kind of a social networking junky.)
I once heard someone tell what it was like to be the neighbor of the late poet/fiction-writer Raymond Carver, who said one never knew when they or something they did would show up in his work. Houses at night are rife with clues to so many kinds of existence. (And I was careful not post any pics of people who I know read my blog.)
Tara, yes. It's all very strange and wonderful, isn't it? I recall listening to a neighbor snoring in the next apartment. Such intimacy, and yet such a great distance. I never even saw what this man looked like!
Great concept, T., and nice shots. (Shades of Eff-stop's garage series!) I too have enjoyed peering into our modern caves to see the home fires (or big-=screens) burning.
I've always loved "looking in" houses at night. I can remember even walking the streets of NYC when I lived there and glancing up, into apartments lined with books, the warm light.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a small girl, we'd visit an aunt on the other side of Melbourne. Driving home late at night, through the inner city streets, I loved looking up into the apartments with no curtains drawn. Later on in life I learnt the meaning of the word, 'voyeur' and wondered if I had been a weird child...:)
ReplyDeleteBe careful you don't get arrested!
ReplyDeletesuch evocative pictures.
ReplyDeleteThe ones with lights seem sweet to me, and the dark one is creepy. I have a general rule of not taking photos of currently lived-in houses, except my own, but sometimes that rule just needs to be broken. thanks, sp
ReplyDeleteI do this with places too, particularly small towns. What would it be like to live ?
ReplyDeleteSomehow I have the feeling that most of the time it wouldn't have been as positive an experience as the one we had in that small Eastern Shore town in which WCollege is located ....
But the stories I tell myself about living in them!
Love, C.
I love the concept and love these images. I, too, have always been fascinated by looking at people's houses at night when the curtains are open....little vignettes of life...mostly the eerie glow of the t.v. screen. There were are, each in our little box, barely separated from the world but for 2 by 4s and sheet rock. I could just riff on that idea for a long time....
ReplyDeleteIt's even more magnified in my current apartment...I sleep practically on the sidewalk with cars racing by at all hours of the night. There I am half-dressed lounging on my bed with a good book and 20 feet away, a young couple is going through the death throes of their relationship -- loudly, on the sidewalk.
Wonderful stuff, T.
Elizabeth, it occurred to me while reading your comment that as books on paper fade from our lives, so will bookshelves.....
ReplyDeletealaine, it appears from the comments here that you were not weird at all, or else all of us are also!!
ReplyDeleteCro, it did indeed feel more than a little creepy walking around my neighborhood snapping these pics, but I didn't use a flash, so it was all very clandestine. (I'm pretty harmless, all in all.)
ReplyDeleteSussah, that's a good rule, but then the uninhabited houses generally are unlit. Break the rules! Yes!
ReplyDeleteFoxessa, I find that this activity of peering into other lives really stimulates the imagination. I know you're not a facebook devotee, but that venue also is a tiny window into others' lives, albeit by the written word or the occasional link. (I'm kind of a social networking junky.)
ReplyDeleteI once heard someone tell what it was like to be the neighbor of the late poet/fiction-writer Raymond Carver, who said one never knew when they or something they did would show up in his work. Houses at night are rife with clues to so many kinds of existence. (And I was careful not post any pics of people who I know read my blog.)
Tara, yes. It's all very strange and wonderful, isn't it? I recall listening to a neighbor snoring in the next apartment. Such intimacy, and yet such a great distance. I never even saw what this man looked like!
ReplyDeleteI love walking at night when it's dark too. Love to see inside people's homes, how they live, what they like.
ReplyDeleteGreat concept, T., and nice shots. (Shades of Eff-stop's garage series!) I too have enjoyed peering into our modern caves to see the home fires (or big-=screens) burning.
ReplyDelete