Bruno Moyen                        NYC a State of Mind                

 
 

Some from the Book edited by Abrams Image

"Honor thy error as a hidden intention."

– Brian Eno – 

I had originally planned to call this series of New York photographs Song for F.  The song, as such, wouldn’t have been necessary if I had asked my former girlfriend to move with me to Manhattan when I rented an apartment on Water Street.  Instead of relocating with Ms. F at my side, I left her in France thinking she would join me at some point in the future.  But the distance wasn’t doing us good and I quickly tried to draw her to my new home by showing her tantalizing glimpses of the city.


This didn’t work out as I’d hoped.


First I bought the wrong film.  Actually, I purposely chose a stock of indoor film in order to shoot outdoors.  I figured I’d adjust the results digitally and through cross-processing (developing positive film in reversal chemicals).  In the end I wouldn’t have conventionally attractive pictures, but despite the manipulation, I guessed this approach might reflect something accurate about me and Ms. F.


The city that emerges in these photographs is flawed from the standpoint of reality — the colors and densities unfamiliar and somehow ethereal.  My effort to win over a lover proved equally off the mark.  A book of photos notwithstanding, our time had passed.  Taken together however, the seemingly botched images and ill-advised romantic ambition have yielded a collection of photos that are, in a sense, self-portraits. 


Here is my New York, optimistic but misguided, recognizable to some while obviously altered by mistakes.  Though I’m not on display, an internal state is present.  A function of willing myself onto the street scenes and landmarks I hoped would serve as aphrodisiacs.


Perhaps nothing reveals us to ourselves more vividly than a flawed attempt at an unrealistic goal.  The technical errors on these pages were conscious on my part, but they also point to more guarded corners of the mind.   For bringing that honesty to light I thank a woman I remain fond of and a city I will always love.