Big Ben is really beautiful in all its colorful splendor; the stone is a golden yellow. (Note: I feel a sudden urge to write "colour" instead.) But for all its beauty in real life, I find myself liking pictures of the city in black and white most of all.
I think it's because in black and white it feels like the picture could have been taken a hundred years ago. Everything in England (with the exception of this bench) was really old.
There was an in-flight movie on our way home that I can't remember the name of; I only watched a few minutes before taking a nap, but in the movie a man's fiance accuses him of this over-strong sense of nostalgia. She says it is an unreasonable feeling of sentiment about the past simply because it is the past. I couldn't help but agree with her a little bit, though I must confess I have it, too.
Maybe it's not such a bad thing. Maybe it has something to do with the way the past informs the future, and we can't get the past back. It is gone forever, and that in itself makes it precious to us. I didn't finish the movie, so I'm not sure how it was resolved. Did they move to Paris after all? I don't know. But I do know I like pictures of London in black and white.
Though I know the "colours" were brilliant, I do agree with your black & white preference for these photos. They're amazing, and - yes - they do look like they were taken years ago.
ReplyDeleteI love the 1997 bench, as well as the young chap upon it. England was a very becoming setting for both of you. I do so hope you get to go again one day.
And maybe you'll finish that movie, too.