"Coming of Night" by Nam Hoang Tran
Coming of Night
PHOTOGRAPHY
2680 x 4044 pixels
2022
Artist Statement
The process of photography is one which exemplifies the duality between loud/quiet. Aside from occasional small talk with passersby, photowalks for me are done in absolute silence. I don't even listen to music! What I’ve found is the quieter my mind is, the more in tune with my surroundings I become. There is a heightened awareness of how certain objects or compositions demand attention. Of course, these “conversations” occur at varying degrees. Some voices are louder than others, with a select few being so loud I am stopped in my tracks. In the same vein, black and white photography lends itself to a sense of quiet contemplation. Without the commotion of color, images are reduced to their most rudimentary elements: shape and light. B&W beckons viewers to form their own narratives in an effort to make sense of what's being presented. I was drawn to this scene because of the shadow taking up a good quarter of the frame. The erratic nature of it bears resemblance to an explosion; something which carries immense volume. When coupled with the splatter marks on the left, the photo almost becomes an echo chamber with loud visual cues coming from all angles.
Nam Hoang Tran is a writer and photographer based in Orlando, FL. His work appears or is forthcoming in The Daily Drunk, Bending Genres, Rejection Letters, New Delta Review, Diode, and elsewhere. Find him online at www.namhtran.com.