Houston Street Exit - San Antonio, Texas Riverwalk

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and that an enjoyable New Year is on the way. Welcome back to our blog and the latest featured photograph from GM Hanvy Photography.

As time passes, I think of our photography, not as single photographs but as projects or at least in a themed series.  As I write this, I can count at least six or seven open projects.  For that matter, does a project ever fully close?  I don’t know because there are projects I once considered closed but find myself continuing to add images to; when I find something worthy. 

As the year draws to a close, just like I do every year, I like to end it by reviewing the photographs we have created. It is an excellent  opportunity to review and reflect where we are and where we are going in our photographic journey.  While looking at our past photographs, a curious phrase came to mind.  I don’t know if I came up with it or just heard it sometime / somewhere but the phrase “Presence of Absence” came to mind.   Folks that know me,  know that I seldom take photographs with people in them.  I much prefer people to be “absent” in my images. This was not always the case. Way back in the day, the mid 80's it was, I ran a portrait business literally from the trunk of my car. The concept was that I would go to the homes of my clients, set up my portable studio on the premises and make family portraits. Turns out there was a lot of interest especially in young working couples with small children. I could come in the evenings and on the weekends and the kids would often watch me set up and even "help" me in some cases. By the time I was ready, the parents would be dressed and then it was a quick matter of getting the children dressed and ready to photograph. Since, by then, the kids knew me and we were in their own home, the stress levels were all pretty low (except for me) and the shoot went smoothly most of the time. I never advertised, just word of mouth,  and before long I had more work than I could handle and, in addition, I was working a demanding full time engineering job as well. After a couple of years, I had my fill of portrait work. It was a great experience but it was not my passion. My photography life lay in another direction, I now realized.

I recall making the photograph shown here while Marian and I were in San Antonio, on the Riverwalk, on a crowded Saturday afternoon.  I stood waiting for a little over an hour, as that is how long it took for all the people to clear the scene for just an instant. I waited long enough that Marian and our friends wandered on and found a place to eat lunch. I waited an hour just to release the camera shutter one time because I only got one opportunity. In the next moment the scene was full of people again. Why did I feel it necessary to wait that long just for the perfect instant when there were no people there? Well, good question, to me this image is all about the people. Everything here was designed and created for people to use from the stairs and handrail to the steel support beams for the bridge overhead. It feels like the place is catching it's breath in preparation for the onrush of humanity that it knows is coming and is not far away. To me, the people are inferred rather than present.  It is the "Presence of Absence."

This photograph depicts the Houston Street exit from the San Antonio, Texas Riverwalk. It has been a successful image for GM Hanvy Photography and is currently mid-way through a year long multi-use lease. Even though it is not available for commercial use at this time, it is still available for personal use from our website. 

Hope you enjoyed a little insight into the making of this photograph and the pulling back of the curtain as to why our photographs do not contain very many people. 

Gary