Photos

Dealing with conflicting speeds (the train slowing down to stop and the shutter release of my camera) requires either mathematical calculation and luck. Or maybe both.

Figuring out the right split second to press the button by taking into account the movement of the train, its total weight, the wattage of the engine and the force of inertia (I must forgot many other factors!) might have been a perfect question for a physics class exam, in my high school days, but I must admit I don't indulge anymore in this kind of intellectual activity.

While I'm back to school, I can't remember very clearly how I understood then Spinoza's conception that every move we make is motivated by three primary affections (desire, pleasure and pain) on our body and mind.
What's the point with the métro and shooting pictures, will you ask me?
Well, let's try to dig into this a little bit further.
Spinoza blends two perceptions of the body: opposing movement and rest in one hand (from a kinetic point of view), being more or less in constant contact with what surrounds it on the other hand (dynamic interaction).
Acting and feeling are inseparables.
Since we don't know why things happen most of the time (the causes), we dwell upon what we perceive (the consequences).
I want to... I like to... I fear that...

So, getting back to photography, I may not be much of a calculator, but I rely mostly on instinct and opportunities. And luck, why not? Hoping for the best, trying to avoid the worst.
Contrasting emotions. Possibly conflicting ones, too. Expecting nevertheless that something will come out of the image (and/or the accompanying note) and strike a chord somehow, somewhere.

With time, it seems that I can grasp better what Spinoza implied than complex laws of physics put in action. Unless I'm making a fool of myself right now... ;-)


I roamed the countryside searching for answers to things I did not understand. Why thunder lasts longer than that which causes it, and why immediately on its creation the lightning becomes visible to the eye while thunder requires time to travel. How the various circles of water form around the spot which has been struck by a stone and why a bird sustains itself in the air. These questions and other strange phenomena engaged my thought throughout my life.
Leonardo Da Vinci

Lens distorsion correction, crop

above ground ‹- you are HERE! -› underground travel

(Ménilmontant métro station)