Tuesday 13 December 2016

Postcard of the Night No. 11 – Broadway on a Rainy Night St. Louis


Night time photography may have been difficult in the early 1900s but postcard producers were happy to try. Perhaps they thought the market would be attracted by the moody glamour of crepuscular imagery. In the rain the night streets were transformed by reflected light from puddled sidewalks and gleaming asphalt. Here on Broadway an umbrella dance is underway while silhouetted figures shuffle into an uncertain future or escape from a dark past. The visual clichés of Film Noir are on display – a sinister shadow in every doorway, human decency cast aside under cover of darkness. Three more examples of nocturnal precipitation from Salt Lake City, Denver and Portland ME complete this selection.




No comments: