Talking Pictures

I shot this image casually, as a friend and I relaxed in a nearly empty waterfront café after a shoot. I can’t tell you why I shot it, but I can tell you why it gradually has become a sort of personal favorite. Although it contains nothing dramatic, it says something very basic about photography.

We don’t know whose sunglasses these are, how they came to be here, or what will happen to them. We know only that they will soon be gone and that the light will never again fall exactly this way on this table, but that the sunglasses were once here, in this light, and that someone saw them. The sunglasses, the café, the photographer, the viewer…we are all transitory. A secret of photography—and perhaps life—is to know that but grab the moment anyway.
—Peter Goodman
Oakland, CA

© 2009, Peter Goodman, All Rights Reserved

Please Read This
The premise of “Talking Pictures” is that every picture has a story. We invite you to send quality prints (only) and a short narrative on why you took the picture or how, in retrospect, it brings up thoughts and feelings about the subject.

We do not return submissions. By sending us an image and text you grant us permission to publish it in this magazine and on our website. If you have any questions, please e-mail us at: editorial@shutterbug.com.

Send submissions to: Talking Pictures, Shutterbug, 1415 Chaffee Dr., Suite #10, Titusville, FL 32780.