The Opposite of Silence by Chipka
Close
Hover over top left image to zoom.
Click anywhere to exit.
Members remain the original copyright holder in all their materials here at Renderosity. Use of any of their material inconsistent with the terms and conditions set forth is prohibited and is considered an infringement of the copyrights of the respective holders unless specially stated otherwise.
Description
Silence is a rarity in the city. Even in the depths of 3am darkness, trains roll like distant thunder. You sleep in places with walls so thin you can hear your neighbors breathing, speaking softly among themselves, or watching late-night television. At 3am, with talk-show applause tracks, or infomercials promising “the lifestyle you deserve,” it is easy to recognize the city’s restless nature. Sleep, you understand, maintains delicate biological balances. Sleep, you understands, maintains sanity. The city is an organism with little need for balance or sanity. You recognize this as you listen to nightly murder tallies on major network news.
Silence is a rarity in the city, and it is—at times—inappropriate. Saturday nights are seldom silent, and at times—more commonly than you care to admit—you revel in the noise: the distant thunder of trains, and the laughter of nocturnal revelers. The buzz of neon is as intoxicating as any shot of vodka consumed with friends, or as gentle as your beloved’s caress, applied like the most soothing of existential unguents. Your beloved may be far away, but something in the city’s noise may recall the wordless eloquence of his touch. In walking Saturday night streets, you may catch a whiff of cologne that recalls his own expensive, social scent.
Silence is the medium in which ghosts dwell, and in listening to its urban absence, you understand that the city—for all of its flaws—is a human thing, a thing afraid of ghosts. It may create them, as it creates many things that are monstrous, profane, or profound in their beauty; it feels no obligation to acknowledge them. This is as it should be, you think, for a city that acknowledges too much becomes a muddled and confused parody of itself: a cloying display of maudlin, touchy-feely sentiment. The city has been this way in the past, and as you think of the philosophical ruminations of insane characters in a television show, you realize that it has happened before, and it will happen again. You are happy—however—that this thought comes to you without the haunting strains of dark and brooding music.
***
As I write this, Chicago is far from silent. Indeed, silence is hard to come by in a city like Chicago. It was noisy on the night I took this picture on the corner of Belmont and Halsted—scant blocks away from Belmont and Something, where I spun like a drunken dervish and saw a tussock moth larva as flagrantly extravagant as the evolution of beauty stuck in fail-on condition.
I’d gone with Corey to capture a mood, to experience something other than an apartment over-filled with the obsessions of a roommate. We found festive crowds in Chicago’s Boystown, and the promise of inebriation wafting through the air like kelp in strange marine currents. We crouched and spun in pursuit of photographic expressions, and on the corner of Belmont and Halsted, we paused and watched gaggles of nocturnal party-hounds “crawling” from one bar to another. Silence, for all of its rarity, would have been the most inappropriate of things that night, and so the absence of silence was most welcome.
I am intrigued by the movement in this picture, and because of that, I’ve refrained from postworking it. In a sense, it is what inspired me to spin and jiggle and capture such motion with my camera. Though I was stationary at the time my shutter clicked here, the movement defining that night had not yet ceased. I’m glad of that.
As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you’re all having a great week. Today went more smoothly than expected, and for that I’m glad. Even the weather cooperated: it was hot, but not inordinately so…and nothing—thank the gods—exploded.
Comments (27)
clbsmiley
I like my peace!! very quiet where I AM. The city is close enought to get to. :)
danapommet
"The sound of motion." Very colorful and full of action. Dana
beachzz
I just had this conversation about silence -- or the lack of it -- in the city. There's always a hum, a drone that never stops. It seems to be the very pulse of the urban life. Your foto shouts with sound and action and the constant motion of the streets. Great shot!!
jocko500
it like the faceless people you see walking by all the time. they move by you as you watch but you do not remember none of them. time pass and you mind just see a movement and no faces. It do not matter for a friend you will see in the mass of endless flesh. super job
myrrhluz
Excellent image and narrative! Everything says 'go' in this image. The blur of the bus and people, the fact that the people are both coming and going, the one expression that is clearly seen is a grin, another movement, a green light and even the motionless car seems poised for motion. The sign says do not block, keep moving. The rich golden light seems to leap out from the darkness. Beautiful capture of the activity and sound of the city in both the image and words. I love the structure and rhythm of your prose. You drew me right into the atmosphere and feel of the city, and the night. As often happens, your words set another train of thought in motion. Not long ago, I went to U-Bar-U Ranch in the Hill Country where the bugs were making a fierce racket. I sat up late one night reading. I could hear the distant drone of the bugs outside. A Katydid landed on the window and was making a pulsing, vibrating sound. I went up close to the window and watched it. At each sound its entire abdomen would vibrate wildly. Your wonderful descriptions of sounds in the city, reminded me of some sounds in the country that really got my attention.
MrsLubner
You really captured the movement and excitement found at any hour in a big city. Stellar work.
minos_6
The Docklands area of London where Marvin and I live is still relatively undeveloped, and our building sits somewhat isolated on the edge of a park, on the river bank. The thing for us is that most of the noise we hear comes from across the river. On our side it's strangely silent at night, other than the occasional screaming fox in the park. When we first moved here, I couldn't sleep because of the silence. I love the clarity of this in the top half of the picture, contrasted with the rapid movement in the lower half. It looks like a time exposure, but I suspect you've been fiddling again!
helanker
This image makes me think, how fast the time passes.. Before I knews it, so much has changed, that I felt I was stuck in time, when other moved on. I still feel it sometimes. The older I get, the faster time runs. Or am I beeing slowing down? I guess that is the reason :) But the silence outside the city is the best, no matter how fast time passes. What a bunch of nonsens I am writing here LOL ! I need more coffee. But I loved this shot and I still love the city and cityscapes.
kgb224
Noise we have in abundance in Pretoria. Even in the complex where we live. The vuvuzelas was a nightmare during the world cup. As soon as one heard a vuvuzela one knew somebody scored a goal without even watching it on the TV. I long for a bit of silence and more calm in my life as it is always a chase to nowhere and nothing.A stunning capture with superb writing complimenting the capture.
lick.a.witch
This image is excellent and along with your delightfully insightful narrative, sums up completely the reason I live in Cornwall. Try as I might - and I have at times - I cannot handle a noisy world. I love my ghosts; I need my silence free from the contamination of the background buzz of humanity, near or distant. The noise I hear simply looking at this is a total anathema to me, and that fact that an image can illicit such a reaction should tell one and all you are one terrific photographer Chip! ^=^
prutzworks
cool urban nightshot
Sepiasiren
the blur of movement makes this a very energetic/kinetic piece -- full of energy--one of the reasons why I love the night so much--it is very alive...you've captured its vibrancy well here
durleybeachbum
I LOVE the absence of noise, but because I live on a main road, albeit treelined, in a suburb of a big town there is often traffic racket in particular. But in the back garden the sound of the birds and insects is louder than the town, except in the rush hour! Like Carpathia (lick.a.witch) I cannot cope with incessant noise, but unlike her I need to be close to a theatre, a pool, and a quality food shop! Hehe! Right now my pet hate, a leafblower, is impinging on the peace! Grrr! SUPERB photo, by the way!
faroutsider
Great photo - a still, silent image that generates such movement and noise. "Silence fills the emptiness of noise" - a line from a song I wrote 20-odd years ago, which I still feel very strongly. I can handle noise for short periods, but then I too must retreat to the ghost world... but not for too long, as I'm basically a gregarious person. And of course, I can't live without music. So I shuttle between the two worlds, a faroutsider on the edge... (PS. music vs noise: one of my physics lecturers, many years ago, gave a great demonstration of the difference between the two. He threw a plate against the wall of the class room and said "that's noise". Then he threw a series of plates which shattered to the tune of three blind mice, and said "that's music"...)
jmb007
superbe photo!
lucindawind
your writing and photos are always inspiring
flavia49
fabulous!
Alex_Antonov
Very nice!
marybelgium
fabuleux !
sandra46
AWESOME IMAGE, A GREAT COMPOSITION! I LOVE THE TITLE, IT GIVES A GOOD IDEA OF CITY LIFE, EVEN IF I CAN SAY THAT I DON'T HEAR IT ANY LONGER. Once i was in the countryiside and i couldn't sleep because the crickets or cicadas or whatever bug is happy during the night were reveling and enjoying themselves a lot near my window. In the morning i was of a foul mood.
CoreyBlack
This is way cool. I remember this night extremely well. It was very hot and filled with that night time pulse of after work excitement. I love the ghostly look of the people. It reminds me of a scene in the First Season X-Files episode Beyond the Sea where serial killer Brad Douriff is being escorted down the long hall to the gas chamber and is visited by the phantom images of all the people he killed. The blurr also adds a nice sense of hussle/bussle to the shot that I like a lot. Vis a vie city noise. My neighborhood is loud by nature. Since our building was bought by a new owner he's improving the place. The back stairs are off and are being loudly replaced, the front is being loudly sand-blasted and the roof is being loudly tuck-pointed. ARRRRRGGGGHHHH. I suppose the noise will end when all us poor people are kicked out to make way for a more upscale clientel. I so love city life sometimes. But I digress. This is a wonderful shot as usual. Mucho congrats on Gallery of the Month and your recent cracking of the 500 pix benchmark!
MrsRatbag
A wonderful vibrant image, Chip; I remember nights like that, although it has been a while.
evielouise
you certainly have capture a moment of people and noise,I love the desert for which I now live quiet and I only have to go `15mins away for noise:
praep
Well done my friend. Nice idea.
auntietk
I love the motion blur of the things that should be in motion and the clarity of the things that should stand still. This is a wonderful use of motion blur ... VERY nicely done! You've captured the mood perfectly. Wonderful work!
KatesFriend
You have captured the energy of city life at night. People come and go like ghost, the coloured light shifts from green to red and back again, glowing like fireflies but the pavement and the walls and the signs are focused, fixed and impartial. It is interesting that you mention the buzz of the neon light. That sound (almost always 120 Hz) seems strangely primeval, less heard than felt I think sometimes. Maybe because it is so close to the hum of flying insects, it sets off some instinctive response in us.
nikolais
wish I could find the right words here... most appealing, Chip!