Wim Wenders: Place Strange & Quiet

 As a photographer I enjoy the stillness and silence of the image, the perfect frame where contained within it is a whole world to be enjoyed and explored.  In Wenders' Places Strange and Quiet, Wenders states; “When you travel a lot, and when you love to just wander around and get lost, you can end up in the strangest spots. […] I don't know, it must be some sort of built-in radar that often directs me to places that are strangely quiet, or quietly strange.”(Wenders 2023).  The image below shows a looming sky, just before a storm and the dilapidated wall with the old painted advert seems to cut into the sky itself.  The street behind is empty and the cars seem unloved and abandoned the blue-covered car pointing one direction and the red van behind seems to perfectly balance the images and the colours of stone and the red car and sign make this picture a wonderfully empty but perfectly full image. Whimsylph writes considers that; 'In Black Square (2002, New Mexico), the hues of blue and red contrast with, even highlight more saliently, the decaying wall and tatty old advert, which poignantly includes the words Why Not Now. This photograph shows a deft painterly skill with colour and composition' (Whimsylph Writes 2014)

Wim Wenders Places strange and Quiet, Black Square 2002

This next image I chose to look at the as it included a bench just like my own in my final Traces image.  This empty bench looks out onto what looks like some kind of military ship, a horrible battle grey metal construction that with a walkway up to what looks to be an unpleasant experience. The empty bench here is red so contrasts with blue border to the walkway and the picture kind of works in thirds, our eyes begin at the bench and move upward to see what sitting here what would be the view.  Wenders took many of these images while scouting for film locations, he states; 'My first films were basically landscape paintings, except that they were shot with a movie camera. I never moved the frame. Nothing ever happened in them. Each scene lasted as long as a 16-millimeter daylight reel, which was about four minutes. There was no editing involved, other than attaching one reel to the other.' (Barcelona, 2011) this is a place where some soul-searching could certainly be done.

Wim Wenders, Places Strange and Quiet, (date unknown)

This next image I show in class and it is still one of my favourites as the empty street corner with the old furniture shop and telegraph wires are made so much more interesting by the slightly bent lamppost that human touch to an otherwise deserted place makes this work beautifully.  The place is called Butte which just adds to the joy.  Whinsylph writes; 'with its sharp vertical and horizontal lines and stark contrasts that render the shadows almost black. With the bleak isolation and uncanny feel here, this could be a scene from an Edward Hopper (1924-67) painting' (Whimsylph Writes 2014)  however I disagree with this reading, in that I do think rather than uncanny it feels odd in a more joyous way, its empty but is sunny and broken, always makes me smile.

Wim Wenders, Places Strange and Quiet, Street Corner in Butte, 2003

I looked at Wenders as I do want to base some of my own work on these ideas and I will be exploring the strange quite places of Leicester very soon...

References

barcelona, dpr (2011) Places, strange and quiet: Wim Wenders, dpr-barcelona. Available at: https://dprbcn.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/wim-wenders-photos/ (Accessed: April 20, 2023). 

Poyner, R. (2021) Wim Wenders' strange and quiet places, Design Observer. Available at: https://designobserver.com/feature/wim-wenders-strange-and-quiet-places/26548 (Accessed: April 20, 2023). 

Wenders, W. (2023) Wim Wenders: Welcome to the official site of Wim Wenders, Wim Wenders | Welcome to the official Site of WIM WENDERS. Available at: https://www.wim-wenders.com/ (Accessed: April 20, 2023). 

Whimsylph (2014) Strangely quiet or quietly strange: Wim Wenders' photography, Whimsylph Writes. Available at: https://whimsylph.wordpress.com/2014/01/19/strangely-quiet-or-quietly-strange-wim-wenders-photography/ (Accessed: April 20, 2023).