Mood
4:30 AM
I’m following Doug Stockdale’s series and am really interested in the concept of mood. Certainly, I’ve thought about it before, but have not put in much time thinking about this aspect of post processing. It seems to work particularly well in B&W, if you think about what mood you want to convey.
So, inspired by his Insomnia series, I’ve embarked on recording my own journey back and forth between Charlotte and Charleston. Honestly, I don’t know if this ‘project’ will make it to fruition, or if it’s just another side street to distract me. Either way, putting some effort into showing mood will be beneficial, project or not.
This photo is of the place where I stop every time that I am heading back to Charlotte. It’s located off of I-77, exit 83 in Rock Hill, SC. It’s a large truck stop and had, formerly, the cheapest gas for 200 miles, at least in the direction that I travel. This morning was my first attempt to photograph it. I think that I’ll need to photograph it a few more times before I can establish what I want to say about it. Actually, I’m not sure.
It’s the only bright spot around these parts. Everything else is country roads, woods, and plain old darkness. Perhaps a shot from up the road showing the desolation. Maybe it’s not about that, but about a familiar place along the road. Who knows. I don’t, yet. We’ll see what develops over the coming weeks. I think that this particular location will depend on my tiredness factor, how soon I want to get back on the road, etc. When I stop here, I still have about 170 miles to go, so I don’t tarry long. I want to get in, get out, and keep moving. 
One photograph that really appealed to me, visually, was this one posted by Andreas. Very moody. Very cinematic. A nice feeling of loneliness and vulnerability. Looking at the edge of the umbrella, at the top of the frame, you gets the sense of being a predator, or at least a stalker.
Honestly, I don’t know if this ‘project’ will make it to fruition, or if it’s just another side street to distract me. Either way, putting some effort into showing mood will be beneficial, project or not.
Paul, I think that is the very key: it will be beneficial, even if mood (here: seems to be not so high-spirited mood) is not your favourite subject. Many of us (myself included) resort quite often to a quite detached sort of photography, showing things “outside”, not too deeply connected with our life. Exploring that “mood” part, making the camera companion on daily, maybe banal, undertakings should open up a new field of exploration.
In this sense your image tells quite some story, and so it’s working for me.
@Markus: I’ve just not spent a lot of time in post-processing trying to create mood, but I do find it interesting how one can manipulate a photo to convey a particular mood. Regarding this photo, no it’s certainly not high spirited. Usually, when I arrive at this location, it’s dark and lonely and I just want to move on. There is a place, directly behind this building, for truck refueling and I often think about the lonely life of a trucker and think that it would never be for me. That, is a story unto itself.
Thanks for input. I appreciate it!
The longer I stare at the photo, the more undecided I get. At first glance it seems to emanate a lonly, somewhat gloomy feeling (as Markus put it, “not so high-spirited”). But after a while, it also seems to be a rock-solid photo. Clear, trustworthy lines, a car that is quietly waiting to eat the last miles, lit windows that seem to indicate a place with food and refreshments…
Hm. Interesting.
I certainly wouldn’t call this photo gloomy, but it definitely puts me “on the ouside looking in”, and out here where I am, it’s dark. It seems to me that the lone car implies loneliness, as well. Nice story-telling. Besides, the crisp whites and deep blacks give a wonderfully sharp edge to the image. I like it a lot.