April 4.2021
Original Piece
March.28.2021
Romantic Mundaneness
The photo essay “New York” in E.O Hoppe’s photobook Romantic America (1927) struck me with its affectionate ambiance in presenting the entanglement between the common citizens and the rising city. This entanglement, as the book title has qualified, underlines the adorability of a seemingly frigid urban landscape. Romance can be found even in the least dramatic scenarios of everyday life. Consisting of six black and white photos taken in New York, all of which contrasted the triviality of individual movements to the grandeur of the urban landscape, this photo essay presents a sentimental perspective to a prosperous yet often demonized metropolis.
Beginning with “57th Street”, this essay manifests its magic in revealing the “romance” of the most mundane routine: office workers heading to workplaces during daytime in handsome outfits. The brightness of the sunshine is balanced by the towering shadows of skyscrapers, moderately setting the tone, for the essence of mundaneness is the void of drama: nothing cheerful, and nothing to mourn for. The pedestrians at the front blurred in their movements. The focus point is then the skyscrapers and their significant magnificence.
In “View Towards the East River from a Park Avenue Building”, a bird-view of New York displays the patchwork of offices, factories, and chapels. The iron bridge is placed on the top third of the picture, separating the clear sky and the urban landscape. This photo also indicates the prosperity of the rising city.
Similarly, in “Broadway from Time Square”, the photo captures the bustling city from a high angle, so that the tall buildings and rushing traffic doesn’t look scary, but instead become amiable.
Rule of thirds also appeared in “In the West Sreet District”, where the arch bridge was framed in the lower thirds. Together with the rooftop, these two distinguishable lines lead the audience to focus on the citizen interactions depicted in the lower thirds. This photo displays the loveliness of citizen’s everyday routines.
The last photo, Grand Central Station, touches me the most. In the overarching darkness, gleams of bright sunshine from elephantine arched windows paved the floor on which passengers awaited their departure. Setting out for a business trip could be a romantic experience because of the thrill of going on an adventure, which is the epitome of how this entire photo essay passes a flow of serene happiness embedded in a phlegmatic setting.
