Images a la sauvette

Life goes on.

I snapped this photo in the same estate where I got my "national day" photo. It is an estate of one room HDB flats. There aren't that many of these left in Singapore. I was coming down the flight of stairs when I saw this old lady approaching down the corridor, leaning on a trolley for support. We made eye contact and I wanted to take a photo of her there and then but I couldn't articulate a reason for doing so. What was I doing there? How was I going to justify my presence and my intrusion? Why do I need to? Instead, I continued down the stairs but half way down I turned back to watch her slow passage across the corridor. I waited till I could wait no longer and just as she was about to step out out of the frame, I snapped this shot

I would like to think of this as my "decisive moment" shot and I have to admit that it was greatly influenced by Cartier Bresson's Behind the Gare St. Lazare. Although this photo is not as obscure or elusive as the Great's, it draws heavily from it in terms of framing. Like his "leaping figure" the old lady is not close to the centre of the image as how most photos would portray their subjects. I particularly like the graphic suggestion of this photo. The right to left flow suggests a future moment; that there is some form of continuation after the old lady has crossed the staircase landing. It is through this suggestion that a captured moment may be prolonged in our consciousness, allowing it to extend beyond its currency. And so as I view this image, I wonder what lies ahead for this old lady? A faint hint of a shadow suggests a past, a past that is as clear to us as the shadow itself. Once again, this raises more questions. And I find myself asking what is her past?

The old lady's glance, framed by the cold metal handrails implicates me, and I hope any other viewers, as a spectral witness to this moment; to her life. Life goes on; for her and for us. But in the same way as before?