Why do I like to take pictures of streetlamps? They are pretty odd, very minimalistic, and I am having fun like a kid while making photographs of street lamps.
But the fact is that street posts also remind me of a famous Polish writer, Stanislaw Lem. Why? I will try to explain to you, my Dear Friend. In one of his science-fiction novels, “Eden,” people land on an unknown planet named Eden. Astronauts do not understand anything that surrounds them. They believe that some high-developed civilization inhabits this celestial body. Unfortunately, they are helpless in communicating with anyone. They try to get to know as much as possible regarding all the things they found on the planet. But, the human’s mental abilities are too weak to accomplish this challenge.
Limitation of human understanding is what refrains them from knowing the rules on Eden.
Now, let’s come down to Earth a little bit. While walking through the streets of Warsaw, I imagined something different.
In my vision, I saw aliens who landed on Earth. But, it is not our, today’s human order visible on the planet. The world is post-apocalyptic. There are no humans left. Practically all the buildings are destroyed. Aliens who landed on our planet find an odd, post-apocalyptic order. At this moment, titled street lamps appear. For me, the street lamps symbolize the post-apocalyptic image of the world.
In my imagination, some of the street posts could be well preserved. Other street lamps would be entirely damaged.
I often think about the Polish science-fiction writer when I see street lamps. Street lamps remind me of Stanislaw Lem. The vision of destroyed human civilization with some street posts untouched much sticks to my mind. Aliens who just landed on Earth could be surprised and confused as “Eden” protagonists. Another thing I think about Lem while making photographs of the lamp posts is that while doing it, I have to look up to the sky. Mysterious and unfathomable heaven often reminds me of traveling to the Universe. It is the moment when I usually start to wonder if Aliens exist.
Will street lamps will tell me the truth? Of course not. Nevertheless, they are also elegant, graceful, and minimalistic objects to photograph.
