The couple sit in silence. Both sit upright, almost uncomfortably so. They look not at each other but straight ahead. Into the cafe, perhaps, or out of the windows beyond. Or into that space of daydream focus: neither near nor far. No words are exchanged between them. Their silence is that of a couple who know each other so intimately as to need no words. Their understanding and togetherness is a priori.
I imagine framing them. I think about the 35mm frame, with a crop to suggest a near panoramic view. I imagine them both looking into the distance, to the viewer and beyond. I really like the idea of accentuating the space between them: I want to emphasise the distance in their togetherness. It would be my job to ensure that no uninvited objects creep into the frame. The view should be clean and clinical, the background plain, continuous. Their postures should dominate. If I am lucky I might catch a moment when they both simultaneously raise a coffee cup. Together in silence, mirroring one another, yet somewhere else.
This is a photograph I have seen and not made. It is an exercise in visualisation, a fine image that I didn’t make. Sometimes I enjoy making pictures as much without a camera as with.
