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the elongated moment
December 01, 2005
in the days of pure film - images captured on frames of celluloid moving fast enough to try to smoothly capture the passage of time - slow-motion was a crude tool, restricted to a change from normal speed to a slower speed, the transition often jarring.
digital editing has given us a new state of beauty in the elongation of the moment. time stretches differently now in the digital format than it ever did in its analog counterpart.
tonight, i walked out of the coffeeshop. lots of beer, wine, a scotch and water, not necessarily in that order. there's hope, something on the horizon, but in the haze, perhaps in my growing disbelief in the fairy tales, I couldn't see that, couldn't rely on it, and i despaired, again.
i swung the door open, held it for someone walking in, i slid past, into the coolness of texas november, looked up, and a couple stood there, the man's back to me, the woman before him, facing almost to me, but just a bit off. the beat of time began slowing, a smooth arc, to one elongated and quiet moment in which she held her hand so gently to his face, and i could just see the look in her eyes.
in a split second i looked away, and continued moving past them, but between the trick of alcohol and the afterimage, my mind stood still, captured, watching what passed in that close space between them, seeing and somewhere remembering the way she looked at him.
i hope he saw what i saw.
Posted by Rob at December 1, 2005 11:49 PM