The man who lives beneath us snores. Loudly. And it's not that kind of sporadic, choking snore. He snores with every in-breath - every long, heavy, loud in-breath. The first time I heard it, I jerked my head off my own pillow and thought - "no... that's too ... that can't be..." I thought it must be just one of those odd sounds old buildings make at night. But, despite my unwillingness to believe, night after night it only became more clear. Aside from it being somewhat repulsive to fall asleep listening to the snores of this maybe 60-
ish man with a shaggy unkempt beard and sagging belly, it also embarrasses me for him. I cringe every time I encounter him in the lobby because of the horrible mental image that flashes through my head of him sleeping. And it seems like he's always sleeping!
Maybe that's why he and his wife argue so much. Not because he snores, she must be used to that by now, but because she is not close to him. I can't imagine she sleeps in the same room with him - not when there are two other bedrooms she could use. We hear raised voices, hers more than his, on a near nightly basis. From the general intonation of the conversations, she dominates. His voice has a low, sonorous quality that only breaks into her higher-pitched harangue from time to time. The man spends most of the time he's at home being reprimanded about something or other - it's no wonder he sleeps so much and so deeply.
You know, I don't know them and I really should know better than to wonder at what keeps couples together - but I do wonder. If they'
ve ever had kids then maybe that sustained them for about 20 years or so. Though, if they have ever had kids, those kids never come around to visit. I think it's just been them, by themselves, all these years. Maybe it's just the force of time that keeps them together, they'
ve been together this long and endured this much - perhaps it's a badge of honor of some kind. Or maybe it's just inertia pooling around their ankles, weighting them down. Maybe they'
ve just never had any relationship that's been better and at this point, that voice - angry or not, defeated or not - is better than silence.
Hell, maybe they love each other.
Anyway, the contemplation of this, of them, has given me an idea for a new project. I'd love to photograph couples, portraits of couples, to see the body language that comes about naturally. How do these couples come together for a photograph? Do they have an automatic turning inward towards each other? Does one person face in and one face out? Is one person's hand or arm placed in a proprietary way on the other person? a tentative way? I'd love to do a shoot with a large white backdrop, and say - "
ok, I'm going to take several shots of you - just act natural," and see how "natural" is translated. Who snores loudly day after day, and who places themselves in the center of the frame... Something in the style of
Richard Avedon.
Hopefully someday soon...
