STALKING JUXTAPOSITIONS
by Jim Freund
© 2023
On a sunlit summer day, an avid amateur photographer named Bruce was hoofing it through Central Park, camera dangling around his neck, in search of some worthwhile pictures. A lifetime New Yorker, Bruce valued the Park’s diversity – from landscapes to still life flora, varied cross-sections of people engaged in multiple pursuits, scenic waterways, craggy rocks and remarkable statuary.
Bruce considered himself an able lensman of the New York scene, but admitted there was one type of shot he prized and wished he were better at. He called them “juxtapositions” – pictures that juxtaposed two (or more) of the city’s many contradictions within a single frame, producing an ironic tone that he hadn’t yet been able to achieve.
He wondered why that was. It bothered Bruce that others seemed to excel at producing this type of photo. One amateur photographer he envied had published two books containing such pictures – a stretch limo parked outside a Broadway papaya stand; retail sales being made from a push cart on the sidestreet of a famed jewelry store (an image the lensman had dubbed “pushcartier”); a beautiful model standing at a city crosswalk alongside an angry-looking garbage truck; chalked artwork on the pavement in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and so on – including a memorable Central Park shot of a mounted policewoman atop her steed, ticketing a hapless cabbie whose taxi had ventured a bit too far into the greenery.
So that was just the kind of thing Bruce was hoping to achieve today – a juxtaposed splash of irony – as he approached the Strawberry Fields area near West 72nd street. It contains an evocative memorial tribute to John Lennon, who was shot and killed in front of the nearby Dakota apartment building, and consists of a decorative circle around the word “Imagine” (the title of one of Lennon’s best-known hits with the Beatles). Admirers from around the globe come to pay their respects to the man. Bruce – himself quite knowledgeable musically, with emphasis on the rock era – felt that the devotion Lennon achieved was well-deserved.
But although he envisioned that there might be some interesting ironic shots to be had at the Imagine site, Bruce was disappointed to see little more than tourists snapping selfies, leaving flowers, and paying other sorts of ordinary homage to Lennon, plus a few guitarists seated on nearby benches strumming well-known Beatles tunes. There didn’t seem to be a worthwhile juxtaposition in sight.
Bruce was about to give up and move on to hopefully more productive locales when he happened to walk past one of the guitarists and heard music that seemed out of touch with its surroundings. He stopped a short way past to listen and soon realized that the tune the guitarist was playing was Bridge over Troubled Waters.
Bruce sat down abruptly on an adjacent bench to reflect on what he was hearing. That’s a Simon & Garfunkel song this guy is playing, not something by Lennon or one of the other Beatles. And that twosome was just about the biggest competition the Beatles had back in the ‘60s and ‘70s.
Suddenly the proverbial light bulb flashed in Bruce’s mind. Hey, here’s a guy playing a Paul Simon tune several feet away from this tribute to John Lennon and his “Imagine” song – why that’s exactly the kind of juxtaposition I’ve been looking for!”
Bruce immediately swung into action, seeking a way to take a picture that would illuminate the irony. Of course I could do it with a video, but video isn’t my thing. I’ve got to come up with some other possibility for a still photo – this is just too good to pass up.
If there were only a way to work a bridge into the Strawberry Fields scene . . . That famous Bow Bridge is less than a thousand feet away . . . But even if I could, it would need some “troubled waters” underneath to make the point, and the waters of the Lake are unfortunately quite still . . . And even then, would people understand that this is a song by a prime competitor of the Beatles . . . ?
While Bruce was deep in thought, his camera resting on the bench by his side, an old man wearing a Sergeant Pepper outfit and carrying a baby in his arms approached the “Imagine” logo – the old man whispering in the baby’s ear as to the significance of what lay before them.
How about if I could get ahold of a large vinyl Paul Simon cover for an album that contained the Bridge tune, and dub it into a picture I take of the guitarist on the bench – but then I still have to find a way to fit in the “Imagine” logo . . . .
At the edge of the “Imagine” circle a man wearing a yamaka wrapped his arms around a woman wearing a hijab, the two of them swaying romantically to the song “Hey Jude” . . . .
. . . Maybe I could use that third verse of “Bridge” – the one that starts out “Sail on silver girl / sail on by . . . .” Or how about a connection between that and “Imagine all the people / living life in peace.”
A middle-aged man dressed in his camouflage uniform from the Vietnam War, grenades dangling from his belt, perched near “Imagine” to set up a long-range mortar.
Hey, how about this – Lennon was shot at the adjacent Dakota apartment building in 1980 and the first of Simon & Garfunkel’s famous Central Park Concerts took place one year later in 1981 . . . .
A lady decked out in flowing dress and pearls approached “Imagine” in the company of a scruffy young man sporting holes in his tie-dye shirt; while across the way, a man in a rented tuxedo escorted a woman in hot pants and tee-shirt.
One real opportunity here is that Bridge is usually played in E-flat while Imagine is almost always performed in the key of C . . . .