Bill Sosin

The sky cried all night long. Her breath is cool and damp. I still feel her tears, light and soft. Her mood is changing - she was agitated just a few moments ago, but now she is quietly reflecting on the events that came to pass. I know her well. She will shrink into her shell and not speak a word - she will deprive us of her exuberance and effervescence. Until next year. Welcome to Fall.

“A while back I ran across some negatives I shot from my car in the old film days. I was intrigued by them and began photographing from inside my car again. Driving around Chicago in a downpour I had glazed over momentarily at a stop light as the droplets of rain gathered on the windshield and the chromium vapor of the street lamps blurred behind them. I let the cinema window of the car become obscured with the pebbles of water and then photographed them…”

“What started haphazardly became an obsession and I have now captured hundreds of these images. Generally the texture of the precipitation is kept in focus, and the shape, weight and direction of the droplets can change according to windflow and the severity of the rainfall. Activity in the city streets is set in shallow focus behind this. Neon fluorescence and radiant red light from car brake lights are common themes, but more abstract and suggestive patterns are created by silhouetted pedestrians hastening along with pendulous umbrellas; vehicles such as towtrucks or sixteen wheelers, made more ominous in the dreamscape of their out of focus state; or lonely objects in storefront windows, rendered redundant by the inclement weather. The pure refractions of light are controlled by the lens choice, focus and exposure, blurred into kaleidoscopes or minimized to retain narrative detail. I search for different colorations, shooting at various times of day when the hue of the sky can contribute to the tableau.”

These photographs by Bill Sosin really capture the mood of Fall - the mood I am in when the days grow dark and the rain comes down. I sink into a slight depression, like clockwork, but this year is - oddly - a little different. It is a welcome change. I have time to reflect on my experiences and observe the world around me. It is beautiful - melancholic, but utterly beautiful. As are these images.

Text and images kindly permitted to be republished on this blog by the the photographer himself. Please visit Bill Sosin’s site to view more of his work.