garage window

Since we've been watching, and are about to start discussing, Hitchcock's Rear Window in class, it seemed only natural to look out of the windows at the back of my own house... only before I had even made it round to the side that faces onto an apartment block, my eye was caught by a strange flash of red, lit up by the sunlight, in my own garage window.   So I went to investigate.   And there, hanging, was a bright red punchbag.

If it seems strange that I'm behaving like a voyeur towards the content of my own garage, I should perhaps explain that my house sitters are keeping some things in there for now, until they move into a real place of their own... hence the bicycles.   I am not a great bicycle rider, although the last time I was on one, in central Thailand, pedaling round some temples, I managed well enough (probably because it was flat).   Nor am I a great punchbag user.   Indeed, I don't think I've ever punched a punchbag, although a therapist whom I saw once, and once only, six months into my first job was of the opinion that I needed one.   She also thought that I needed a lot of hugs, and that I had an eating disorder: a combination of over-prescriptive over-interpretations that put me right off therapy.   But I think the time may be right, by now: I might sneak into the garage to have a punch or two.   And I should have a decent enough boxing stance, taught me by my mother, who had boxing lessons when a very small girl, not wishing to be outdone by her brother.

Even if it's my garage, it was strange how invasive I felt, nonetheless, photographing someone else's property - even though it's on (semi)public display, too - it's not as though I was rummaging in drawers or boxes.   I was very glad that this image doesn't suggest that at all, but rather conveys a somewhat mysterious sense of objects that have been surprised: objects that one would associate with energetic activity caught in a very private moment of stasis - I deliberately chose, to this end, the most shadowy and enigmatic of the several shots that I took before the sun moved quickly on.