Though Lucie & Simon hardly need me to share their work, in my quest to rediscover what inspires me about photography their short film ‘Silent World’ stirred my curiosity. Years ago I read Alan Weisman’s truly fantastic ‘The World Without Us’ and it left an indelible impression of the crumbling artifacts of human ingenuity and hubris once humans were removed from the equation. There is a similar spirit in ‘Silent World’. Without getting into the what, why and how of ‘Silent World’, what struck me was seeing streets, many I have walked myself, so familiar in appearance, but so totally different in experience.
What happens when you largely remove human beings from the human world, when you remove man from what is man made? Has the scale of our cities become inhuman and is it possible to illustrate that with a camera? What I find most remarkable about “Silent World’ is the disconnect between appearance and experience. Having walked through Paris and New York I recognize these streets, intersections, buildings and landmarks but my experience is remembered as being elbow to elbow wrapped in a cacophonous blanket of noise. Appearance or Experience; what makes a city what it is? This is New York but it is also clearly not the New York that any of us know, and this is the magic of photography.
Check out ‘Silent World’ on Vimeo Here:
Check out more of Lucie & Simon’s work here:
Elysium Photo by Rob Shaer 
I really like this, thanks for sharing.
Thanks Bill. Just read your post on Fiddle Heads, struck me because I had Fiddle Heads for the first time last night. Cheers!