'Like most photographers featured in this section, I found it difficult to choose a favorite photograph. I believe a favorite should hold your attention for a long time without becoming boring. It must retain a certain magic.
The magic in the photograph I ultimately chose comes, I think, mainly from its sense of estrangement, even though its elements are highly recognizable.
At first, you see a sea of points of light. They form a nighttime cityscape, and then you realize that the steel structures in the photograph are inverted Eiffel Towers. I brought thirty-five souvenir towers back from Paris, collected here and there in all kinds of sizes. I can still picture myself sitting on the train with that bagful of them.
In the studio, I turned the towers upside down and placed them against one another to create a series of arches. I put these inside a mirrored box, ran a highway of miniature cars through it, and finally photographed the construction with my pinhole camera. The result was the megametropolis I called Eiffelsnelweg.
My photography consistently explores distortions of scale. In that respect, this image worked particularly well. It appears to show an immense vista, although the studio setup was actually quite small.
A friend of my daughter, incidentally, insists that you simply cannot turn Eiffel Towers upside down and always wants to set the photograph 'right side up.'
Text: Bethany de Forest
Name: Bethany de Forest (1966 USA Stoneham, Massachusetts)
Residence: Amsterdam
Info: www.pinhole.nl
