They Are In Love

(Camera: Ricoh GX200)

What came to the photographer's mind when there was the decision to take this shot?  And how to say what it was in the final image? 

"We come nearest to the great when we are great in humility" is what Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), the renowned Indian poet, wrote in Stray Birds which is a collection of food for thoughts by him.

Mr Tagore was right about that.  And one of the great things in humility is love, which cannot be taken for granted even between husband and wife or parents and children nowadays.  So sad, isn't it?  But if there is only one thing people need most in their heart, it is love -- true love.  The definition of true love is not necessarily religious.  However, the Bible has a very accurate account of what love is:

"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."

This pair of couples, though no more young love to each other, hugged each other affectionately at the red traffic light.  Warmed by their display of love and recalling Tagore's poem, the photographer behind them stepped a bit higher on the knob to have a command of an overview of the scene, knowing that shooting from a higher angle could contrast and thus isolate the couples from the rest of the elements better.  That contrast and isolation were made possible by the relatively clear yellowish tarmac.  The slow shutter speed which was natural in this dimly-lit environment also helped to blur the moving traffic and make the two main subjects distinct. (But with the slow shutter speed, the constraint of the smaller sensor and not to fire the flash, the subjects not crystal sharp)

The feelings of love and romance are hopefully brought out by the yellowish colour of the street light, the light trails and the gazing at each other which the photographer had been waiting for before fully pressing the shutter release.