"I was doing a magazine story about the hydroelectric dam in Bratsk, which at that time was the largest in the world, but when you’re in a place you want to look around as well so I walked into this wedding palace. You can read anything you want into it. I think that if you explain pictures it’s like explaining jokes, or as a friend of mine used to say “It’s like dissecting a frog: once it’s dissected it’s dead". If it hits you, fine. If it doesn’t, that’s fine too. A picture has more than content, it has also a position, a style and so forth, so if you get something out of it, it’s good enough: if you get something beyond that, it’s even better"
~ Elliott Erwitt
Elliott is one of the most intelligent and seriously funny and insightful people I have ever met. This is an image that defies classification. What is it? A comment on the nature of marriage, the human condition, friendship? One will never know. But it really doesn’t matter if its meaning is elusive. I have enjoyed looking at it for so many years now. It always puts a smile on my face nevertheless. A sign that it works on many levels and is a great photograph, the human comedy.
