Behind The Photo #2: Holy Watermelon - Tehran , Iran
shot on film in May 2022
Hey ciao bonjour friends,
Here with the second week of “Behind the Photo", a new Friday series where I resurface photos from my archives and write about them. Last week we were in the kitchen at Capri Club in Los Angeles, this week we’re on a sidewalk curb in Tehran.
Physically, I’m in Paris, living my strange routine of going to French language classes and working at an Italian bakery, slightly understimulated and quite underpaid, respectively. Next week I’m in Berlin, for 3 self-assigned projects that I’m soo excited about. Maybe I’ll share those adventures here at some point. Maybe I’ll keep these strictly creative?
I’m not entirely sure how I’m approaching this space yet, so maybe you let me know what you think, dear reader if you’re reading this!
Anyway, onto today’s photo:
Behind The Photo #2: Holy Watermelon - Tehran , Iran
shot on Kodak 35mm film on an Olympus Mju II in May 2022
I was walking around my dad’s childhood neighborhood with my parents in Tehran last May when I saw this fully eaten half of a watermelon sitting on the curb. The way afternoon the light was hitting, the pop of color, the shadows, and is that cigarette butt laying beside it?
But beyond the aesthetics of it, the story behind it screamed at me to stop and pay attention (with my camera). It is for instances like this one that I love point-and-shoot cameras. They are an effortless, sometimes even careless, way of capturing what has caught my eye.
So this watermelon— how did it end up here? Who ate it? Was it a single person? And did they eat it in one thing? And did they sit on this very curb while eating it? Why did they leave it here, as if they had put it down but forgotten to pick it back up?
Watermelons are a big part of the Iranian diet, especially during the summer months. And if you've never had a watermelon in Iran, you’re missing out. They’re sweeter, watery-er, offensively packed with seeds, and a vibrant color that American watermelons wish they could naturally be.
You do want to eat them in one sitting, as fast as you can, no matter where you happen to be, even if it’s on the side of the curb, sitting on a patch of dirt, watching the late Spring sunset.
Merci grazie gracias thanks for reading!
ps: March 20 is the first day of spring and the first day of the Persian new year!