No Parqueo and the Person Unseen

written by
Robert Wilson

I was asked by a gallery, who handle some of my work, to look out some black and white photographs of cars, planes and cityscapes for one of their clients who wanted to have an exhibition.

Many of the shots I wanted to use were colour and on original film – no problem, I had them scanned and I then converted them into black and white.

One of the shots I wanted to use was of a car in La Havana, Cuba – I like cars. It was parked next to a wall which had No Parqueo (No Parking) scrawled on it with chalk.


The shot in itself is unremarkable but if you look very closely at the front passenger window you can just make out the sole of a boot – someone has their leg up on the front passenger seat.  I wasn’t aware of it until I was almost finished shooting. I took a couple more frames and then headed back down the alleyway I’d arrived through.
I never actually worked with this photograph again until I converted it to black and white, so I never noticed the head visible in the back seat.  

Have a look through the rear passenger window there’s a guy looking at me.  I did not see him at the time.


It’s a bit like the film ‘Blow Up’ when actor David Hemmings processes his film, enlarges it and sees a body in the park. The guy in the car photograph is not dead – I just shot him with a camera.

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