COLUMNS,  StreetWise

Mobile Photography – StreetWise Showcase – September 2016

“There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative. Oop! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever.” Henri Cartier-Bresson

It is incredibly inspiring to view all of the photos submitted to our StreetWise Flickr group from around the world – from stunning night scenes, to dramatic black and whites, to captures filled with color, to photos that touch the heart. Thank you so much for participating and inspiring us with your images. Welcome, also, to those newer to our street photography community – it is great to have you join us!

As always, it was difficult for us to choose only a relatively few images from all those that were submitted.

As a reminder, we choose images for the showcase that are in keeping with our group’s intention and guidelines  “We believe that it is important to focus on the key aspects of street photography  composition, timing, juxtaposition, catching the decisive moment  rather than relying on too much aping. We therefore feel that aping should be kept to a minimum  cropping, tweaking exposure, colour, adding a grain or texture is ok but we would like to see you steer away from overly app’ed images that are more art oriented or painterly.”

We hope you will enjoy this inspiring showcase as much as Ilana and I enjoyed putting it together!

A special thank you to Joanne.

If you are a mobile street photographer, please consider joining our growing community.

Flickr Group (for weekly showcase submissions) https://www.flickr.com/groups/2750883@N25/pool/

Facebook Group (for information sharing/discussions) StreetWise – Mobile Street Photography – an TheAppWhisperer.com Group

Many congratulations to the following artists for being featured in this showcase including:

Laurence Bouchard, Paul Yan, Magda djm, Richardas Jarmalavicius, Cara Gallardo Weil, Donna Donato, Miller, Micheldev1, Ocean Morisset, Christine Mignon, Joshua Sarinana, Julia Nathanson, Paula Betlem, Luison, JH McBandy, Nick Kenrick, Ger van den Elzen, Karen Axelrad, Andy, Susan Rennie, Gergely Hando, Isabel Afonso

Laurence’s minimalist photograph is perfectly composed with light and shadows. The image is beautifully broken into fourths by the interchange of large swaths of bright sunlight and deep shadows created by columns. Thusly, we are able to concentrate more fully on the pattern of the floor which adds a wonderful design dimension and is a nice contrast to the photograph’s minimalist attributes.

Our eyes are also caught by the figure moving almost shadow-like through this grand space. At once, we get a feel for the urban, and the monolithic, and the idea that the grandeur of public spaces can, at times, render the humans that inhabit them to the ephemeral. In this image, the subject seems almost abstracted by shadow and dwarfed by his relationship to his surroundings. That he is walking with such a purposeful stride gives the viewer an unmistakable impression that despite the vastness of the environment the subject is laden with a purpose reflective of human will. A wonderful, well seen photo. Bravo, Laurence!

 

‘Last Good Night New York’ – ©Ricardas Jarmalavicius

Ricardas’ Last Good Night New York is a perfect example of night street photography.  To say the least, night photography is challenging, and yet this image makes it look effortless. As viewers, we are invited to a lovely scene of New York City awash in the lights that make it famous, beautifully illustrating the reputation the Big Apple has for being on 24 hours a day.

There is a lovely balance here between dark and light. And, while it appears the major element of this image is the lit up promenade that cuts across the darkness with the city peaking out from behind, if one looks closely there is a single figure in the foreground seemingly in the spotlight giving rise to the viewer’s imagination. One gets the feel of a person on the cusp of big city dreams who is delighting in the scene and all the prospects before her. What a wonderful photo, Ricardas!

 

‘Mediterranean Diet’ – ©Magda djm

Magda’s photo immediately invites the viewer into the scene by pops of color. A scene replete with action that exudes with rich tones of orange, red and blue highlighted by the bright white of the artificial lights emitted from the take-out food stand.

The linear composition of the six women, (who are in sets of two), is wonderful and charming  – with the women in the foreground, mid ground and background. Emphasising the strength of this composition is the artificial light, (this time), framing the subjects so well. The vendor’s signs written in Spanish advertise soft drinks and homemade crepes giving this scene a sense of time and place as does the beautiful deep blue sky peaking out of the background – suggesting an ‘end of a day at the beach’ twilight.

This is a wonderful scene with a fun summer mood so well executed, Magda – fabulous!

 

‘Streams of Consciousness Fluctuating – Three Thousand Thoughts at an Instant’ – ©Paul Yan

Paul’s photo is a beautiful example of creating abstract art in street photography simply by adjusting the shutter speed. His work often captures night scenes in the city and have a very artistic flair to them that seem to echo his vision as an artist.

The viewer is drawn into this photo with the waves of thread-like lights flowing horizontally across the woman in the background. Even the woman herself seems to be caught up in this flow of energy with the mirror image of her arm and what looks like could be her hair, flowing inline with the tendrils of light.

Well done, Paul!

 

StreetWise Showcase

Donating = Loving = TheAppWhisperer.com

Bringing you (ad-free) TheAppWhisperer.com takes hundreds of hours each month and hundreds of pounds to sustain. If you find any joy and stimulation here, please consider becoming a Supporting Member with a recurring monthly donation of your choosing, or possibly making a one-time donation. This is a not for profit website and one that can only grow with your support.

[seamless-donations]

Ilana Buch-Akoundi is an Interior Designer with a background in fine arts, and a passion for mobile photography. Influenced by classical art and literature, she views mobile photography as not simply capturing moments as they happen, but as a marriage of dreams and visions from inner life and reality. Street photography, as a composite emerging from the speed of life, and what’s resonating within. Born in New York City where she still resides with her husband and two children, Buch-Akoundi recently founded hipstaNYC dedicated to Hipstamatic images of New York City, where people from all over the world can showcase their photographs of NYC. She has had photographs featured in mobile photography websites and web-magazines as well as international shows. Lee Atwell has been passionate about the art, science and magic of photography since the time she was a child – at which time her father had converted a small bathroom into a darkroom. For the past few years, she been captivated by the versatility, convenience, and creative potential of mobile photography. In street photography, she enjoys the challenge of capturing the unexpected and also the necessity of being present moment to moment with the surrounding environment – whether it is the continual shifting of light and shadows or the instantaneous and fleeting expressions and postures of people on the street. She has received several international photography awards and has had photographs featured in publication, mobile photography websites and web-magazines. She has also had photos exhibited in several cities – in the USA, Canada, Italy, France, Hungary, Belgium and Portugal. Atwell also teaches yoga and owns a yoga studio in Seattle with her husband.

One Comment