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Mobile Photography – StreetWise Showcase – December 2016

“I go out every day. When I get depressed at the office, I go out, and as soon as I’m on the street and see people, I feel better. But I never go out with a preconceived idea. I let the street speak to me.” Bill Cunningham

Hello everyone!

Firstly, we’d like to wish you all a wonderful and inspired New Year. It has been an incredible last several months of seeing and sharing your photos here with you all on StreetWise. We hope that you feel supported and appreciated – we are grateful for the talent you share.

Thank you all for submitting your images to our StreetWise Flickr group during the month of December.  For us it is a joy and a privilege to view everyone’s images of the streets from around the world and through your images we could see the pulse of the holiday times in the photos you shared. Although the holidays are often beautiful times surrounded by friends and family for some, for others, it can be a painful time with feelings of loneliness, depression, anxiety and separation.

We hope you will enjoy our December showcase, illustrating the myriads of street scenes and emotions that can be seen and felt during this time.

It is always very difficult for us to choose such few images for the showcase from all those that were submitted and we want you to know we appreciate each and every post.

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 apping. We therefore feel that apping should be kept to a minimum  cropping, tweaking exposure, colour, adding a grain or texture is okay, but we would like to see you steer away from overly app’ed images that are more art-oriented or painterly.”

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

To those new to our street photography community, welcome – it is great to have you join us!

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

A special thank you to Joanne.

Many congratulations to the following artists for being featured in this showcase including: Melissa David, Liz Traynor, JH McBandy, Basek Aytek, Luison, Kate Zari, Robert, Rene Valencia, Ocean Morisset, Karen Axelrad, Satoshi, Ger van den Elzen, Joshua Sarinana, Ale Di Gangi, Paula, Betlem, Andrew B. White, Donna Donato, Daniel Vondav, Gergely Hando, Lawrence Bouchard, Connie Gardiner Rosental, Nick Kenrick, Tim Bingham, Isabelle Wolter

“Give me your hands that my heart is formed there, silent the world for at least a moment…” The hands of Elsa Louis Aragon – ©Melissa David

Melissa’s beautiful photo is one of those moments that had to be taken in an instant – and in that moment, what an amazing emotion was captured.

Any sign of public affection is a reflection of love or infatuation, and to see in this photo an older gentleman leaning over, holding the hand of the woman and giving her a kiss on it, warms the heart of the viewer.

This scene can also give the viewer a sense of hope during these often challenging times that love is all around us – and sometimes we just have to open our perspective to see it. As Hafiz has said, “What we speak becomes the house we live in.” This can also be true in our street images – what we see is often the house we live in.

The scene seems to be in a metro in France and one imagines the couple returning from the shops as they clutch their bags. It is a beautiful black and white photograph with an extraordinary composition – their lower hands beautifully mirror one another and their upper hands and tender kiss take center stage in the scene.

A rare moment, beautifully captured, Melissa!

 

“The Girl On the Train” – ©Liz Traynor

Liz’s charming minimalistic photo contains such a sweet and very miniature subject. At first glance, it almost looks like she is perched all by herself on a train’s window sill, looking out into the world with innocence and sweetness – looking ahead into future realms and times unknown but with innocent abandon – her little wisps of hair blowing in the wind. A sweet moment but containing an element of suspense.

However, on closer view, we see that there is an adult arm holding on to her – and she is not perched on the sill, but being held and protected – able to see the world from a very safe vantage point.

Beautifully composed with the column of white to the right of the child that offsets the dark frames and highlights the innocence of the little girl within the image.

A super image of optimism for us all as we enter the New Year.

Superb, Liz!

‘Line’ – ©Arch -Satoshi

Satoshi’s ‘Line’ is a wonderful slice-of-life photograph. We have a cool urban view replete with a street, modern architecture, and that obligatory line people in cities are often confronted with. Naturally, one’s curiosity is piqued. Why are so many people wrapped up in winter clothing and cueing up in the cold  it must be something worth waiting for.

What also makes this image fun and intriguing is everything that is going on in the windows behind that long line. The oversized advertisements are glamorous and offer a nice sense of scale to the people waiting patiently in front. There is also a dazzling array of reflections, additional architecture in the form of shapes and textures  one of the reflections, a line of perpendicular squares, falls through the face of the model and one of her eyes is beautifully outlined in it.

This scene from daily life taking place in front of a patchwork of steel and glass, reflection and larger than life ads is wonderfully composed. Well seen Satoshi!

‘Drop Your Worries, You are Gonna turn Out Fine’ ©Ger van den Elzen

Ger’s photograph is an eye-catching simply composed image with three major elements: the red room, the light, and the subject passing by. Despite this simplicity, the frame is filled with lovely detail compelling the viewer to stop and look awhile.

Ger places the viewer on the inside of an all red room. At this time of year, the richness of the color evokes the holidays and is warm and very inviting. One instantly gets a cozy feel and is delighted by the play of light in the space from an enchanting light fixture. The viewer is somewhat elevated, almost eye-to-eye with the fun chandelier and thus is looking somewhat downward upon the subject whom we glimpse through the opening. Beyond the subject is a window and then there is another across the way in the background. The subject is reflected not once but twice in dual mirrors on either side of the room. These mirrors offer a cool perspective, a line of reflection and light from the outside that moves into the distance of the large rectangular opening. There are additional little details in the red room beyond the light and shadows, patterns of squares on either wall below the mirrors, a small yellow bench on the left offering another pop of color and a rich wooden floor that lands the viewer’s eyes back at the subject, once again.

This is a beautiful indoor scene, capturing a moment filled with life and color. Well done, Ger!

StreetWise Flickr Group Showcase

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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.