Streets Ahead – Visual Diary Article – “The People of London” by rihass

Before sharing our featured Streets Ahead Visual Diary story… we want to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone for their submissions to Backspaces! It’s been such a privilege to read (and learn about) everyone’s visual explorations… and we really wish we could highlight all of them. But unfortunately, we have space for only one and this is published every week on the main TheAppWhisperer.com site. So please make sure to visit our page (http://www.backspac.es/tag/theappwhispererstreetsahead) on the Backspaces app to see all the work that is being done. And also, please continue to tag your stories with #theappwhispererstreetsahead, so that we can find them… and enjoy them and feature them here!

For this installment of this segment we are featuring “The People of London” by rihass and here’s why…

This is a delightful collection of street images from London.  What do I think is special about them? They’re simple and ordinary… I can actually feel that this woman has just arrived in London and is trying to get acclimated to the city pace, photographing what she sees in the process.

I have always found that one of the most difficult challenges in making a Visual Diary  is in creating a visual flow using photographs. As artists, we will often frame, crop and process our images individually… and then we’ll select those we feel narrate our story. Sometimes this process can work… but many times it doesn’t. Rihass, on the other hand, was very clear about her visual journey. Her tones, cropping and framing are beautifully consistent and simple… and she was only interested in capturing what she saw as she was walking through the streets.  I also appreciate how she wasn’t on a search for some “cool” shots of the weird and absurd… or looking for that remarkable city perspective. Instead, she just gave us a glimpse of what most of us would see on our first day in London, as we’re getting our bearings straight… and I find this truly refreshing!

Please scroll through the article below to read and view it in full