Mobile Photography – StreetWise Showcase – May 2016

This fabulous photo from Orange Street in Los Angeles captures an iconic view of Los Angeles with its inclusion of the palm trees, souvenir sign, people wearing sunglasses, shorts, short sleeves and bare shoulders – all with blue skies and sunshine overhead. The strong crosswalk lines immediately draws the viewer into this photo where we see the subject is well balanced between the yellow shirt ‘color pop’ on the left (with the vertical line of the arm) by the yellow fire hydrant on the right. The blue shorts of the girl on the right, the touch of red of the jacket on the man behind her and the banners that draw a line right towards the woman are well balanced by the red curb to her right – creating a dramatic radial balanced composition.

The woman’s hat captures the sun highlighting it against the blue of the sky above her, and as we look closer, we notice the woman’s expression as she talks on her phone as it too, is lit up by the sun.

A highlight of the the photo, is her very expressive hand gesture, that almost seems to hold the words we can imagine her to be speaking… LA LA LA (a great play on words from blah blah blah).

The fabulous and exciting thing about street photography is that none of this can be planned ahead – Connie was in the right place at the right time. Well seen and captured, Connie!

In wonderful contrast to the previous photo from the west coast is Roy’s iconic image of New York City on the opposite coast – the high-rise buildings, the line of hot dog concession trucks that are also selling bagels and donuts, the stained sidewalks, and the colorful umbrellas with the man dressed in a tapestry jacket and brightly colored scarf.

The colors in the man’s clothing so beautifully coordinate with the colors in the environment behind him. The pops of red carry the viewer’s eye throughout the photo – from the flower in his sack, to the red in his sash, to his scarf and the umbrellas and signage behind him.

Seeing him in full stride at a 3/4 angle view, with the angles of his open jacket and of the buildings and the concession truck that frame him, lead the viewer to his face which allow us to get a sense of the man’s character more fully.

Although this same photo in black and white would have been stunning too, the color helps to give the subject more character and beautifully gives the photo a feeling of a sense of time and place (as does the newspaper cover in the window and the ad on the high building in the distance).

Super capture, Roy!

We are immediately drawn into Luisón’s lively photograph by the two subjects themselves, who are front and center as the focal point. They are immersed in conversation, it’s an animated one. One man appears mid-sentence leaning toward his companion. This movement is nicely accentuated by his arm which is slightly raised and pointed toward the other man who is obviously leaning back, perhaps in incredulity, perhaps interrupted, all of which creates a wonderful sense action. And curiosity. What are these two men conversing about? The gestures, appearing at variance, and expressions of each subject entices the viewer to want to know.

Luisón gets up very close to his subjects creating the feeling that one is right there – almost as if involved in the conversation, too, adding to the dynamism of this image. Luisón centers his subjects in a public place which is in the background, the classical architecture of the town square gives this image a sense of timelessness, harkening back to classical street photography. The subject’s caps and jackets build upon this theme. The fun and artistry of street photography is trying to capture a moment that will draw people in. Luisón does that to perfection with his ‘As I was telling you’ and as a result we are intrigued by this wonderful ‘slice of life’ capture. Well done Luisón.

This wonderful photograph by Tim tells a multitude of stories. We see an old man leaning on a cane, he is with a boy who is perhaps his grandson. Both are waiting. The old man seems to be gripping his cane in one hand, and in the other, clutching some cord alluding to the idea he is holding onto dear life. Accentuating this is his expression, which appears to be pained as if it is taking all of his effort to stand upright. Juxtaposed to this is the youthful movement of the boy. It looks like he has all the energy in the world and is hard pressed to stay where he is. In fact, he appears to be reaching upward and outside of the sphere of the photograph as if he’d zoom out of it if he could.

What makes this photograph even more interesting as one wonders what these subjects are waiting for when one is so old he can hardly stand in one place and the other so young he wants to sprint out of it, is the fact that they are reflected in a mirror so that all the action taking place is compounded. In addition, it gives the viewer even more fodder for the imagination. The image there is that of an urban public place, but what’s fascinating is that each of the characters has a relationship with a random passerby in the distance. The woman appears near the man’s head and looks as if he had conjured her from a long ago dream, and so one looks again at his expression and wonders if there isn’t a bit of dreaminess there alongside the pain? And, the boy appears to be reaching toward her as if she were a mother figure. This happenstance lends this image a wondrous sense of the endless possible stories that can be told through photographs and an artistry of the decisive moment captured so beautifully by Tim. Bravo Tim!

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