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Mobile Photography StreetWise Eighth Challenge Results ‘People Working on the Street’

The magic of the street is the mingling of the errand and the epiphany” Rebecca Solnit

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to our Eighth StreetWise Challenge  ‘People Working in the Street.’ We are thrilled to share it with you!

Thank you so much for participating and sharing your wonderful photographs. Lee and I were delighted by all the beautiful submissions to this fun challenge. It was particularly fascinating for us to see how people work in the streets in neighbourhoods from around the world and our showcase beautifully reflects a global coming together.

As always, Lee and I hope you enjoy the showcase as much as we enjoyed putting it together.

A reminder — we choose images for the showcase that are in keeping with our group 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: Paul Yan (Cresting Wave), Christeau Gremaud, Daniel Vondav, Magda DJM, Connie Gardiner Rosenthal, Dave Weinberg (Cellphonesketchpad1), Marizio Zanetti-Mauzzan, Deena Berton, Manuela (Headattackscrealitys), Robin358, Gergely Hando, Luison, Ile Mont, Paula Betlem, Karen Axelrad, Basak Aytek, Guilia.baita, Melissa David, Kate Zari Roberts, Nick Kenrick, JH McBandy Smartphoneographer, Pier Luigi Dodi, Liliana Schwitter.

‘The Cellist’ – ©Ile Mont

Ile’s beautiful photograph depicts a single cellist performing in the street. It is a wonderfully composed photo that brings our 8th StreetWise theme, ‘People Working in the Street’ elegantly to life.

The lone central figure is a street performer. The poignancy evoked from this scene stems from the fact that he is solitary and the plaintive call grows louder upon taking in the grandeur of the architecture in which the cellist is surrounded. The many massive columns and the large classical door behind the man and the neat, cobbled stone of the floor all contribute to a sense of the magnificence. That, and the large scale of the building, let us consider how humans occupy public spaces  in this case, quite a grand one. The classic majesty of this urban environment set against the humanity which resides and works in it also gives rise to the viewer’s imagination. The soft light, (perhaps the result of an overcast day), provides additional storytelling elements. Also, that this solitary street player has no audience that can be detected and that his donations basket seems somewhat bereft. Taken all together these components furnish a lovely play upon our fancy. One can just imagine a modern Dickensian tale set against the backdrop of a magnificent, elegant, yet sometimes, lonely city.

Excellent storytelling, Ile!

 

‘People Working in the Street’ – Paula Betlem

Paula’s photograph has captured our 8th StreetWise theme, ‘People Working in the Street’ to perfection. The viewer is immediately drawn in by the strong composition. The main subject, the stall, the man in it selling clothing, and the single customer are all precisely front and center.

The stall, small in structure (and rather cute for it), is lit up from the inside illustrating the dearth of items for sale within. This is a smile producing element along with the seller’s stance. He is leaning casually with arm on hip, caught in mid-sentence — he seems a real character. Also funny, is the name of the stall: Chez Jef & Fils. All this provides the viewer with an array of amusing questions. What exactly is this man selling in this miniature booth? Is he Chez Jef? What sort of conversation is taking place between the two men? While we contemplate the answers our eyes are further drawn toward the night scene in the background. How the lights move and dance into the distance highlighting the forms of the architecture such as the many windows. The lines of these windows serve to frame the little stall emphasising its central placement, and the single wheel perfectly positions the viewer there as well. We are standing smack dab in the middle with smiles elicited from this fun and lively scene.

Well seen and composed Paula!

 

‘Putting on my Mask’

Paul’s photo is nothing short of delightful and a truly imaginative take on our StreetWise challenge. There is a surreal cinematic quality to the cascading cornucopia of fruit that appear larger than life from the clever perspective Paul has taken. What a gorgeous composition that almost looks like a masterful still-life with the black backdrop highlighting the deep colors of plums, peaches, bananas, and melons.

However, the beauty of this photograph is accentuated by the fact that it is not a still-life at all. As we see the hands holding the plastic wrapped half of a melon and are able to detect just a small glimpse of a person’s profile – a nose, cheek and lips.

The magic of street photography is so well illustrated here as the photo had to be captured in an instant – an instant never to be repeated.

Well seen and captured, Paul!

 

Untitled – ©Daniel Vondav

Daniel’s photo is a wonderful juxtaposition to Paul’s image above as they both highlight hands as the main part of the human form that we can see and another imaginative perspective on our 8th StreetWise challenge, ‘People Working in the Street.’

Daniel’s use of beautiful monochromatic colors in his photo provides a very personal and distinctive signature.

This night scene takes on a ‘Noir’ quality full of mystery with the light from the cart highlighting the popcorn sign, a barely visible profile and the subtle creases of a long sleeved shirt and jeans. It is a great example of how not much detail in a street photo can create a sense of mystery and intrigue and draw the viewer in.

The columnar composition is accentuated by the light in the upper left corner highlighting the cascading monotone popcorn (as opposed to the richly coloured fruit in Paul’s image).

A great image so well captured, Daniel!

 

StreetsAhead Flickr Group Showcase

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Joanne Carter, creator of the world’s most popular mobile photography and art website— TheAppWhisperer.com— TheAppWhisperer platform has been a pivotal cyberspace for mobile artists of all abilities to learn about, to explore, to celebrate and to share mobile artworks. Joanne’s compassion, inclusivity, and humility are hallmarks in all that she does, and is particularly evident in the platform she has built. In her words, “We all have the potential to remove ourselves from the centre of any circle and to expand a sphere of compassion outward; to include everyone interested in mobile art, ensuring every artist is within reach”, she has said. Promotion of mobile artists and the art form as a primary medium in today’s art world, has become her life’s focus. She has presented lectures bolstering mobile artists and their art from as far away as the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea to closer to her home in the UK at Focus on Imaging. Her experience as a jurist for mobile art competitions includes: Portugal, Canada, US, S Korea, UK and Italy. And her travels pioneering the breadth of mobile art includes key events in: Frankfurt, Naples, Amalfi Coast, Paris, Brazil, London. Pioneering the world’s first mobile art online gallery - TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com has extended her reach even further, shipping from London, UK to clients in the US, Europe and The Far East to a global group of collectors looking for exclusive art to hang in their homes and offices. The online gallery specialises in prints for discerning collectors of unique, previously unseen signed limited edition art. Her journey towards becoming The App Whisperer, includes (but is not limited to) working for a paparazzi photo agency for several years and as a deputy editor for a photo print magazine. Her own freelance photographic journalistic work is also widely acclaimed. She has been published extensively both within the UK and the US in national and international titles. These include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Popular Photography & Imaging, dpreview, NikonPro, Which? and more recently with the BBC as a Contributor, Columnist at Vogue Italia and Contributing Editor at LensCulture. Her professional photography has also been widely exhibited throughout Europe, including Italy, Portugal and the UK. She is currently writing several books, all related to mobile art and is always open to requests for new commissions for either writing or photography projects or a combination of both. Please contact her at: [email protected]