Mobile Photography – StreetWise Winter 2017 / 2018 Showcase

Basak’s beautiful photo of a row of elderly people sitting on benches is timeless.

The women dressed in black, and the one man in white create a wonderfully balanced composition, as do the two dark framed windows and strong horizontal and vertical lines in the background.

Although the architecture and the peeling paint looks as if the scene could be from another time and era, there is a contemporary look and feel with the addition of the graffitied wall.

One imagines the subjects are sitting on the outskirts of a central plaza, sharing stories and opinions, watching children playing while the familiar moments of every day life unfold before them.

Basak invites the viewer to imagine how much time her subjects have shared on these benches over many years – a gathering place where there is a sense of belonging and also a feeling of connection to one another.

The young girl to the right of the bench adds to the charm. Well seen and captured, Basak!

Daniel’s photo is another fabulously composed and timeless capture.

The architecture of the wooden door and golden wall give hints of an era gone by and also a sense of place.

The beautiful rich colours seem to be accentuated by an end of day ‘golden hour’ warmth.

The woman’s traditional attire with twisted sash, burgundy and purple skirt accented by the small peaks of her bright turquoise blouse indicate the whereabouts of this scene.

There is also a seasonal flavour to the image with the Poinsettia flowers wrapped in brown paper that the woman is embracing, perhaps to decorate her home or a gift for a cherished loved-one. Although the subject’s face is obscured, it adds a striking element of intrigue to the photo.

Beautifully captured, Daniel!

Upon first glance, Paul’s photograph draws the viewer in. In fact, he composes it so that you are right there. Perhaps not inside the close-fitting space (presumably a bus or a train) with all the subjects, but we’ve been there. On that daily commute at one point or another. We know what the commuters are going through; crowded together in that way that is oddly both personal and impersonal. We are made altogether more and less human by the experience. And that is exactly what we see. Figures encased inside public transport resigned to their fate; some more peaceful than others, some portrayed realistic and those whom are made through the play of bright unforgiving light into something “other.”

The subject closest to us, the viewer, is most distorted by the radiance and the fixture itself. It appears to slash over his head, casting light and shadow upon his face giving him another worldly look, as if he has been drawn rather than photographed. Even his features seem distorted, his over-large ear, his powerful nose, the dark sweep of his eyebrow and yet he’s looking down, we presume at his phone, and he looks at peace with being thus enclosed, he almost appears free (in spirit) as if he is going some place beyond the everyday destination of home or office. The man behind also has an illustrative look, half in shadow, half out. This gives a rich allegorical feel to this wonderful photo of people going about their daily lives. The women, on the other hand, seem most real. One has an appearance of disdain for what we can only imagine, and the other the look of a sleepy angel on her way to work some miracle.

Both symbolic and realistic qualities of Paul’s lovely photo give the viewer many reasons to keep perusing, to delve even deeper. And there’s lots to see in this wonderfully composed image.

Bravo, Paul!

Laurence’s photo has a fabulous sense of movement; a nice juxtaposition to Paul’s photo in which the subjects are still. Both illustrate a clever and unique marriage of the real and surreal. In Laurence’s photo, we are swept away to a more classical era. A brisk walk portrayed as reflected image in a puddle illustrating how life exists on many planes if one but stops to look. And Laurence does. He gives us a glimpse of the old masters. In fact, this image is reminiscent of Cartier-Bresson’s Man Jumping Over a Puddle because of the large gait of one of the subjects and indeed both are caught in the decisive moment. The lines that radiate from the horizon outward offer the viewer yet another sense of moving along to anywhere just as long as one is moving; and we get the sense of it being on earth from a simple electric pole.

This is a delightful photograph for all the little details one’s eyes get lost in examining. Is it a dream we are confronted with, or the magic of our own world as seen through the photographer’s keen eyes?

Beautifully seen, Laurence!

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