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Mobile Photography – StreetWise Winter 2017 / 2018 Showcase

“I love the people I photograph. I mean, they’re my friends. I’ve never met most of them or I don’t know them at all, yet through my images I live with them.” Bruce Gilden

Hello Everyone!

Thank you for submitting your images to StreetWise Flickr group for our ‘Winter Showcase.’

We were touched by the soulfulness and warmth of your photos – beautiful winter scenes (whether in tropical or snowy settings) of people (and animals) looking out windows, windows as frames, windows reflecting cityscapes, people in public transportation, carrying umbrellas, lone figures in urban landscapes and photos of people connecting hand in hand, or embracing one another. Even in the often darker, bleaker times of the winter months, when taking street photos can present a challenge, so many of your images captured what it means to be human – our fragility and our connection to one another.

We are inspired by this international group and it is our honor for Ilana and I to curate so many wonderful artists from around the world, and to ultimately, share the showcases with you.

Ilana and I find it very difficult to choose such few images for the showcase from all those that were submitted and we want you to know that 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 focusing on key aspects of street photography composition, timing, juxtaposition, catching the decisive moment rather than relying on too much aping or images that are more art oriented or painterly.

If you are a street photographer, please consider joining our growing community. To those new to our community, welcome – it’s great to have you join us!

Please continue to post your images to StreetWise Flickr group for showcase submissions:

https://www.flickr.com/groups/2750883@N25/pool/

Please note that StreetWise Facebook page is NOT for posting photographs but for sharing information/discussions, thank you!

A special thank you to Joanne.

We hope you feel inspired by this showcase and our wonderful group. Until next time, happy shooting everyone!

Many congratulations to the following artists for being featured in our showcase including:

Basak Aytek, Daniel Vondav, Donna Donato, Dina Alfasi, Paula Betlem, Carlein, Kathy Clay, Vanessa Vox, Mark Fearnley, Allyson, Susan Rennie, Armineh Hovanesian, Julia Nathanson, Isabelle Wolter, Marc Zetterblom, Ger van den Elzen,  Michel Dev1, Karen Axelrad, Michael Beresin, Laurence Bouchard, Paul Yan, Ocean Morisset, Christine Mignon, Myrna, Giulia Baita, Nick Kenrick, Luison, JH McB, Dixon Hamby, Valeria Cammareri, and Rene Valencia

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!

‘Guadalajara. Mexico. 2017’ ©Daniel Vondav

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!

‘How can you mend a broken heart?’ ©Paul Yan

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!

‘One Step Ahead’ ©Laurence Bouchard

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!

StreetWise Video 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.