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Fine Art Street Photography: Behind the Photo No2. TUNNEL SILHOUETTE

Part 2 of Behind the Photo with myself looking at, analysing, going behind the scenes and ridiculing and grilling my own photos to see if they can survive a mauling and a critical eye?

Man in silhouette in subway tunnel with reflections in black and white
Silhouette of Man in Tunnel


Taken over a year ago on June 2023 in South West London a couple of miles from Central. Banality made to look magnificent? Is it a street photo or is it more fine art street. On first viewing this looks a minimalist photo but on closer inspection it has many complexities. what are they?

Basics

How was it taken? Camera pointing at light source and exposing for that only..

Camera Used: Olympus EM5

Focal Length: Somewhere in the wide angle end of the zoom spectrum. EXIF says 24mm

Weather Conditions: Bright.

Positives:
Connections: No real connections at play here but the leading lines in numerous guises strongly lead the eye where it needs to go.

Composition: Rule of thirds has gone out the window here. The main subject in silhouette is thrown right over to the right. Never posted this in Instagram for that reason.

Frame within a Frame. Silhouette in a frame of light within a frame of darkness.

Negative Space: Oh Yessss!

Rule of odds? Very powerful single person in silhouette but very small in the frame

Layering: Some layering at play but it’s mainly foreground leading to background. Not much of a mid layer.

Undisturbed scene: Totally undisturbed scene, nothing posed, man was miles away engrossed in his mobile.

Story: Not really. This is banality at its most banal. Somebody staring at their phone in a tunnel and that’s it

Context: Urban all the way but again this could be London, Birmingham, Paris or Berlin

Technically: Sharp foreground slightly blurred background on purpose.

Lighting and Tonality: I would say superb lighting verging on the dramatic heightened by the monochrome effect. Tonality suffers (no shades of grey) as a result but not at the expense of the overall photo.

Mood: Dark, moody but with a feeling of peace and solitude.

Subject? On first viewing the tunnel dominates and appears to be the subject but on repeated viewing it is quite clear the silhouette is the subject as the eye is constantly drawn back to that part of the frame.

Negatives:

Some street togs may say this is not really a street photograph so it may fall short in that department. Others would say otherwise?

You would have to crop this photo to get it looking right on Instagram which would kill the photo. Hence why it was never published on that platform

Summary

This photo I would say is one of my top ten photos. That’s just in my opinion but as always it is a subjective thing. Certainly would look great blown up and hanging in an art gallery rather than anything related to a street photography exhibit.

It’s a deceptive photo looking minimalist with limited tonality but on closer inspection it has rule of odds, complex lighting, leading lines, frame within a frame, silhouette and much more going on

MY RATING: If a master photo is a 9 or 10….. I personally rate this as an 8.5/10. Leave your comments below. Utter garbage, just another mediocre also ran street photo like 90% of them out there…….. or wow this is really something else?

Frank J Avatar
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