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The Magic Moment In Street Photography: Long Shadow And Silhouette


Behind the Photo …… taking a closer look at a light and shadow Fine Art Street shaft of light and silhouette extravaganza taken in Central London near Piccadilly Circus. An archive photo. Pioneering stuff or just the same old shaft of light photo you see over and over again. What some people call a “cliche” shot. OR is something more going on and it’s a double thumbs up.? Only one way to find out and that is to stick it in the food blender and see what emerges at the other end..

Womn in silhouette walking in shaft of light


This photo was taken at the back of Piccadilly Circus on 6 October 2017. Very important photo this one with regard to my current photo style. This photo along with Redchurch Street No2 were taken 7 years ago but form the very foundation of how i shoot street today. Lets start the blender!

Basics

How was it taken? Kneeling down waiting for somebody to walk into the shaft of light. Nothing too complex here.

Camera Used: Lumix GF3. Now shoot EM5 occasionally and Nikon S9100 mostly

Focal Length: EXIF says 0mm as it was a 28mm vintage lens so 56mm FF equiv.

Weather Conditions: Bright and sunny and that gorgeous autumnal light from low sun.

Positives:

Composition: On the vertical we are talking symmetrical on the horizontal leaning slightly towards rule of thirds.

Negative space? Sort of but not really dark enough!

Rule of odds? Certainly this is a defo powerful rule of odds photo.

Layering: Not really some but limited.

Undisturbed scene: A pure undisturbed scene.

Painterly? No it’s sharp as hell

Shapes; Predominantly rectangles

Story: Possibly but not strong. Just a general urban scene with extreme lighting.

Context: Looks a bit London but question marks over that.

Technically: Sharp and shiny. A technical purists delight.

Lighting and Tonality: High Contrast. Good tonality

Mood: A peaceful and solitary feel. A calm amidst the city chaos.

Subject? The woman is the subject and her shadow is a supporting subject. Donuts comes a very poor third.

Saul Leiter? No Saul Leiter here. Daido Moriyama….possibly. Alan Schaller? …definitely!.

Depth? It’s more of a visual photo rather than a deep one. It’s an Instagram stop you in your tracks for sure.

Negatives:

No connection really between the woman and the Donuts.
It’s a photo that many would have seen and taken and it is a bit cliche
Slightly off in the positioning (no space on left)

Summary

It’s a stunner for sure, a visual feast for the eyes, she is backlit and has a halo around her, we have leading lines with the shaft of light. Scene left is lit, half in shadow BUT it just could do with a bit more depth or something more going on…. but then again the simplicity of this photo is what it’s all about. This is not a documentary photo it’s leaning more towards minimalism.

MY RATING: If a master photo is a 9 or 10….. I personally rate this as a 8.0/10. It could be an 8.5/10 but you would be knocking at the doors of a photo that a master would take. For me the only major fail of this photo is “everybody would see this photo and many people would take it” which makes it a firm 8/10. A master photo is something that not many people would see or even be able to replicate. Regardless this photo was very popular on Instagram and also on Flickr so 8 it is and personally I like it very much.

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Frank J Avatar
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