John Brownlow is street photographer who mainly focuses on documentary photography. 'Human Traffic' was his first serious project as a photographer, something he has developed over the years. It took him a year to complete the Human Traffic series, something which he believes looks old-fashioned to him now. He has founded the Streetphoto Mailing List, in which photographers join and share their street photography with each other. He shoots many of his images at night and in black and white.
This image depicts the back of a man's head and body as he is walking down a street at night.
He is wearing a black hat and coat, contrasting with the background. The man is prominent in the foreground and the background consists of people and lights. The image has a shallow depth of field, blurring out the busy background, allowing the viewers eye to focus straight in on the figure of the subject.
In my opinion, this image portrays the vulnerability of someone without revealing their identity to the camera. From an audience perspective, it appears the subject is being preyed, or stalked, further emphasising the subjects vulnerability. There is a large sense of isolation within the image portrayed through the lone figure looking on at a busy crowd. The use of both black and white and a simple composition creates an intimate mood within the image. The figures clothing suggests that either the image was taken a few years ago, possibly in the 19030s, or the subject is living in his past years, creating a sense of the past and time gone by in the image.
This image portrays a crowd of people with an older man's face in the middle. The older man's face in focus with the rest of the image being slightly unfocused as a result of the shallow depth of field, resulting in the viewers eye focusing in on the man's face immediately. There is a good amount of contrast in the image as a result of the black and white. Both the foreground and the background are out of focus, framing the image of the man, whom is in focus in the middle of the shot.
I think the juxtaposition of solitude and busyness to portray the loneliness of the man in a crowd has been successful. By only revealing the man's face to the camera, the photographer is creating an ambiguous feeling within the image. There is a lack of emotion on the man's face, suggesting he has braced himself against the world, however, the isolation of the man, implies that there is more to be seen than what the viewer can, creating intrigue within the viewer. I believe that the photographic device of placing the man in a different direction to the crowd around him, further emphasises the isolation of the man from everything around him, adding to the loneliness and vulnerability of the image.
This image reflects a man and a woman sitting in a cafe eating. The picture has been taken through a window, creating a reflection of the street within the image. The image is black and white creating a large amount of contrast.
The composition of the image creates an interesting …. The use of the window allows the picture to take on a layered effect, as it is showing both the couple inside and what is happening outside. This further creates a busy picture. The body language of the couple suggests maybe they are not as happy as they would like to be, creating a sombre mood within the image. The time of day in the image is ambiguous as the reflection would suggest it is night time, whereas the light hitting the couple in the window would suggest it is day time.
Responses
I have taken some pictures in response to John Brownlow and his work. Just as he does, I used the streets as my location focusing on people who are about at the time. I have both focused in on particular people as well as photographing crowds of people at one time. I faced some challenges when photographing different people, as a lot of the images came out unfocused as a result of movement. I put my images in black and white as this is something that John Brownlow does, and I think the overall result of the image is better in black and white.
Objectively, this image shows a man sitting on a wall. He has a pushchair next to him and pigeons all gathered around him. Behind him, it is visible that another man is leaning over a railing. The image is black and white, creating a good amount of contrast.
Subjectively, I think this image has been a fairly successful response, as it spontaneously captures a snippet of someone's life, just as John Brownlow has done in his series, Human Traffic. If I was to shoot this image again, I would possibly try a different angle so that the pushchair wasn't as prominent in the image, as well as getting a bit closer, creating a more intimate shot.
This image shows two people sat in a restaurant/takeaway. They appear to be in conversation suggesting they have a relationship with one another. However, the type of relationship they have is left ambiguous to the viewer as it isn't certain whether they are just friends or in a relationship. The image has been taken through a window, suggesting the subjects are not aware they are being photographed, therefore capturing a real moment in these peoples life. Th image is black and white, creating a high contrast that is further aided by the fact that the image was taken at night.
The ambiguity of the relationship between the two subjects as well as the subjects themselves, creates a narrative within the image. It allows the viewer to consider and explore the image further as the viewer is keen to find out the story of the two people in the window. The then adds a depth to the image as there are hidden layers of story within the picture. I think the black and white adds to the underlying mystery of the image which is then further aided by the use of grain. I think this has been a fairly successful response to John Brownlow's image of a couple, also taken through a window. However, whereas it appears as if he has taken his image in the day, I have taken mine at night in keeping with my theme of 'night'.
No comments:
Post a Comment