A Look at Street Photography

This semester I will be covering aspects of Photography, Art Blog Spotlights and Photography Review through my blog. This is the first post for the Spring Semester of 2015.


This week I am covering the article Photographing a Filipino View of the Streets by David Gonzalez for the New York times. The article details the “Unscripted...Unpredictable” exhibition curated by Rick Rocamora for the University of the Philippines.


Within the body of work there are a few standout pieces in my eyes, the first being by Rommel Bundalian which in the article was untitled. This is a great street based photograph depicting a female figure eating in a McDonalds in Manila as a terrifying red face replicates her face behind her. Another female figure to the right is on her phone creating another commentary next to a bag being consumed by the face on the wall in back. This is the strongest visual element of consumerism in the photograph - the mirrored faces.


Another photograph I found striking was by Ben Molina and taken in Santa Barbara California. The photograph depicts a figure hidden through frosted glass eating, while the room opposite to his location is in full focus and holds photographs of people hanging salon style above the seating arrangements. The figure eating through the glass captures the ghostlike nature of street photography and how temporary the actions and events captured in each photo of this kind are. The figure is eclipsed in focus by an empty section of tables and ads that depict consumerist soda ads. The feel of this photo is very haunting as are most street photographs to me - yet at the same time, they have a very beautiful temporary quality to them. They remind me that everything in life is temporary.


Source: http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/04/photographing-a-filipino-view-of-the-streets/?_r=0#

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