Moments of the streets
With their garments embellished all over by mother-of-pearl buttons, the “pearlies” are arguably one of the most colourful examples of working class culture in Britain.
This “saucepan lid” (=kid, for those of us not being fluently in cockney rhyming slang …) is the Pearly Princess of Highgate. I was fortunate enough to capture her at this years Pearly Kings and Queens Harvest Festival in London. Isn’t she adorable?
Out the other night seeking the streets for whatever could emerge, I heard a distinctive noise coming from Akersgata, a street leading northbound from the central parts of Oslo. Down the hill rushed two men on their skateboards. As this chap approached, he crouched down and swerved off to his left. Quite a risky métier, I think, skateboarding at high velocity in the dark.
But at least he had put his helmet on …
Spotting this tableau in a window as I walked by, I couldn´t resist the urge to capture it. And immediately I was reminisced of Tosca, the opera by the Giacomo Puccini, the maestro himself.
In a first act encounter, unfolding in the church of Sant’ Andrea della Valle, the jealous Tosca makes her lover reassure his love and faithfulness in front of the statue of the Madonna (“Innanzi la Madonna!”).
And to fill in the general picture, this scene emerged, just a stone’s throw away from the catholic church in Oslo, in a street with the rather mind blowing name “Dops gate” (literally, although actually not meant to be, “Drug Street”) …
Out of the camera I immediately liked this shot, captured more or less from the hips, during the evening rush hour, at La Défense, Paris. But after taking a closer look at it, my enthusiasm soon faded, as I realised it wasn’t sharp. I rejected however the impulse to delete it, and kept it at my computer in the “crappy shots” folder (which, I must admit, occupies a considerable amount of my hard drive).
As weeks went by (it was taken in April 2o16) I couldn’t really forget it. I find it to hold a certain dynamic that I kinda like. Technically it’s impossible to save (and believe me, I have tried), so upon deciding to publish it, I went for this version which isn’t very much post processed.
So the question is, is it good or bad? Honest comments is much appreciated.
A couple of days ago, I took my camera and went for a walk in the evening. The autumn is closing in on us now, and at 8.30 p.m. it was already dark. Outside a theatre building, I came across this scene, which I was fortunate enough to capture.