Usually I don’t take pictures of simple juxtapositions in street photography. The photo posted in this article is a bit casual and this simply happens most of time when I try to work the scene spending much time on the same subject. It was 2021, Rome, I was with other photographers (friends of mine). It was afternoon, I was taking pictures of skaters and a guy doing parkour. I took many shots: the boy was jumping and doing somersaults. I don’t like to explain “how I take pictures” especially when there is something surreal about it, like in that shoot.
As you can see in this picture there are three “strong points”:
- The juxtaposition with three fingers pointing in different directions (one of that is on the billboard, that’s a plus!!!).
- Three different levels of depth.
- Two mysterious legs sticking out below the road.
Point number one: the boy in the foreground was the guy who did the crazy jumps, I was photographing him when he started pointing something. In the same time a women walking along the street also started pointing. The shot was made, I was ready because I was just shooting the scene. After two years, when I looked back at this picture for post-production process, I noticed the figure on the billboard in the background: he was pointing too!!! That’s a bingo (fortune/serendipity over everything).
Point number two: I was composing scene using three different layers to give more depth (foreground, middle-ground, background).
Point number three: what about the legs sticking out below??? Simply another photographer who was looking at the scene from a different point of view. But now that I tell you that some magic is gone away (reason why I hate to explain surreal pictures). But I can tell you, always is casual, absolutely nothing was preset.
By the way here is the result, I’m happy with that, I like the moment, the humor and surreal elements, the composition and the geometry inside this photo. It definitely works under different points of view. What I don’t like? The man with covered face with mask. But it was full covid-period, I deleted most of the photos taken in these months. There are 4 persons (five with billboard) in this scene: only one mask, it’s ok.
This time I can say that: not a bad shot, “not a bad day”!
That’s all folks
Stay well, have always light in your life
Best, F.S
Check-it out my last post about street photography here: Street photography deflagration
Read also:
Street photography: June-july 2020
A little girls plays: smartphone street photography in Rome
How I made the series the prayer man: street photography
Street photography at sea with smartphone
Street photography: personally best May 2020
Light can tell a story: street photography, painting and cinema
Social classes and racism: street photography and cinema
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