Week 04 - Silhouette

Silhouette

Returning to Portugal and my daily walk, I passed through a scene that has always struck me as a photo opportunity. The walled city of Elvas has several tunneled entrances. Advancing cars need to honk the horn to announce their entry to anyone approaching from the other side. 

In particular, the setting lends itself to a black and white treatment for several reasons:

• The walls' texture and the cobbled pavement attest to the many years that the entrance has existed, long before automobiles.

• The shapes of the opening archway and the ceiling arch provide a sense of order.

• The entrance offers a gradient of light that softens and fades to dark. In this case, back-lighting for the silhouetted subject walking into the scene.

  Street photography can have a frantic nature, requiring the photographer to quickly recognize the 'decisive moment.' People become the primary subject.

  I prefer a more relaxed and contemplative approach, one particularly effective in street photography: Find a stage and wait for the player. The player is often incidental and not identifiable while adding context and scale. In this case - they appeared quickly on cue.

  f4 1/125 sec ISO 1000 Jan 30, 2022