Public Transport
Ollie Pierson

Public Transport

October 2022

This is a photograph that shows the photographer has a very creative eye and is looking for an an unusual way of showing us the hustle and bustle of commuting by tube. He/she has got down and placed the camera on the ground to show us a shoe's eye view of jumping on and off an underground train. The slow shutter speed has frozen a pair of high-heeled shoes as they hit the platform whilst the moving bodies are blurred; showing us movement and activity. It's also done with a narrow depth of field to accentuate the close up action by keeping everything else out of focus. A very clever image. well done!.

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The photographer has really thought outside the box and as a result, has come up with a very special image to convey a visual representation of public transport. Artfully done with an extraordinary composition that takes in a reflected montage of passengers along the top half of the frame, and in the bottom half, the tunnel the train is travelling in; seemingly heading towards infinity below them, marked by lines that give the image it's strong graphic quality to go alongside it's moodiness from people and expressions in the top half of the frame. A very creative image and a deserved winner. Congratulations!.

This is a photo that captures a wonderfully evokative mood coming from a night-time scene in a lonely rural train station, enhanced by the lovely light hitting the platform that shows the sillhoutted lone figure, as well as the greens, reds and blues and yellows of various light sources around the image. A wonderful scene!

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A striking image that has a gentle sense of humour to go with it. Also very well composed; isolating a prone, sleeping figure, limbs stretched out and mouth open, oblivious to what's around him. The other passengers ignoring him, too consumed in their own worlds. I also like the light falling on the prone figure accentuating him visually.

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A cinematic image that's designed to be enigmatic and alluring; using the warm light falling on the backdrop of a glass montage of a tram, whilst travellers step in and out of it, with reflections of life all around. We see the strong face of a man looking into the far distance capturing the attention of the viewer in the centre of the frame. Behind him you see parts of bodies stepping in and out of the shiny glass of the tram. An arresting image. congratulations on a great image.

Capturing people as they travel on public transport will often show them through the windows of trains and buses, and this photo shows that in a very photogenic way. The evening light perfectly hits the montage of faces and facial expressions in a train or bus carriage window; each isolated by the light and dark, and in a world of their own; not aware of each other's presence. The passengers are also nicely framed not just by the window, but also by the blue, above and below. A very strong image. - congratulations!

This is a different take on photographing public transport. A lovely quiet and thoughtful and beautifully lit image, that captures the sun through an empty and neglected bus stop; reflected in the puddle behind it as we see the highway in the background full of cars. I look at it as a statement showing how the car has come to dominate in modern society, especially in the west; at the expense of buses and trains.

I love this image. It truly captures the energy and life behind the public transport experience. He/she has filled the frame with movement and people using blurred movement derived from a slow shutter speed. The photographer has made sure to have a focal element to the image that draws our eyes towards it. The still sharp image of the woman folding her arms in the middle of the frame holds everything together, as we see commuters all around her clutching onto handrails and poles as the fast moving train hurtles towards their destination. An image that perfectly conveys public transport in a visually exciting and creative way. Congratulations!

Once you realise these are fingers poking out in between the horizontal bars, the image becomes very arresting... in more ways than one. Is this a prison vehicle transporting it's unfortunate cargo?, or is it the side of a very cramped and crowded bus or truck (or train carriage) that's transporting workers?. A very striking, enigmatic image that poses more questions than answers whilst still holding onto the "public transport' brief.

What a glorious image! Taking in all the clamour (but no glamour!) and chaos of public transport that people experience every day all over the world, as they travel on overcrowded trains. In this case in Bangladesh where, as the photographer says, people have to resort to grabbing hold of whatever they can on the train, and also perching themselves on the actual roof in order to get to work and school. The photographer has captured this scene very well, but what makes it special is placing at the centre of the frame, the real-life drama of a youngster who has found that the only way they are going to make school on time is if they hurl themselves into one of the openings; here helped by a man (looking very amused by her predicament) lucky enough to have found a seat. The image has both humour and jeopardy - will the youngster be successful?. The montage of people shown poking their heads through openings and sitting and standing all along the top of the train, gives us a photo done in the classic reportage tradition, showing daily life in this part of the world. A wonderful image full of life and colour. Well done!

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Our buses, trains, and trams open up the world without the need for car ownership, and allow us to sit and read, chat to a friend, or watch the world go by, whilst others keep their eyes on the road, or the tracks. There’s a long history of public transport, so a wide variety of vehicles in use, or on display in museums. Nowadays they’re not all in public ownership, but would have been originally. And air travel and private hire transport such as taxis tend not to fall under most definitions of public transport, so we’ll also exclude them from this contest as well.

I like the graphic quality of this image. The lines and shapes running in different directions across the frame. But it's also important to give the photo a visual reference and some context as they have waited to capture the synchronicity of a commuters both boarding a train and also walking along many of the stations passageways. A well thought out photograph.

It looks in this image that the photographer has used both a slow shutter speed to capture ambient light from buildings and lit trees at night, as well as a flash to capture the split-second movement of a tram coming up the hill. This has combined to make a really nice image as the blue and ghostly looking train fills the middle of the frame. Well done.

This photographer has done really well to capture ambient light in a night time scene showing public transport. I love how the light falls on different places all over various parts of the frame. It shows us the old brickwork of the building which forms the backdrop. It shows us the headlights of the tram coming into the frame that falls onto the lines of the track. It shows us the inside of the tram and to the right, the back of a bus as well as the ground. A well taken shot.

This photograph isolates a commuter in a very interesting way, given that, as the photographer says, it captures the reflection of a traveller on a speeding train absorbed in in his own world as a train passes the other way (?) at full speed. It seems to symbolise fast intercity train travel.

So much of of what you look at when you see travellers is how close they are to each other in proximity, but how unaware of each other they are. In this image we see that, in a way that is interestingly lit and composed. The People framed within the frame by the window of the train; in a cold blueish light, surrounded by the muted reds of the trans exterior. A well seen and strong image.