Street Seen

What makes this image stand out is that it has everything - great graphic qualities, fabulous lighting, a real sense of depth and fantastic composition. I love that there's a story too, that we have enough clues to follow but enough leeway to make it our own. The lad with the hair immediately draws our attention, but then we see the man watching him through the window - and then the chap in the distance following him up the street. The coincidence of the characters is perfect, and demonstrates how rich any street can be when you look and wait - and get lucky. A Ist class image!

Well, if you want pictures of the street here's one that certainly fits the bill. And what a street it is! The lighting is obviously the key component in this image, and that impossibly long shadow that shows the lady in such a clear and defined way. But that wouldn't have been enough on its own - we have to place that in an interesting environment. The textures of this street are perfect for this, and their broken and decrepit appearance might seem to echo the advancing years of the lady in the road. It's a very well seen image, and one that has been created with some care. Excellent.

Pictures of people smoking and vaping outside offices are nothing new, but this one stands out for the effort the photographer has put into setting the scene and making the most of the surroundings. That is an impressive wall, and its straight lines and hard angles help to build a strict pattern that the smoking man breaks - which in turn makes him stand out. The lines of the wall and the edges of the railings create a hard environment, which contrasts nicely with the soft human shape of the man, and the even softer shape of the vapour. And that backlighting works brilliantly to throw fluffy textures into that massive cloud.