THE STREETS OF DÜSSELDORF
Aleksandra Piskunova
Taking pictures in the streets might appear as an everyday activity. It takes you only to point the phone at whatever you want to capture. However, you may feel lost if you go outside with more advanced gear for the first time. The experience may feel utterly different because it can attract additional attention. Luckily, it is only partially true. If you prefer to avoid contact, you can stay far away from your subjects or even not include people in your photos. This way, people will not be bothered. Still, you should respect others’ privacy as much as possible. It is also a perfect strategy when unfamiliar with the place or cultural context.
When visiting Düsseldorf for the first time last summer, I used this approach as a mindful observer. I walked around the city in the morning when the sun was still bearable, and the streets were almost empty. It allowed me to pay closer attention to the detailed scenes that can be harder to notice on the run. For instance, a picture I have taken in an alley along lake Stadtgraben. As I was passing along it, a scene caught my eye.
Backlighting created a highlighted silhouette of a man and bikes on the other side of the alley so that a person sitting on the bench became distinct from the background. The contrast between massive trees and buildings and this person having a slow morning reading a book seemed so drastic from afar. This is why there was no need to come closer and invade the man’s privacy. This scene illustrates the pause we all sometimes must take to calm down, no matter how immense our problems may appear.
This article first appeared in PRISMA, Issue 2.