Shades and Lights

Curator of this competition: Vasco Trancoso

I am a Portuguese medical doctor (gastroenterologist) that after retirement, resumed an old passion asleep: Photography. After a first moment with contemplative images of landscapes I awoke, at the end of 2014, to Photography on public places. I´m fascinated by the unpredictability of streets, as in Jazz and Life, and now I have a daily routine where I shoot for myself and for pleasure. An healthy and saving obsession. On the streets I´m happy to discover daily miracles that arise as fragments of a parallel dimension where the ordinary and banal can be extraordinary. In 2014-2015, 95% of photos were in B & W. In 2016-2017, my photographic "voice" changed and 100% of the work became Candid and “in colors"- always using a compact camera. Now as I make Candid shots and usually I do not need to ask for authorization to photograph because the light shade game I use makes people unidentifiable. I only ask permission after the shot in the very rare street portraits I shoot with the camera in silent mode picking up people without them noticing or even "on your face". I love more color work because allows me to highlight certain elements and color patterns in an image. I feel color brings out an extra meaning and better depth / layers / tridimensionality – improving object recognition and associations inside frame. There is no messages but just a way of seeing where visual pleasure and color composition are the most important. I am fascinated to discover the magic of light in the urban kaleidoscope when fragments of colors emerge between dark silhouettes and deep shadows. A way of seeing through the primacy of aesthetic choices, geometries and the elaboration of contrasts. The plastic approach, the chromatic composition, the emotions and the graphic impact are decisive. Essentially I photograph for visual pleasure and for the happiness I feel when I make a good image.

Elección del primer conservador
Felicidades Tadayuki Ohara!

The Geometric Shadow Spark

Vasco Trancoso:A great photograph is the one you feel immediately the power in it. Like this one.
Then we can not resist the challenge posed by the image and analyze it more deeply. "Like a message in a bottle" photographs do not only reflect what is photographed but also the voice of someone trying to communicate with others through their specific way of seeing. A portal through which two souls interact. The photographer's and the viewer's.
The result depends on the respective visual cultures and the questions that emerge.
We can think on loneliness in big cities. But Is there also in this image an allegory to the moment that Humanity crosses? Eventually stuck in a web of shadows that we helped to create? Surrounded by watchful and silent machines (remember the film "Duel" by Spielberg?). Can we be in the Future more controlled through the images produced by machines? After the new facial and object recognition software, and the consequences of emerging technologies such as virtual reality and artificial intelligence what will happen to Photography and Humanity?

La segunda opción del conservador
Felicidades Luigi Chighine!

Direction

Vasco Trancoso:Another great one! We have everything here. Firstly because it totally obeys the theme "Shades and Lights" - and there were many exceptional photographs that were not selected because they did not fit the theme.
Then besides excellent: framing / composition / aesthetics / light and shadow play - we also have an enigmatic environment that compels us to ask questions.
What would be happening here in reality?
Because reality is a lie of our senses, in consequence, photography is a lie about a lie. Photographers like to deceive the lie of reality with the lie of photography - in an attempt to build the perfect world that each one idealizes. Built with our inner truth that is based on memory. So, are we seeing photos the way we like to remember things? And not necessarily the way they happened?