City of Light and Shadows Photo

Photographer’s Note

Having run through the shots I took while in Budapest, I couldn't escape a common motif running through them--shadows. As quite often, I was again quite drawn to the decaying walls and dark niches of this old and so familiar world filled with contrasts, light and dark. Stones again spoke of a world that still has, and will always have, a particular hold of me.

(PS Technical note: I didn't overlap images here, I only turned the shot into duotone/sepia.)

bostankorkulugu, atlantida, KevRyan, eleparc, AnimeshRay, prezntime, flory, rigoletto, faubry, delnaja, pasternak, marknunnerley, michiels, Dpbours, mcenteesalas, Mistral, chc, Luan, kdialyna has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

tms (429) 2007-10-02 15:09

great photo loved it

greg (2835) 2007-10-02 15:29

That's beautiful, Sasa. A shadow with a shadow of his own... The light and focus are very clever. Yeah, well, beautiful.

bostankorkulugu (34168) 2007-10-02 15:32

look who is back?... and back for good... it has your sign written all over it sasa... so original... so beautiful...

take care:)...

korkut

atlantida (2323) 2007-10-02 15:33

Welcome back Sasa,
I can see mixed surfaces here, the 3D space overlapped, ghost, shadows, your camera catches the uncatchable! That;s u and your unique way of expressing yourself, I always enjoy it.
Gordana

How was your trip back home?

KevRyan (22422) 2007-10-02 15:41

A fantastic maze of shadow, reflection and surfaces - i'm lost in it and the ethereal moment of this man's passing.........like the passing memory of the place which you have just left - already slipping into a mixture of impressions, feelings............i'm inspired by it >>>>>

good to see you back Kev

Furachan (0) 2007-10-02 15:44

Welcome back, Sasa! Tremendous shot, a cross between Kafka and Pinkhassov. Love the way the shadowy man seems compleely integrated in the scene - placement is spectacular too.
WOW!
Francis

eleparc (24059) 2007-10-02 15:59

your "trademark"! reflections and a mysterious atmosphere! all in b&w! brilliant as usual!
welcome back my friend

Eric

AnimeshRay (8886) 2007-10-02 18:11

Dear Sasa,
Wonderful to have you back! This one has to be strikingly original...its you all over. It is too expansive to be Kafka (I disagree with Francis--Kafka appears claustrophobic to me but this breaths) and too 'insubstantial', ethereal, to be Pinkhassov (again, Francis, IMHO)...

Beats me how you took this one.

Awesome!
Animesh

partha (13677) 2007-10-02 18:46

Hi Sarolta ,
What a great shot.U have used the light and shadow so wonderfully.B&W is the well suited version. very good pre visualised shot and proper execution.
Regards.
partha

prezntime (3945) 2007-10-02 18:48

This reads you all over...All these literary references tossed about begs the question of why we need to evoke the names of others to desribe you and your photos? Is it because we see comfort in the continuation of that which is already familiar, or, is it because we follow the human need to place items (life, people, art, grass, birds) into categories? I guess I see no need to reconcile my emotions to this shot with feelings I experienced other places...this photo of yours, Sasa, carries its own emotions...First hand emotions, not those told or shown through anothers eyes...slightly faded from distance and memory. Raw, crisp, swelling life as told by you; no one else.

A slight bow and turn Missus Soul.

Chris.

dvlazar (6492) 2007-10-02 21:19

Amazing textures and shadows created in this image. I thought it was 2 images merged - but interesting to read that its just one. Quite an achievement!
Top work.
Dave

flory (4804) 2007-10-02 22:37

welcome back Sasa!
more shadows...i love it!that light and your tones..transparency of another world.hm
thanks,
Flory;)

cbrman (19097) 2007-10-02 22:45

Hello Sarolta,

Une belle image empreinte de mystère et de confusion !
Ou se trouve le reflet ? Ou se trouve la réalité !
Une image qui fait réfléchir !
Bravo !

A+

Dominique

bantonbuju (48844) 2007-10-03 0:01

hi sasa,
whatever you did to this image it is most unusual...
duotone together with this ghostly world is more than great...love it, my dear...
(we've been missing you...:-))
bw, j.

tehanu_f (6874) 2007-10-03 1:09

This is absolutely fascinating, Sarolta. I can't exactly figure out how you shot it. It is like two superimposed images. Very beautiful.
Regards.
Fusun

rigoletto (27060) 2007-10-03 1:46

Hi Sasa!
How are you? It has been a long time indeed...
Again a mid-European eliteness in this most poetically blurred sephia shadow profile. Hard to resolve the dynamics, but i guess, here you made good use of reflections on a window.
You need not to tell who this lost man in desolation is...
Take care,
Deniz

Davidh34 (838) 2007-10-03 1:49

Hi Sarolta

Wonderful tones, and an image that draws you in, almost 3D. Superb and provoking shot. Provoking ideas and memories.

My sister moves back to Budapest next month, so I hope to have some time to explore there again.

Regards

David

faubry (32499) 2007-10-03 1:51

i am very happy seeyour photo again... and you come back with a great shot... superb light game, i like this shadow man here... bravo Sasa.. again and again....
take care
francine

ribeiroantonio (22056) 2007-10-03 2:01

Welcome back, Sasa. I am here still trying to figure out your picture. A see a building wall which seams to be broken at that edged white light and I also see a phantom shadow walking away from the wall and the stairway. I am sure there is a play of reflection here and now my problem is to put all the elements in perspective. I will get there!
It is a great work in a good B&W presentation.
Antonio

bwiti (402) 2007-10-03 2:55

Like Eleparc said... This is your trademark... Find the exceptional in the everyday life so congratulations for this superb PP and welcome back, happy to see you...

Galeota (10334) 2007-10-03 3:41

Hello Sasa what a beautiful scenery, once more, with a latent emotional charge. Interesting how many of your photographs may be a departure point for diverging paths leading to different stories. Welcome back.

vapours (7935) 2007-10-03 4:13

Good to have you back Sasa. A great nostalgic feel to this, with the ghostly figure just going so well with the old building.

Sometimes I think working on photos after a holiday is better than the holiday itself.

delnaja (7937) 2007-10-03 4:41

Hi Sasa,
so good to see a great photo again! Pure Art, pure fantasy... stories behind... Yes, so good and excellent... definitely love your photos.
Take care
Fred

broglia (3379) 2007-10-03 6:05

Welcome back Sasa - we've all missed you! And what a return - fabulously evocative image - very cinematic, something from the credits of a spy movie perhaps. Bursting with atmosphere. Can't wait to see the rest from your trip.

Best regards, Roberto

pasternak (13756) 2007-10-03 6:25

Hi Sasa, nice to see you back on TE!

I won't even try to figure out how you did it... I just admire it as it is, like a forgotten dream... I remember your first post last year after you returned from Budapest, it was similar...

Cheers
Alexander

Darren (6819) 2007-10-03 6:31

Hi Sasa. I was wondering about you earlier today, it is really nice to see a post from you. this is very much a classic shot from you. Excellent tones/conversion and a kind of simple composition, yet one that almost noone would see. Quite honestly, I am not quite certain as to what I am seeing but that doesn't matter at all to me. Nice shot.

marknunnerley (2768) 2007-10-03 7:08

Nice work Sasa. Looking forward to your images from Budapest so I can see what I missed. A great image here, very moody and dark. Seen a lot of people doing shadow work and they look really good. Good to see you back.
br
mark

michiels (4170) 2007-10-03 7:13

hello Sasa,

Wellcome back !
What a photo to start again ! amazing ! you know that i was very curious when you came back to see the new photos and i'm sure i'm not the only one ;))
it makes me think at offset techniques, very graphic and artistic !!
greetings, inn :)

ALSOM (6616) 2007-10-03 7:59

Beautiful composition, veyr aesthtic.. The silhouette is incrediblity well positioned in the barely available light.
Lovely tones ...

sebinho342 (18804) 2007-10-03 13:56

Crazy one, unbelievable, i have no words to describe such a beauty ... Are you traveling with your own big piece of glass to have best reflexions as possible ?
Amazing, really great, like others i had it to a personal theme :)
A pleasure to see you back, you have no equalivalent here

vinu (129) 2007-10-03 14:33

Hello Sarlota.
A great picture. The lights and colours makes a dream feel here. Superb shot.
MY WISHES TO YOU.
Best Regards,
vinushka

Dpbours (220) 2007-10-03 19:22

Hello Sasa,

Good to see you back! I hope you had a pleasant time back in Budapest.
Can't wait myself to go back to my beloved Netherlands. Well, one more week! It has been long enough now. Your picture in a sense explains why. You can in a sense loose part of yourself by pushing on too long. A shadow in itself is already a fainted version of the original. In your shot even the shadow is absorbed by its environment. Well, it's not that far yet - but time to go home! :-)

Greetings!!
Dennis

yanseiler (20) 2007-10-04 2:36

Hi Sarolta, this is a stunning shot, looks that the old man has a very interesting pose, the stairs with the beam coming from outside gives a nice atmosphere... In my favs, happy to see you again...

luisafonso (858) 2007-10-04 3:20

Light is shining through TE again... :) And shadows too. Welcome back my dear. Great photo, very poetic, full of strangeness. The juxtaposition is great, very complex to read, but also very simple in its own way. A dream...

brevbrev14 (372) 2007-10-04 4:59

WOOOOW Sasa!!!
welcome back my dear!!
your images are always a pleasure for the eyes....
what can i say about this one?...GREAT!!
wonderful light, great shadows and game of windows...
WOnderful work!
ciao and a biiiiiiiig hug!
Valeria

Mistral (13848) 2007-10-04 13:56

Ahhh Sasa!!! Welcome back! I missed your magic touch...
What did you do here? Where is the real dimension? Who is in the shadow?
Simply a normal stunning work by your side.
A smile
Luca

bombilla (3402) 2007-10-04 18:09

"Filling the conscious mind with ideal conceptions is a characteristic of Western theosophy, but not the confrontation with the shadow and the world of darkness. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious."
--Carl Jung, "The Philosophical Tree."

Unformed versus uniform. The amorphous figure against the rigid architecture. The problematic monad separated from the utopian collective. This is the basis of all human suffering. -Hugh

chc (1468) 2007-10-05 11:11

I love this kind of mood. Like in a bottomless dream where control is impossible
Have a nice WE
christophe

kensimage (8543) 2007-10-06 10:36

Shadows indeed, Sasa--a dreamlike shadow, set off by the light washing down behind him. The graininess makes the dream an old one, a flashback. Is the man a reflection in a window, or what? Nice to see you're back to posting! Regards, Ken.

paprika-jancsi (1965) 2007-10-06 17:23

szomoru kep, Saroltam, de gyonyoru. stilusod egyre kifejezettebb. szeretettel, Jancsi

Homerhomer (4005) 2007-10-07 6:02

you know what Sasa, sometimes I look at the photos and tell poeple you can't make a chicken soup out of the chicken s.$t, but you may dear can. Sometimes I am getting an impression that you look right and see 25 photos opportunities, you look left and see 30 more, unbelivable.

Another one of your many photos that can't be faulted for anything, this sentence could have been copied and pasted to just about any of your photos, just superb.

Hope all is well Sasa, we in TO are enjoying incredible weather, 25 degrees plus every single day and we are in the second week of October, love this global warming thingy ;-)

Peter

RandomCameraGuy (3063) 2007-10-07 10:42

a haunting image Sarolta. a film-noir sense of meloncholy...

teutza (10568) 2007-10-07 11:06

this is such a fabulos shot dear Sarolta!!!
i'm impressed ..misterious one..moody..excelent graphism .. you know how to creat it so well!!
teo

AmiBe (6042) 2007-10-07 11:39

Hi Sasa,
wow, just wow...
Happy to put this one on my fav list.
The dark and light tones are perfectly balanced in this picture.
What a mysterious mood !
Really great !
Ciao

RGatward (19751) 2007-10-08 12:55

Well, I not sure what I'm looking at here, so it'll have my attention for quite a time. Really catches the mood of your home town here, and reminds why it worked as '50s Paris against Gambon's Maigret.

Clairedelune (4885) 2007-10-08 15:22

I looked at the three photos of your series and I cannot really make up my mind on which I prefer. All three have their own value. Maybe the second one is speaking more, has more a 'message', if I may say, but in terms of eyes' pleasure, this one grab my attention more.
I won't repeat what others have said more skillfully than me. I will only add that I especially like the velvet feel of the photo. I just feel that all the sounds are muffled, like if suddenly I was deep in water.
I'm not a fan of the thick white frame for this one, but I know that it is almost a norm around here...
A velvet underwater dream...
Claire

Luan (15935) 2007-10-09 1:52

Wow, so much of mystery here...I don't know what is real or what is reflection...
SUperb picture
Luan

Elaine_Blath (6170) 2007-10-12 0:57

Hi Sasa,

another amazing one!!

Take care, Ivana

kdialyna (3096) 2007-10-14 8:57

Solitary shade. Like ghost between depressing buildings. From somewhere the light comes. A light that makes still more intense the shade.
I don't think it could be a better way to show with photographic way the loneliness.
We are lucky that you are back again.
Best regards
Kostas

AndreiSter (0) 2007-10-21 3:52

Hi Sarolta.I have seen all your gallery and I must say IMPRESSIVE WORK.Have an amazing eye for street photography,original compositions and the visual impact,graphism___excellent photographs.They are inspiring.TFS

Greetings,
Andrei

SebastianSeng (346) 2007-12-23 4:00

Hi Sasa,

this image evokes mystery, one that seems to belong to dreams....Totally mindblowing!

Very well done Sasa, very well done.

Best regards,
Sebastian.

lucianm (0) 2008-11-11 20:19

Great shot, serious effort to read the shadows from the images, really 3D effect, nice feeling of 'old' - both from the tones and the body posture.

TFS