There are some ideas for photography projects that sound like they should be overdone or have little immediate interest. In fact there is “nothing new under the sun” (even in street photography) and yet some photographers manage to bring a fresh perspective and take on these situation. George Georgiou is one such photographer who manages to look at projects and ideas but offers his own unique take.
Who is George Georgiou?
George Georgiou is a British photography whose parents are Greek Cypriot. His work focuses on communities split between different cultures and some of his notable works include his series in Serbia, Turkey, and Georgia and Ukraine. His most recent series, “last stop” are a series of images taken from the top floor of a double decker bus through London (and now Ipswich).
He won the World Press Photo in 2003 and 2005 as well as the British Journal of Photography prise in 2010. He has two books out, Fault Lines (based around Turkey) and now Last Stop.
A couple of interesting bit of information I found out about George Georgiou include that he uses a camera with an articulating screen so he can shoot looking down as he thinks it is less intimidating to a person than raising a camera to your eye. This is a great way to avoid the major downside of hip shooting, in that you have almost no control over framing, but you can be less intimidating. It’s something I might try out myself (although it isn’t an option on my Fuji x100t)
I also found this Wikipedia quote regarding his approach to shooting to be very interesting.
Arriving somewhere new, Georgiou’s approach is first to unburden himself of preexisting images of the place and to try to see through superficial differences with places he knows; he then looks for commonalities and actual differences
My Photo Pick
As soon as a saw a collection of Photos looking at Georgia and Ukraine, I knew I was going to pick one from this collection. Having lived in Dnipropetrovsk (soon to be just Dnipro, the same as the river which runs through it which won’t be confusing at all) in central Ukraine, I have a strong attachment to the country and seeing many of these pictures reminded me of the ups and downs of living there.
I picked an image of a babushka sitting in a run down bus stop. The best feature of the image is without doubt the subject who gazes downwards. She seems reflective and possibly regretting something. I love the pastel like colours across her clothes, hair and even her muted red lipstick is both bright and yet dull at the same time. A couple of little touches that I really like is the advert above her head reading “window” as though this is a little window in to a private moment. Then there is the bright sign advertising the day of the bible. The bright clean poster offering something special seems to really contrast with the run down bus shelter.
Join in with #MondayMasters
Monday Masters is all about sharing inspiration and learning from the maters of photography. If you want to get inspired and learn photography then join in with us, simply take a look at some of George Georgiou’s photos, pick one to share and then share it with the hashtag Monday masters (feel free to blog, put it on Facebook, Twitter etc) I’ll try and link to everyone.
Check out George Georgiou’s portfolio
Check out other #MondayMasters posts
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