Shane Martin

This is a perfect capture, apped to perfection. Shane has reduced it to the core elements in stark black and white. The ornate streetlamp in the distance, the railing, the checkered pavilion like a giant chessboard, the woman walking toward us, head slightly cocked in silhouette. The gradated sky in red to light pink is so perfectly appropriate. We have no idea what is beyond the railing. It is a very odd place. In terms of composition, we have one main triangle—lamp, woman, bird—but several others implied to lead our eyes around the image.

Lastly, the bird in rapid flight, wing slightly blurred. Common practice in photo and art composition is that you want people, creatures, whatever, walking/looking/flying into the image, not out of the picture. But  this is wonderful. The bird is exiting rapidly this large and empty space, leaving her alone as, as David Bowie said in The Bewlay Brothers, “We were so turned-on/On the mind-warp pavilion,” under a pink and alien sky.

Super super cool.

[dailypic].