From the beginning of the idea of my project, I was wondering how to present it. Initially, I wanted to take care of artists who painted graffiti, but the idea failed because they work mainly at night, and because I live outside of London it would be difficult to do it.
Generally, London is not a beautiful city and there is really nothing to admire. Ugly residential districts outside the centre, ugly skyscrapers. In my opinion, the architect responsible for the city's design should land on galleries. Tight and crowded public transport (by the way, probably the most expensive in the world). People are always hurrying somewhere, such a rat race. Pervasive surveillance in the form of cameras, etc. This looks like the world of George Orwell from the "1984" book.
In my opinion, the only thing that impresses me is the parks.
Returning to the project, after deeper thinking, I decided to take advantage of the fact that twice a week I am travelling to this ugly city by train, and then I use the underground transport. The idea seemed interesting. To make it more attractive, I decided to show two worlds. One from the inside of the train, when the train is on the surface, and the other image, my view on transport infrastructure from outside of the train.
My project contains twelve photographs. Only one photo is colourful and symbolizes the colour world that comes to London. The rest is a grey reality.
As an introduction, I decided to use a quote from a well-known song. This is my motto for the project:
“There is no dark side of the Moon really.
Matter of fact it's all dark.”*
* Eclipse, The Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd
Three colours in the Dark Side
11 March 2020, just before Waterloo Station
This photo is a symbol of a trip to London. The colours symbolize the outside world. Buildings are grey everyday life. Colours, diagonals, verticals, movement. For me it's surrealism. Photo inspired by photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue.
Follow the Path
17 March 2020 Waterloo Station
In this picture I tried to show the perspective, all lines meet at the end. Also, the path between the white lines symbolizes something that is forbidden. The composition of the photo is obvious to me and contains elements of art. Artist, maybe Colin Jones.
Going Somewhere
11 March 2020, Clapham Junction area
Three trains met side by side when this photo was taken. The person on the edge of the photo is from the next train. Amazing motion and reflection effect. Buildings in the background. The wide-angle lens allowed to record an interesting composition. I could say that the picture has a lot in common with the photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue. Also for me, there is a lot in common with Russian photographer Alexey Titarenko.
Follow the Leader
11 March 2020, Tottenham Court Road Station
In this photograph, all the characters are heading in one direction. For me, it looks like a scene from the movie "The Wall" when impersonal characters get to the grinder. In my opinion, the composition of the photo has a lot in common with the image of Matisse - The Dance, round forms with a centrally located point, people have no face, all this creates a surreal image.
Embassy Gardens' Blocks
11 March 2020, Vauxhall area
In this photo, the objects take a cubist form. What a grotesque building looks like, wrapped in foil that looks like a gift. The composition is interesting, contains diagonal lines. I believe that the photo contains elements of cubism as well as Pop Art. The photo reminds me a painting of a Cezanne - Houses in Provence.
Junction
17 March 2020, Waterloo Station
Everyone goes their own way, everyone is in a hurry. The photo composition reminds me of a well-known picture taken by photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, entitled Pont de L'Europe. Decisive moment.
The Fox & Hounds
17 March 2020, Clapham Junction
This shot has been in my head for a long time. Whenever a train passed here, something attracted me to this street. The second plan is for me the first plan, divided into two symmetrical but not the same halves. The half on the left is sorted and self-repeating like copies from a vending machine. The one on the right is irregular, so different. In addition, there are horizontal tracks in the foreground that have no sense, but as a whole, there is something in this picture. For me, it's such a Dada and an early photograph of Henri Cartier-Bresson Trieste from 1933. The second plan is photographer Colin Jones and his buildings in Newcastle.
The Wall
17 March 2020, Tottenham Court Road Station
“What shall we use to fill the empty spaces,
Where we used to talk?
How shall I fill the final places?
How shall I complete the wall?”
The Wall, Pink Floyd
Five Towers
17 March 2020, just before Waterloo Station
This picture shows two worlds. One in front of the oncoming train And the other in the distance. The artistic form of repeating buildings and towers in ascending from left to right is very interesting in form. The foreground contains lines that are opposite to the lines of the buildings. Two different worlds. A bit like a photo of photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, whom I mentioned earlier Trieste 1933.
Chauvinism
17 March 2020, Waterloo Station
A running woman and a queue of arranged men, I believe that this photograph represents the symbol of chauvinism. Interesting composition of lines and characters. It is Pop Art.
Pigs
11 March 2020, Battersea
Why “Pigs”? Here again, we return to Pink Floyd, this time to the album "Animals" and a symbolic photo of the power plant with the figure of a pig as a balloon.
In my picture, the Battersea power plant is the same object from the Pink Floyd album, there is no pig in the picture, but these symbolic pigs from Animal Farm - George Orwell are doing quite well in London.
The interesting composition of the photo with repetitive elements, multi-line and hallo effect makes the photo artistically interesting.
In the Rush
17 March 2020, Waterloo Station
The last photo can be a symbol of the end and the beginning of the journey. The long exposure allowed me to present the movement. The composition of lines and repetitive characters makes the picture interesting. This photo is also a continuation of the second picture from my series. The composition is similar to a photograph taken by photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson of three prostitutes in Valencia. Moving figures remind me of photographs taken by photographer Alexey Titarenko from his album The City is a Novel.