Photo Essays of the Overlooked

Cities are more than just a place full of buildings made up of iron and steel. They are like living beings which have their own energy. The continuous motion of urban people travelling from one place to another, noises created by busy traffic, and the stillness in a park around the morning all this create a sense of life. For a photographer it is essential to feel the emotions a city present to him and capture the moment rather than a photo. It is the job of a photographer to embrace the beauty offered by a city which not just includes scenic beauty such as a sunset but also the culture and lifestyle of the people. Every element that helps in making a city express its own story. Hence, capturing all the stories in a film is what truly makes a photographer.

We all love capturing photos of different monuments, buildings, streets, cafes, sunsets while visiting a new city but for a photographer photography is more than just taking pictures of buildings and sunsets, for him creating an emotional appeal through his photos which resonates with the viewers matter the most. Therefore, he is the one who looks beneath all this glamour and beauty a city has to offer and focus on the things that many people overlook while photography such as trash bins, building vents, pigeons, shadows, reflection on the puddle, and many more. The reason for not capturing them can be simply because people have become so busy in their lives that they often forget to look around them sometimes.

This blog explores the idea of capturing those things and understand the meaning behind them because even though these fragments are not glamourous, yet they hold authenticity. All these are worth clicking because they are not trying to attract or impress anyone, they are simply existing. Hence, for a photographer it is more like an observation photography where the photographer is trying to understand what the city wants to tell and what’s going on in its mind.

Trash Bins –

They are somethings the people avoid or don’t bother to look at after throwing. For anyone it is one of the least attractive things to capture but it tells a story about the culture and lifestyle of the people.

Trans bins help in uncovering the consumption habits of people, the socio-economic differences it creates, the civic sense of the people and about the governing body.

In some cities, trash bins are used as a canvas and covered all in graffiti and posters. Photographing them can showcase the culture of the people of that city.

Trash bins are the storyteller of routine life that talks about the things that we discard, avoid, or don’t want to face.

Building Vents –

These are needed for proper functioning of the buildings in a city yet hardly anyone tries to understand their importance.

These vents have seen so much with the passage of time and remain intact and operatable which tells if proper care is shown to an object, then it will last way longer than expected.

These vents also showcase the story of how with changing times, it has been curated in different ways and forms just to serve the similar functions across different modern buildings around the cities.

It also highlights the efforts and work done by our ancestors that led to the construction of all the buildings and monuments during the past which eventually led to the foundation of the city.

Hence, vents carry decades of history shaped by years of air and heat along with people’s efforts.

It also tells us how people’s way of designing things changes along with time. The style of vents, the layout, the texture, the materials used everything tells a story.

Pigeons –

Pigeons are the mostly used way of communicating since ancient periods. They are as much of a member of the city as we are. They are a reason why they are called the historians of the city.

Their interaction with people tells about the way we treat them, their sufferings when stuck in between threads shows how much we can be cruel to the living creatures around us.

They also display the behavioural characteristics of humans in the ways they are being fed daily.

All this helps crafting a beautiful picture for the photographer to capture where the pigeons are flying across different buildings dodging series of wires and cables creates a sense of emotional appeal in the heart of viewers and helps them realize how less we care about other living beings and how much we are damaging the environment of the city.

Shadows –

Shadows are individuals’ best friends. They are always there with us wherever we go and however we feel, they never stop following us. They are like an art exhibition where each art is of different forms and shapes which keeps on changing. They tell the art of recreating and dissolution as a phase of life.

They are like the best guide for a photographer which help him in terms of being creative.

Capturing silhouettes of moving people, trees, birds, buildings showcase the essence and vastness of city and the people residing in.

Reflections in puddles –

Puddles are like a portal that takes the people, the building, the trees, the birds, the animals to an upside-down world.

They make even a simple and ordinary scene feel unbelievable.

During the rainy season, the puddles create so many portals across the city which helps the photographer to capture cinematic shots from different perspectives.

It tells us that sometimes looking down can teleport us to a whole different world and it also makes photography more interesting and enhance creative.

Why all these overlooked details matter?

All these artifacts help the viewers to understand about the behaviour of the people, the passage of time, the coexistence of humans, animals and infrastructure which can not easily be captured by a tourist.

These artifacts act as an emotional and historical anchor through which we can learn how the city and the people around have evolved.

All these photos will not only create a collection of images but a visual documentary which is not only raw & authentic but also honest & unique.

Conclusion –

The art of photography is not only in capturing the things that everybody loves but also the things that everybody hates or tries to ignore because everything has a soul and capturing that makes a great photographer.

Hence, to create a meaningful photo essay, all a photographer needs is patience and deep observation.