Prize includes matte and frame (see end of description) “M&M&O” was awarded a Silver Winner in the New York Photography Awards 2023 and Honorable Mentions in the Tokyo International Foto Awards 2023 and the European Photography Awards 2023.
In my street photography people are interchangeable
anonymous actors, hence you typically don't recognize their faces. Animals are
part of the city life and their irregular activity contrasts with the regular
forms of streets and buildings, whose leading lines ideally aim for a corner of
the picture.
The picture "M&M&O" is part of my
recent book "Forms and Figures of New York City" in which I captured
New York City following my photographic paradigm “Reduce to the Max”,
represented by the principles simplicity, black and white, square format and
authenticity.
Simplicity was implemented by leaving away the
unnecessary and further emphasized by the use of a single lens. The choice of
Black and White accentuated individual objects and shapes and the omission of
colors provided some order in the otherwise overwhelming chaos of the urban
environment. The uniform square image format assured a balanced arrangement of
the elements in the individual pictures and provided calm throughout the whole
series. The images have been post-processed. Following the principle of
authenticity, there is however nothing on the pictures that was not already on
the negative.
M&M&O was awarded “Honourable Mention” in
the 2023 edition of the European Photography Awards in the category "Black
& White - Street".
The story behind M&M&O: For me, every city
trip begins with a ride on a “hop on – hop off” bus, preferably under the open
sky on the upper deck. While waiting for the bus in New York City, I saw a man
in front of me in the queue, whose white knitted cap on dark skin seemed an
ideal black and white photo subject. Carefully I walked around him until his
head formed a perfect line with the M&M advertisement in the background.
The photograph is limited to three prints plus two APs in 80x80 cm. It is presented in a 100x100 cm white matte in a black aluminium frame with Artglass AR 99 Protect (reflexion-free and shatter-resistant). The matte is cut in a way that the signature on the front is visible. They are signed and numbered on the front and stamped and signed on the back. They are printed with Epson Ultra Chrome pro 10 ink (WIR display permanence rating > 400 years) on Hahnemühle Fine Art Baryta paper (ISO 9706).
