The Photographic Chronicles - Week 35 - Fish and trips pt.2

A three-part article — make sure to scroll all the way down so you don’t miss any of this photo-filled week of the Photo Chronicles!

London

Still in Great Britain for this 35th week of the year. I keep wandering through the streets of London with the fresh eye of a visitor discovering a place for the very first time. The result is a series of images that serve as sensitive testaments to my encounter with the city.

It’s often said that four cities are essential for street photographers: Paris, New York, Tokyo, and London. After Paris and New York, and almost as a way of celebrating my ten years of practice, London now makes its way onto my list!

It seems to me, however, that unlike those two cities, London does not reveal itself quite as easily. In that sense, it reminds me of Rome: fascinating to observe, yet more complex to photograph. Still, I sensed an immense potential here, one that deserves to be explored during a longer stay.

Birmingham

During my British journey, I decided to make a stop in the country’s second-largest city. Best known as the birthplace of Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne, Birmingham didn’t mean much else to me, apart from its industrial past.

In reality, the city is in the midst of transformation. There’s a clear drive toward modernization, with old buildings being torn down to make way for new towers.

Outside the very center, vast neighborhoods seem deserted. A strange tension constantly lingers in the air, and I believe it comes through in my photographs. In the end, I’m glad I managed to capture an England different from the one we glimpse in London an England that, in all likelihood, may no longer exist a decade from now.

Cardiff

Often, when I choose my travel destinations, I rely heavily on instinct. Sometimes, just hearing a name is enough to spark the desire to go. As the largest city and gateway to Wales, Cardiff poised between sea and mountains, between urban life and nature carried in its very name the promise of something exceptional.

And so, under alternating showers and bursts of sunshine, I wandered through the city and its surroundings. My photographs became fragments, at times documentary, at other times more introspective, always seeking to reveal the emotion of the moment.