Street Photo Analysis: Behind the Photo No21- St Pancras Silhouette

St Pancras Silhouette: St Pancras Station, Central London

This  photo was taken at St Pancras Station at the foot of the stairs. to the main platform. There you go....secrets out. Trying to find that staircase.......ahhh that's the question?

This photo was part of a series delving into what I called at the time "how dark can you go before the image becomes just a dark blob". It was a mess around period in my street photography journey. What brought it on I cannot remember, but I remember it being a creatively fun time and these photos seemed to go down a storm on Instragram, although regulars know I  no  longer use Insta, that is a whole other  story.

For the Gear Heads

Shutter: 1/30 sec

Aperture: F4.8

Focal Length: 78mm equiv 

ISO: 160

Camera: Nikon S9100

Date: Fri 15 Dec 2023

Time: 09:46 and 55 sec

What makes the photo special?

It has a touch of the "Brassai: Paris by Night" about it.. The image is about 75% dark or pitch black. I think to say this photo is  "moody" would be an understatement, but the dramatic lighting aside this is a surprisingly neutral photo that can be interpreted in many ways? Dramatic, sinister, gloomy, lonely....the list goes on.

It's a photo that would stop you scrolling on any social media platform for sure, but beyond the dramatic lighting, is there anything else going on here of any substance?

Composition on the horizontal plane is dead centre, on the vertical  more on the rule of thirds. Horizontal lines (the steps) give some side to side energy, the handrails give some vertical energy. Rule of odds with a single person and a single underground sign.

It all looks very minimalist, but on further investigation, there is a lot going on here, but your have to look at least twice to see. The woman you can just about make her face out, but that is it!

What his photo realty excels at is the use of masses of negative space which I think is the secret to this photos drama.

My Rating?

If a Master Photo is a 9 or 10/10, and a 1 is pure garbage and a 5 is mediocre then I personally rate this as as a 8/10. Technically it is superb. The only thing that stops this getting an 8.50/10 is the lack of story or narrative. Difficult to  create a story or narrative with such a gloomy scene and the subject in silhouette, but for me it just needs that extra something to propel it into some sort of greatness. It seems to be sitting on the edge of that, but the impression I get is this photo is  quite happy to stay where it is at Very Good.....but....not quite..... in the realms of greatness.

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