Hand over a stack of oranges
Street photograph, 35mm, colour negative film look. A hand reaching in over a carefully stacked pyramid of oranges at a market stall, fingers open and about to take one but not yet touching it, the stallholder out of focus behind and not looking. Flat morning light under a canvas awning that throws a warm cast over everything beneath it. Nobody is aware of the camera. Waist height, close in on the stall. Palette of saturated orange against faded canvas cream and dark shadow. Visible film grain, a price card handwritten in marker, 3:2.
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Shop glass doubling the street
Square street photograph, 50mm, colour negative film look. A shop window where the display inside and the reflection of the street outside are both clearly legible at once, so mannequin shoulders and a passing cyclist occupy the same space in the frame without either being lost. Overcast light outside, warm tungsten inside. Nobody is aware of the camera. Window filling the square frame. Palette of warm interior amber crossed with cool grey street. Grain, a smear on the glass, a price sticker, 1:1.
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Fabric bolts stacked in the sun
Street photograph, 50mm, colour negative film look. Bolts of fabric stacked upright outside a cloth shop in hard afternoon sun, the colours deliberately clashing with hot pink directly against orange and a deep green wedged between them. A shopkeeper hand adjusts one bolt at the edge of the frame. Hard sun from the right throws a strong shadow across the lower third. Nobody is looking at the camera. Palette of clashing saturated colour against dark shopfront. Grain, dust on the folded edges, 4:3.
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Puddle holding a whole building
Street photograph, 24mm, colour negative film look, camera set almost at pavement level. A large still puddle after rain returning the entire height of the building above it, so the reflection occupies more of the frame than the real street does, with a figure walking along its far edge appearing twice. Late afternoon light, sky still bright. Nobody is aware of the camera. Puddle filling the lower two thirds. Palette of wet grey stone, pale sky and one blue shop front doubled. Grain, a cigarette end floating, 4:5.
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Notice contradicted by the scene
Square street photograph, 50mm, colour negative film look. A NO WAITING sign mounted on a post high in the frame, directly above three delivery vans parked nose to tail beneath it with their hazard lights on and a driver unloading. The sign is small but completely legible. Flat grey light. Nobody is aware of the camera. Sign upper left, vans filling the lower two thirds. Palette of dull white sign, grey street and one yellow line. Grain, a parking ticket already under a wiper, 1:1.
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Bar interior in a car roof
Street photograph, 50mm, colour negative film look. The lit frontage of a bar reflected and stretched across the polished dark roof of a car parked in front of it at night, the curve of the panel bending the windows and the warm interior into a distorted band. The real bar is only partly visible at the top of the frame. Sodium street lighting. Nobody is aware of the camera. Car roof filling the lower two thirds. Palette of warm bar amber smeared across near-black paint. Grain, water beads on the roof breaking the reflection, 4:3.
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Wedding party under a bus shelter
Wide street photograph, 35mm, colour negative film look. A wedding party in full formal dress crowded under a small bus shelter to escape heavy rain, six of them pressed together with a bouquet held up out of the way and one man holding his jacket over two others. Grey afternoon downpour outside the shelter. Nobody is aware of the camera. Shelter filling the centre with wet road either side. Palette of cream and pastel formalwear against grey concrete and dark rain. Grain, splashes at the kerb, 16:9.
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Face against a bus window
Street photograph, 50mm, colour negative film look. A passenger resting their forehead against the window of a bus in the rain, seen from the pavement through the streaked glass so the face is softened and partly broken up by water running down the outside. Interior bus lights are on and warmer than the grey afternoon outside. They are looking at nothing and have not seen the camera. Head and shoulders through the window frame. Palette of warm interior amber behind cold grey water. Grain, reflections of the street across the glass, 4:5.
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Taxi rank at the end of the night
Street photograph, 35mm, colour negative film look. Four taxis waiting nose to tail in a rank very late at night, each with its interior light on so the row reads as a sequence of small warm windows against the dark. One driver is reading, the others are empty. Wet road returning the lights. Street lamps overhead are the only other source. Nobody is aware of the camera. Full rank across the frame. Palette of warm cab amber, sodium orange and wet black road. Grain, exhaust visible in the cold, 3:2.
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Steam from a vent under a lit sign
Vertical street photograph, 35mm, colour negative film look. Steam rising from a pavement vent on a cold night, lit from above by the illuminated sign of a laundrette directly over it whose green light is what makes the steam visible at all. A figure walks through the steam at the bottom of the frame, half obscured. The rest of the street is dark. Nobody is aware of the camera. Palette of green sign light through white steam against black street. Grain, wet pavement, a bicycle chained to a post, 9:16.
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Late kitchen seen from the street
Vertical street photograph, 85mm, colour negative film look. A restaurant kitchen seen at night from the pavement through its window, one chef working at the pass under hard fluorescent light while the street the camera stands in is dark and wet. The window frame boxes the scene. He is absorbed in the work and unaware of the camera. Full window in the vertical frame. Palette of hard interior white and steel against black wet street. Grain, condensation across the lower panes, 2:3.
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Running for a closing door
Vertical street photograph, 35mm, colour negative film look. A commuter sprinting along a platform towards train doors that are already most of the way closed, bag swinging out behind, one arm extended, with maybe two metres still to cover. Slight motion blur in the legs from a slow shutter. Overhead platform lighting. Nobody is aware of the camera. Full length in the vertical frame with the train filling the right side. Palette of train livery blue, platform grey and one red coat. Grain, camera tilted very slightly, 9:16.
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Painter cutting in a shop name
Street photograph, 50mm, colour negative film look. A sign painter on a low stool hand-lettering a shopfront fascia in gold, three letters finished and the fourth only half filled in with the pencil guideline still showing beneath it, mahl stick braced against the board. Flat morning light. He is concentrating on the brush and unaware of the camera. Waist up with the fascia running across the top. Palette of gold leaf on deep green fascia. Grain, paint rag over his shoulder, 4:5.
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Red awning over a grey street
Wide street photograph, 35mm, colour negative film look. A narrow street of grey stone buildings under flat white cloud where the only saturated colour in the entire frame is one bright red shop awning about a third of the way in, with a single figure walking past beneath it. Everything else is stone, wet pavement and dull paint. Nobody is aware of the camera. Full street width. Palette of neutral grey throughout with one hard red. Grain, a wet gutter reflecting the awning faintly, 16:9.
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Umbrella inverted by the wind
Vertical street photograph, 50mm, colour negative film look. A pedestrian on a windy street with their umbrella caught by a gust and in the act of turning inside out, one rib already gone the wrong way and their arm braced against it, hair blown flat across the face. Heavy grey sky, wet pavement. They are entirely occupied and unaware of the camera. Full length with a lot of sky above. Palette of dull green umbrella, grey street and one yellow road line. Grain, rain visible against a dark doorway, 2:3.
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Two men in the same coat
Street photograph, 50mm, colour negative film look. Two men passing each other on a pavement wearing what is clearly the same beige raincoat, walking in opposite directions with neither of them noticing the other or the coincidence. Flat overcast light. Both mid-stride, caught at the moment they are level. Neither is aware of the camera. Full length, both slightly off centre. Palette of two identical beiges against grey stone and one red postbox. Grain, worn pavement, a dropped receipt, 3:2.
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Level crossing barriers down
Wide street photograph, 50mm, colour negative film look. A lowered level crossing barrier running as a hard red and white horizontal across the full width of the frame, with seven or eight pedestrians and two cyclists waiting behind it, all facing the same way and none facing the camera. Flat afternoon light. Nobody is aware of the camera. Barrier a third up the frame. Palette of red and white barrier against muted street and one yellow raincoat. Grain, a warning light just switching, 16:9.
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Sleeping between the crates
Street photograph, 35mm, colour negative film look. A market trader asleep sitting completely upright on a plastic crate between two stacks of empty produce boxes, arms folded, chin down, in the flat light of early afternoon after the trade has finished. The market around him is half packed up. He is obviously unaware of the camera. Three quarter length with the crate stacks framing him. Palette of faded plastic crate green, cardboard brown and dull daylight. Grain, cabbage leaves on the ground, 4:3.
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Snow settling on a fruit stall
Street photograph, 50mm, colour negative film look. Light snow settling on an outdoor fruit stall that is still open, a thin white layer already on the awning edge and on the tops of the apples, while the trader stands behind stamping his feet with his hands in his sleeves. Flat blue winter light in the late afternoon. He is watching the street and not the camera. Stall filling the frame. Palette of saturated red and green fruit under white snow against blue-grey light. Grain, breath visible, 3:2.
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Spice cones on a cloth
Vertical street photograph, 50mm, colour negative film look. Six cone-shaped piles of ground spice arranged on a dark cloth on the ground, in ochre, brick red, deep yellow and rust, with one cone scooped into on its near side and a brass measure resting beside it. Hard midday sun from the left throwing each cone shadow across the cloth. A vendor bare foot at the top edge of the frame. Palette of hot ochre and brick against near-black cloth. Grain, loose spice dusted on the cloth, 2:3.
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