@swhnj_rthsr and Alexandre Silberman, our readers picks #312 like to leave it to chance. The first lets the emotion of his models speak for themselves, and the second captures the charm and strangeness of the streets.
@swhnj_rthsr
A chemical engineer by profession, the Russian Instagrammer @swhnj_rthsr produces colourful portraits with pictorial tones in his free time. “Photography is one of my favourite activities. It allows us to create imprints of our thoughts, our feelings, our emotions… I like the idea behind an image, and its execution. Photography is both poetry and prose, through it, one can underline metaphors, comparisons, hyperboles or a certain irony. Photography is a moment, in which one can immerse oneself for a long time”, says the artist. His portraits, driven by his love of new encounters, capture different atmospheres, depending on the state of mind of his models. “I don’t have any favourite themes. They are parameters that change over the course of our lives, just like people themselves. When I see something that interests me, I photograph it. I imagine a purpose, not an obstacle!” he adds. A collection of colourful images, inspired by nature, its surroundings, and the marvellous chance of everyday life.
© swhnj_rthsr
Alexandre Silberman
“I’ve always had cameras, but it was in 2015-2016 that I started to take this medium seriously. The trigger? A trip to Tokyo. There, I realised that spontaneity and visual beauty could be combined. The lighting of the city functioned as a real scenography in which I could capture without the need to build anything”
, recalls Alexandre Silberman. Since then, the German-born photographer and filmmaker has been constantly discovering new territories to capture beauty and astonishment in the streets. “What has never changed in my approach is the desire to explore. The basis of all my series is walking. The pedestrian gaze, even on places that are not, and that are sometimes hostile, defines my approach,” he says. At the heart of his work, the author questions the way a place “determines the staging of the subjects and objects that pass through it”. With humour and poetry, he captures the strangeness of the ephemeral.
© Alexandre Silberman
Cover picture: © swhnj_rthsr
