Damian Chrobak

“Born in Jastrzebie Zdroj (Poland), Damian studied at the Academy of Photography in Warsaw. After his first year he decided to set off on a different path and began his search for a photography he could truly call his own. Born in 1977 in Jastrzebie Zdroj (Poland), Damian Chrobak has been a member of the Association of Polish Art Photographers since 2010 and is the founder of the Un-Posed street photography collective. After studying at the Academy of Photography in Warsaw, Poland, Damian moved to London in 2004, where he completed a Black & White Photography Course at the University of Arts in London. Since then he has been documenting the city’s street life. His work has been published in the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States of America, New Zealand, Poland and other European countries. He has also produced photographs for book and recording covers. He is currently based in London and working on documentary and street photography projects. Street photography is characterised by a high degree of sensitivity to aesthetic, psychological and sociological insight. The photographer plucks out from his surroundings seemingly random moments and reveals their significance. What is important for him in a photograph is a deeply humane reflection on the nature of the individual and society as a whole. The ordinary moments in everyday life often have a hidden meaning and can be interesting, humorous, bizarre or remarkable. Strolling through the streets of a twenty-first-century city, photographer tries to capture something timeless on film, an eternal truth about man, one which hasn’t changed for millennia.” http://un-posed.com/photographers/damian-chrobak

Examples of his work:

Image Analysis:

I will analysing this photo from Chrobak’s project “Everywhere I look, I’m Being Looked At”.

Conceptual:

I think this photo focuses on the idea of consumption and its impact on changing and shaping our daily routine. This photograph depicts ordinary situations, combining it with advertisements and people. This picture gives the meaning of how we are constantly surrounded by visual media and how it shapes our thinking and routine. It is as if in every corner of town we have eyes wanting to catch every passerby with a penetrating gaze giving its message to every passer-by. This photograph speaks of urban life filled with flow of information, recording our habits, interests and weaknesses.

Visual:

This photo is in black and white which gives it a very retro and old feel to it, it also has a dark tone. I can see that he has used a little of texture such as noise, which gives a grainy texture to the photo. The viewpoint of this photo is on the the advertisement because it is staring right at you whilst the people are looking ahead of them. This creates a sense of a personal feel, as if the photo is staring right at you.

Technical:

The lighting for this photo appear to be natural lighting. The ISO is probably set high because the subway looks quite dark, the shutter speed is low because the people in the photo are motion blurred and distorted. The photo has quite a high contrast and is at the right exposure. The aperture is quite low as mostly everything is focused.

Contextual:

This photo was taken in the busy streets and metro stations of London. This conveys what city life is like in London. It also gives another perception that London is very crowded place, and people are always on the move. The eyes can also shows the deeper meaning that they are literally peering back at you, as if to remind us that we are always being watched.