Blair Academy Photography
How do I capture loneliness in cities? I began street photography journey around the covid outbreak when I decided to capture Shanghai. I set out to capture candid moments in the city where people are physically isolated. As the world stepped out from the pandemic and I returned to my school in the US, I was fascinated with Edward Hopper who captured the loneliness of people in NYC. I was inspired by him and also the loneliness I experienced living in a city to continue the journey to photograph people’s isolation and loneliness in NYC even though the pandemic has largely become history.
I began photographing Shanghai with a digital camera (image 1-4). However, I became curious about the analog process and started experimenting with film after coming to NYC (image 11-15). I practiced developing and printing with the black-and-white process. I experimented with different film cameras including a Voigtlander Bessa R2, a Holga 120N, and a Lomo Lubitel 166U, as well as different films and the pushing and pulling of the ISO. I also experimented with historical printing techniques such as the salt print and revised some older photographs by printing them with this process (image 9).
