Populated vs Deserted

My final project focuses on the theme, Populated versus Deserted. There are 16 photographs in this project, however since the photographs are made to be paired into twos, there are technically eight works in total. It follows a before-and-after type of format, where the first photograph is the location seen with people, and the second is one where the location is the same yet deserted.

It is also different in terms of technique as well, where the populated ones involve motion blur, where the second is a still.

I have also taken the populated ones as a color photograph in order to emphasize the vibrancy of a place when there are people, and the deserted ones as a black-and-white photograph to show the lack of liveliness.

While I was shooting in the respective locations, I found the absence of clouds fitting for the populated ones as it does not create a distraction. In the deserted photographs on the other hand, the texture of the clouds created a dynamic scene and formed a point of interest inside the photograph in place where the subjects are supposed to be.

It is clear that some of the photographs I took aren’t directly clear that it is populated, yet shows indication of people nearby, such as bicycles and parked cars.

During the process, I used a tripod to stabilize the camera to capture a better motion blur, and also to capture the locations from the same height as it can be easier to compare and contrast the photographs.

Overall this project suggests how much a location can change once the people are all gone, and gives us a glimpse of how daunting the place could be. 

Metadatas: Google Drive