The Story Behind the Photograph #14

Tony Oliver

I took this picture in Vigo, Spain. Having disembarked for a one day visit we had a limited time to explore and get to know the City. One of the first things you see on the quayside are some impactful street sculptures. This head is part of a series of three representing a swimmer, this is “El Salto” (The Leap).

As with all artwork it is how to photograph it with your own creative input that I feel is important. When I first saw this sculpture it was standing alone, and impressive as it was, it wasn’t an image that I really wanted to record. However, as so often with Street Photography, an element of serendipity occurred, and on our return to the ship I saw not one head, but two.

To me there was now a link between the two heads, maybe even some communication or thought transfer, in the connection created by the physical contact. The narrative had changed completely, the human figure has become the subject, and with a little imagination a story evolves through our own interpretation.

I am a retired Fire Officer. Enthusiastic about all photographic genres (and still possessing a deep love of landscape photography), I have moved steadily towards Street Photography as a main interest. It is the uniqueness and unpredictability that keeps me looking at (and seeing) the world in a series of plots and sub plots, so familiar to Street Photographers.