All images by Temoor Iqbal. Used with permission.
When Temoor Iqbal initially moved to London from the countryside, he disliked the uninteresting and dull city life around him. But, what started as a drive to document the boredom Temoor experienced in the city took an unexpected turn as he found new understanding of urban life through his black and white street photography.
Temoor chose the black and white medium to present his street photographs of London originally to depict the flatness and drudgery of urban life. He was on a personal mission to dispel the myth that pervades the UK that London is the only place worth living.
However, upon further exploration Temoor accidentally discovered a whole new world that black and white photography has opened to him, capturing human emotions of the city people he can empathize with and fostering a better understanding of city life and its dwellers. Only by removing the distractions of loud noise and colors in a city did Temoor see the hidden beauty of the metropolis in his black and white photographs. Since the black and white epiphany, Temoor continued to shoot on the street as a form of self-therapy, allowing him to identity with a busy surrounding both physically and creatively.
Temoor prefers the classic 50mm focal length. This worked effectively to direct the attention of the viewer straight to the main subject of his photographs, which Temoor cleverly composed against interesting backgrounds or placed adjacent to a secondary interesting subject for creative interaction. Besides subject isolation, the tight perspective also minimized distraction and generally Temoor’s street images have clean backgrounds. High contrast black and white further emphasized the minimalist approach in street photography and portrayed the gritty, grungy, and harsh city look.
You can check out Temoor Iqbal’s street photography work at his portfolio site here.
