All photos by Erik Witsoe. Used with Creative Commons permission.
Commute scenes never go missing in street photography. They’re integral to city life because there’s a certain mood in them. Such feelings of longing, adventure, and transience are embodied in a recent body of work by Erik Witsoe. In his personal series titled The Window Seat, the photographer and artist chronicles the everyday moments encountered while on the road around the Polish cities of Warsaw and Poznan. This is inspiring for all of us, especially for those fond of capturing the beauty amidst the humdrum of life in the streets — even with something as ordinary as daily commuting!
The charm of Witsoe’s series lies in opening our eyes to the simple beauty typically overlooked as we go about our daily activities. Commuting is something all of us regularly experience, but each of us experience it differently. There are minute differences in how it goes for us every day. This is perhaps one of the inspirations that led Witsoe to take note of what happens around him while on the road, peering through the titular window seat.
“Everyday moments of staring out the window, preoccupied, daydreaming, or just being lost in thought while passing time for the appropriate stop to arrive,” he described about his work. Indeed, the entire series feels like we are getting lost from one daydream to the next, as the bus and the train plows the road and tracks en route to their stops. The scenes he captured are both familiar and unique at once. Sitting on the bus or standing in train cars is something we all do, but the differences in the tiniest details also remind us that we’re looking at slices of Witsoe’s life.
Need more street photography inspiration? Witsoe has also shot a lot of beautiful black and white street snaps that you might want to check out.
Don’t forget to visit his website and Behance portfolio as well to see more of his work.