Corban Leach
ART 2664: Digital Photography
Digital Prints; 8″ x 10″
These images are taken from a series dealing with the passage of time while waiting alone. Bus stops provide the perfect stage for this, especially at night when solitary subjects are more common. The subject is often consumed in thought or trying to escape his/her loneliness through a phone, and is forced to remain on this stage until the bus arrives and the curtain closes.
Photography and Video Exchange 
This is an interesting idea! I’d really like to see more!! To make the images more visually interesting, I think you may try adding more contrast to the subject (try adjusting the level =] ). Also, I believe it’d have a even better look if the lines are more straight and strictly horizontal or vertical. Maybe next time try using a (more) telephoto lens, so you can make your subject more emphasized, and get rid of the curving effects of wide angle =D Again, an interesting idea!!
This is a neat concept. I like how it feels sort of intrusive. You are putting these people in the spotlight, whether they know it or not. I agree with the commenter above that you could compose your photos a little more thoughtfully to make them even stronger. It would also be very interesting to take it further by being more intrusive than you already are, and document the way people react when they notice they are being photographed. I’m sure their reactions would be awkward and entertaining!
Dear Corban,
I like the subject matter you choose, and this theme of waiting. I really like this idea, and think it has many potentials.
Have you heard of a “dutch angle” in film compositions? If not, it has to do with making a sense of strangeness or discomfort or exaggerated emotion with the use of highly dramatic diagonal lines.
I was wonder what you project would be like if you imposed or created more of an emotional interpretation of this moment of waiting. Is it a foreboding experience to be alone at night, waiting for a bus? Is it a sense of exhaustion? Etc… right now the images are rather still, and a-emotional. The lighting is also rather washed out or not localized. So what would happen if you played around with the representation of the vertical and horizontal lines in the architecture, road and sidewalk? To move from documentation to more of an interpretive perspective for the photos.
Best of luck with your work!
~jojin
I like the idea of portraying time going by at the bus stop. This is a very common area for people to just wait for time to go by. For me the first image works best because I can clearly see the subject waiting while time/traffic continues. In the second image the subject gets lost. The main focus is the town and time going past. Continue exploring with other places in which one may be just waiting for time to go by.
I really like how you almost used the bus stop windows as a way to frame the person. In a way, it kind of tells the viewer that this person might be in a divide in their life and not sure where to go from the bus stop, indicated by the vertical lines dividing the paper. But that’s just one idea of the meaning that I have which is interesting to think about. I also really like the verticality in both of the photos, leading the eye up and down the picture, as well as horizontally with the street in the background cutting the picture in half. Overall, I love the concept that you had with showing the passage of time while waiting alone. I think you did a great job of capturing that with the person encased in this small area (the bus stop), waiting alone and isolated.
I imagine that these photos would have an extremely different feel if perhaps the glass windows of the bus stop did not exist. It seems that the subjects are trapped in this box – wanting to travel forward but don’t have anything to get them there. Instead they wait and watch the world pass. I think it was a very smart choice not to include any other figures in the images as it adds to their isolation. I also love the way multiple lights seem to glow in the background of both images, even though they seem to be taken at night.
Very nice, since many people don’t like being outside by themselves at night. And I can see that the guy is waiting for the bus, but he’s on the phone to at least have some kind of company. For the bottom photo, good contrast on the night sky so it’s not totally black and the trees stand out pretty well.
These images definitely make me feel alone. I can also completely relate to trying to escape the loneliness through messing with my phone. Bus stops can be lonely places and your images show case it well. I also like the reflective surfaces of the bus stop booths. It’s like the plexiglass panels are reflecting the loneliness back at the person waiting.
I like how you photograph both photos at the back of the bus station. Seeing the back of people who are waiting makes them seem more lonely. Also by coincidence these pillars of the bus station cut the first photo into many different frames which is really cool.
I like the theme you are exploring and the solitude these images have. The lighting and contrast in the top photograph is more powerful for me than the bottom photograph but I like how they both have the figure facing away and waiting in their own thoughts.
These pictures evoke a great mood. They have a lot of stillness and emptiness to them despite the first (and maybe second?) being a long exposure. I think these photos have a very profound look into how some routine actions can bring us feelings of boredom or uneasiness, how we try to escape these feelings, and how we are forced to continue doing those actions because of our obligations.