Tenma #4

Tenjinbashi suji shotengai is the longest shopping mall in all of

Japan. It's a typical blue collar-Osaka shopping street always

crowded with people looking for bargains or just window shopping.

You won't find any Gucci, Prada or Louis Vuitton stores here but

there are hundreds of small shops, restaurants and pachinko parlors.

It's a great place for picture taking..

I like the symmetry of the two opposites sides and the depth perception. Well done!

Nice light handling, very effective framing and very realistic bw tones. Beyond technical aspects, it shows very vividly the contemporary communication problem and the isolation of the modern humans. There are only two people in this room and they'd rather interact with the machine instead of getting to meet each other and have a real conversation. The black rubber mat between them is like a virtual barrier, a crossing line, separating and preventing...Good shot Jack!

It is the rubber mat that caught my eye as well, but more for it's wear than it's symbolism (a good observation from Yannis, I thought). The wear in the mat and the rest of the room speak to it being less than up-scale. It reminds me of a local shopping center that my friend used to call "the ugly people's mall". 

Nice one, Jack.

Amy

Thanks for the comments on this picture. Indeed, I do think the picture kind of underscores the solitary nature of much of our lives nowadays, how isolated we tend to be from one another. That's a very good observation about the worn and ragged appearance of the mat, Amy. This is far from an upscale shopping street. I like your friend's expression "the ugly person's mall" not in reference to appearance but in contrast to the appellation "beautiful person" and all it implies.