About the Image(s)

I am captivated by juxtapositions, and in this photograph, I have made my best to capture a few. The photo is from one of Stockholm’s (capital of Sweden) subway stations that reminds me about the mystical and scary underworld I fantasized and dreamed about as a child. I sometimes thought of how we, as lonely people, are extremely small and isolated despite living in large cities with huge and massive transport systems, some of which are built deep underground.

In my photo, the raw rock walls of ancient stone far below the surface seem scary and surreal, but an impressive system of escalators is taking an everyday person carrying shopping bags up to our “normal” world. I have been trying to use light and shadows to make the picture more dramatic and give it a surreal feeling. I have dodged the escalator areas to create focus and leading lines. I burned the ceiling area to create a moody atmosphere as well as contrast. Moreover, I used dodge and burn to enhance a mystic and smoke-like texture of the rough rock walls, and to direct the eye of the viewer to the lone person on its way up. I sharpened it and used a radial mask of light around it.