City Competition 5 - all cities! : Entry Number 350

This photograph succeeds on a variety of levels.  The image is visually disorienting and challenging to read in a literal sense, creating both interest and tension in the viewer.  At the same time, the composition is classically balanced in terms of formal arrangement, tonal contrast, and directional movement, creating, paradoxically, a sense of harmonious calm.  The shoe near the bottom of the image injects a humanizing element of humor, while also serving to animate the bubble form above it.   The overall effect is a strange, ominous, funny, and captivating.

Thank you for the "Mark of Excellence"! This photo is taken in the heart of Stockholm, at Sergels Torg. The man in the bubble is sitting inside a library reading. Outside there is steady flow of people, from morning to late in the evening. The library is on the ground floor in Kulturhuset. If you come to Stockholm you can spend some time there looking at exhibitions. /Bengt Kallenberg, living in Gustavsberg outside Stockholm