The winners and finalists from the 2018 Night Diving Contest in cooperation with RAW Streetphoto Gallery Rotterdam. 

 

1st Katarzyna Kubiak, Warsaw, Poland

“One night with Charlotte”

“My photographs shows the story of one night, which I had the opportunity to spend with Polish Drag Queen, accompaying her during the Whatever festiwal organized on her initiative.“

 

2nd Jan Daga, Pattaya, Thailand

“I hide in the fog and in the shadows”

„My project is an act of devotion to life and people.

What I’m looking for are emotions. What I’m looking for are the moments before the emotion. When the real emotion it has not happened yet, and the facial expression is slowly turning. Suspended moments if you like.

What I would like is to be invisible, and hide in the fog and in the shadows. Then I transform myself, I try to become part of the moment. Then, I can live all these emotions with my subjects and we can share the same feelings. Hiding in the dark they forget about me.

I usually start early, because it takes time to become invisible. A small camera, a light lens. Then I wait. I observe and study the people around me. I’ll have to understand them before I can anticipate their emotions. Only then, I move. It costs me a lot of energy and I do not always get what I hope, but I put my whole self on it. Or rather, I try to put as little as possible of myself. To stay in the shadows and let my subjects shine with their inner light.

 

3rd Dani Oshi, Brussels, Belgium

“Night series without description”

 

 

Finalists

Sebastian Jacobitz, Berlin, Germany

“Berlin after dark”

„The Berlin Ku’Damm is the most prominent shopping street in Berlin. Normally the street is filled with people looking for the newest dresses or Cellphones. But when the sun leaves the scene, another characteristic is visible. Almost like a blurry dream, the series displays another side of the street. Creating those scenes with a flash and a longer shutter speed, the characters of the people become a different twist. Unimpressive, mundane & usual at day. Extraordinary, gritty & wild at night.

This is Berlin in a photography series.”

 

Bahram Shabani, Tehran, Iran

“Evening Portraits”

„Tehran, a metropolis with population of fifteen million is becoming larger, more crowded, and more heterogeneous each day, and life in this city has become a challenging issue for many: a challenge for staying and keeping up.

The lifestyle in this city has changed in accordance with the time; women have abandoned their traditional status as housewives and, just like men, many of them leave their homes at dawn to get to their workplaces and do not return until nightfall so as to keep up with the unbalanced cycle of life.

I believe that the ever-changing and uncertain life conditions lead to psychological pressure insociety. This kind of pressure has become a major part of my life too, and I feel that this issue is reflected in the faces of people of this city.“

 

Karina Wisz, Kraków, Poland

“Untitled”

„As streets are my favourite place to take photos, I try to catch stories hidden in one blink of camera’s eye.

Here is my story about 21st century: people are together but separately, are close but far, focused on virtual life to run away from the reality.“

 

Farzane Ghadyanloo, Tehran, Iran

“Tehran night life series”

„Years ago attending Fajr film festival I had to take a bus to go back home late night. I was super shocked with the world inside it. To spend the whole night inside a bus is indeed such an exotic way of life in which you pay to get in, get to sleep through the whole path, then you get off waiting for the same bus to the same spot. Such a mundane repeated freaky lifestyle. So another long term project involving these nights started.

First nights I was afraid to take out my camera, gradually I had this mission to spend the whole winter nights on bus and to watch them closely and some times I could silently take some pictures. I started seeing some characters every night, the odd one out, the beautiful young lady in fine dress that looked only through the glasses mysteriously. The naughty teenager with an insulting language that I had to avoid any eye contacts, the the smelly old woman that looked like an iranian actress, the addicted old man who was always complaining about the cold weather and the man with his loud nightmares.

To my surprise when the sun rises the soldiares and ordinary men in their suits were appearing and that unique family was dissappearing as if they leave the bus to the earth humans to get it back at nights.

 

Chris Duesing, Chicago, USA

“Chicago Winter Nights”

I am a street photographer in Chicago that took my first candid photo four years ago. I am still focusing on exploring the technical and aesthetic side of my craft. This series is only the second time I have used a flash at night, and am very much enjoying the process of shooting at a fixed distance with no chance of stealth.

Many practitioners of the genre focus on grittiness and showing people suffering, I prefer to capture a fleeting moment of connection with an interesting stranger.