All the world’s a stage

Man walking past a comic mural
1/350 sec | f/8 | ISO 800 | 35mm

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women, merely players”, said William Shakespeare once. It’s also the motto of this blog. This monochrome street photograph is yet another example of it.

During Saturday’s photo walk in Nuremberg’s Südstadt I discovered this mural I hadn’t seen before. I instantly knew this would make a perfect backdrop for passing people. My stage on this Saturday morning. I did set up the camera and then merely waited. For people entering the scene.

I took quite a few shots. My favorite was this one, of the man passing with his white shopping bag. The juxtaposition of the funny face of the cartoon figure painted on the wall, looking up at the (smiling) bird, and the passing man with his bowed head, looking down. If he’d looked right instead of down, maybe the mural would have cheered him up a bit. All the world’s a stage….and we street shooters capture the stories.

Taken with my Leica M and the Summarit 35mm F/2. I’ve used zone focusing here, pre-focusing the lens at f/8 so that everything between 2 and 10 meters away was in focus. Increased the ISO so I got a minimum shutter speed of 1/250 sec to freeze the action.

If you look for tips and inspirations around street photography, check out my free Learning Center.

You all stay healthy!

Marcus

Related Posts:

Street Photography Quick Tip 1 – A way to shoot inconspicuously

Street Photography Quick Tip 7 – Work the Scene

Instant Inspiration (4) – Juxtaposition

Wait and shoot

26 thoughts on “All the world’s a stage

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  1. Perfect backdrop!! I do think he’d have been much happier if he’d caught sight of the mural. 😉

  2. This photograph is fantastic! It seems that when you are on the streets the whole world certainly is turning into the stage. You notice moments that most of us miss. You created in this image an amazing juxtaposition and humorous.
    I wish you all the best, Marcus!

  3. To me this man looks like he is in deep thoughts and doesn‘t want to be disturbed by a cheerful mural. At least that‘s what I see in your picture. Like it. 😃

  4. I imagine you got quite a few interesting photos with this mural as a backdrop. The contrast between this man walking by and the characters in the mural could inspire many stories. I’m also curious about what the contrast in their colors looks like and if it adds to the feeling contrast between them. I imagine the man in black and earth tones, more monochromatic, with the vibrantly colored mural behind him.
    I like this strategy of finding a setting, backdrop, and waiting for people to walk by. Perhaps a series…
    I like the mural a lot. I find it delightful. I hope the man at some point saw or sees – actually ‘sees’ – it.

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