Music in the Metro

I've been working as a photographer for about 10 years and still get a thrill when an image appears in a tray of developer. Printing is a very important part of the process as it enables me to take an image from its conception to its completion. In the darkroom I can interpret an image until it says what I intend it to say. The feel of a photograph, the sense of it, that is what is important to me. I want to communicate to you what I feel- an emotion, a feeling, a sense of sound, a sense of joy, of sadness, of fear, etc.

The Metro invokes a variety of emotions. The speed, the propulsion of the trains, the metal carriages that transport strangers together in an underground world to work, home, an evening of fun, a visit to a sick friend, or wherever. Sometimes, alone at night in a deserted station, there is a sense of trepidation if not outright fear. At times the crowds are so thick and hurry so fast that one almost feels swept away with them.

But there is a rhythm, a song, and music within the metro. The crescendo as the trains approach, the accelerando as they depart and disappear into the darkness. The soft sounds of the bells that sing "do-so-me."
Waiting in a station at the end of a line, watching trains circle back to return and repeat their journey is like being inside a rondo. The melodies of the trains go round and round.

Combining two images into one is like writing a song. One image is the melody; the other is the harmony.

Jackie Cytrynbaum