Street photographer David Gaberle, resident of Prague and London has just produced his first photobook - Metropolight. With images made in Tokyo, London, New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai and beyond, the work is uncanny and unsettling. The reader is transported to some other dark place, an urban dystopia. The pictures present a Blade Runner sort of world, in endless motion with seemingly desensitised people going through the motions of being human. Coping, surviving. The work is Paul Graham on speed.
David says this about himself and the Metropolight project:
5 years ago, at the suggestion of a friend, I realised that carrying a camera around really eases the experience of the sensory overload that comes with living in a big city. The camera's a therapeutic tool. Paradoxically, it gives me the illusion that I'm in control of what I'm doing while at the same time making me realise that things are continually getting out of my hands.
I'd like to think that the experience of taking photos helps me grow over time. Especially in street-photography, getting a good shot requires patience. In my personal life, I often have too clear an idea of what I want and how I should get there (frustratingly, I hardly ever do). Shooting out on the streets is a pleasant antithesis to that as it requires an openness to experience and a willingness to let go of a whole lot of preconceived ideas. In that way, it's a balancing act to my life outside of photography.
Metropolight is a stunning book. You can get a copy from David's website and see more at the same time, HERE.
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