Coney Island Polar Bears


  • Photographer
    Ken Hamm
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Date of Photograph
    1/12/14

The 5 images submitted here are from my NYC street photography documentary series, ALL THE LONELY PEOPLE. These images are from a day I spent swimming with the Coney Island Polar Bears. A water-level POV, fast shutter speeds, magical shafts of mid-day winter sun, foreboding clouds, and the extreme emotions of the defiantly frozen subject matter successfully convey the baptismal mystique of this weekly winter ritual. I employed a wide tonal range (mostly in the darker end of the spectrum) with deep blacks and specular highlights to convey a sense of the bitter cold environment and the incredible warmth of this strange and beautiful sub-culture of NYC.

Story

The 5 images submitted here are from my NYC street photography documentary series, ALL THE LONELY PEOPLE.

These images are from a day I spent swimming with the Coney Island Polar Bears.

A water-level POV, fast shutter speeds, magical shafts of mid-day winter sun, foreboding clouds, and the extreme emotions of the defiantly frozen subject matter successfully convey the baptismal mystique of this weekly winter ritual.

I employed a wide tonal range (mostly in the darker end of the spectrum) with deep blacks and specular highlights to convey a sense of the bitter cold environment and the incredible warmth of this strange and beautiful sub-culture of NYC.

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