Street Photo of the week by Ken Walton
Street Photo of the week by Ken Walton
Welcome to the first Street Photo of the Week for 2016!
I have been meaning to write about Ken Walton for some time now, ever since I saw one of his photos on the Streethunters.net Readers Flickr group a few months ago. I have been keeping my eye on him through the group and always find his work most interesting. But who is Ken Walton?
Ken Walton lives and shoots in San Francisco mostly. He shoots candid photos on the streets and is really passionate about it. In his own words he says:
“I take photographs of candid public moments that I find to be amusing, absurd, uncanny, or visually striking. Many call this street photography. I call it my obsession. It’s the most difficult and most rewarding form of photography, and I’m deeply passionate about it.”
Besides shooting in the streets of S.F., Ken is also the founder of StreetFoto San Francisco, an international Street Photography Festival that includes exhibits, contests, awards, workshops, portfolio reviews, photowalks, and lectures, all about Street Photography. Additionally Ken is a Lensculture member and one of the Miami 2015 Street Photography Festival finalists.
His work has been presented on many websites, including the Washington Post, the New York Observer, Vice and more. He has been a finalist in many contests, has been interviewed about his photography and had his work exhibited in Miami, San Francisco and Oakland. Additionally he has had his work included in a couple of publications.
If you are interested in seeing more of Ken Walton’s work you can visit his flickr portfolio at https://www.flickr.com/photos/kenwalton/ and his website at http://photography.kenwalton.com.
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If you are a seasoned Streethunters.net Reader you should know by now that I love surrealism in street photography. I am attracted to it like a moth to a flame! Like bees to honey! Show me a surreal photograph and I will sit and look at it for minutes enjoying every bit of it. Ken Walton’s work is surreal and that is why I like it.
The photo I have chosen to share with you today is a strong example of what I think a good surreal photo should look like. It portrays a man wearing a mask of some sort, and a white coat, like a doctor, a scientist or nurse would wear. He is holding a little fluffy brush, a vacuum cleaner hose that is connected to a white vacuum cleaner, and he is wearing blue gloves and … shorts! Just reading this description would pique anybody’s interest, but the awesomeness of the photo doesn’t stop at the subject. As the eye moves away from the subject and takes in the rest of the scene, further confusion hits the viewer. More WTF thoughts enter one’s mind. That weird looking man looks as if he is located in a Savannah, in the presence of what seem to be two female antelopes. I am not an expert on wild life so if I am wrong, forgive me. Ken really caught a great moment here, isolated it and presented it to us in a way that blows away our minds!
Thanks Ken Walton!
About this weekly feature,
As you know, every Friday we feature a photograph of a Street Photographer on our website. The Street Photographer that is featured is selected by the Street Hunters team.
Thank you
