Indifference

They might be travelling together, but their body language tells a different story. I spotted them in Venice, sitting mere inches apart, yet continents away in attitude. She looks ahead, arms crossed, eyes shaded, posture closed. He’s buried in his phone call, face half-covered, shoulders turned. The irony of their proximity to water — a place where people typically pause, connect, reflect — only heightens the emotional disconnect.

Compositionally, I was drawn to the layered diagonals: the canal’s edge slicing across, the dock projecting out, the visual wall created by their backs. Their separation isn’t just emotional — it’s architectural. Framing them just off-centre, I allowed the background vaporetto and foot traffic to suggest the world moving on, uncaring. The focus holds from foreground to mid-frame, helped by an aperture around f/8. Natural light was forgiving — overcast skies softened the shadows and preserved detail in the brighter parts of the canal and pavement.

The challenge here was timing: waiting for the brief pause when no one passed between them and the lens. No staged drama, no exaggerated gestures — just that heavy, quiet tension which felt truer than anything scripted.