Who do you want to be? by Sergiy Kadulin
Captured during a rainy June day in London, this reportage-style image features a striking juxtaposition between a Royal Guard officer in traditional red and gold attire and a passing bus. The photographer, a former military academy graduate, reacted quickly to frame the scene, creating a visual narrative that prompts viewers to reflect on their own life paths and identities. The photograph is award-worthy for its impeccable timing and the clever, ironic composition that bridges the photographer's past military experience with his current creative life, effectively turning a fleeting street moment into a profound existential question.
Sergiy Kadulin
Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 1967, Sergiy Kadulin transitioned from a successful career in information technology to pursue photography as his full-time profession. With a background in avionics engineering and an education from the Kyiv School of Photography and the New York Institute of Photography, he brings a disciplined yet deeply humanistic approach to his work. Specializing in travel, landscape, and reportage photography, Kadulin seeks to share his profound appreciation for the world and its inhabitants through evocative imagery that reflects his commitment to continuous personal and creative growth.
Resonance Score Breakdown
Transparency Note: The resonance score (11.6/20) is calculated based on social engagement metrics collected before the award announcement.
Expert Photography Reviews · 5
Uniforms and the Unseen
We often mistake the city for a stage set, a backdrop of stone and steel designed to project power or history. Yet, the city is actually a collection of scripts we are handed at birth.
Read the reflection →The Uniform of Becoming
We are all born into a costume, a set of expectations stitched into the fabric of our days. We wear the colors of our upbringing, the heavy wool of tradition, or the bright, sharp hues of the roles we are told to play.
Read the reflection →Reviews & Comments
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At f/2.8, the 70mm focal plane isolates the guard with surgical precision, rendering the bus’s motion blur as a soft, chromatic smear. It’s a fascinating study in optical separation. I’m genuinely moved by how the lens resolves the fine gold threading against the rain-slicked atmosphere; it’s a crispness the human eye simply can’t track in such a fleeting moment. Kadulin’s glass has captured a profound existential tension that feels almost physically weighted against the glass.
Rain slicks the London pavement, turning the frame into a mirror. The Royal Guard stands rigid, a red silhouette against the blur of a passing bus. It’s a perfect pan, a freeze-frame of duty versus the kinetic rush of modern life. I’ve spent years watching frames like this, but the tension here hits me hard. The cut would’ve been a mistake; the shutter caught the exact second where history holds its breath. It’s cinema, pure and simple.
The red tunic anchors the frame, providing a necessary fulcrum against the bus’s mechanical mass. It’s a rigid geometry that keeps the chaos of the street from collapsing. The negative space above the guard’s busby creates a precise, cold tension. I’m genuinely unsettled by how the frame forces this collision of eras. It doesn’t rely on sentiment; it relies on the geometry of the intersection. The composition holds, though it’s a narrow, precarious victory.
Rain slicks the London pavement. A red tunic cuts through the grey. It’s a sharp, sudden interruption. I’ve spent minutes staring at the blurred bus behind him. It doesn’t matter where it’s going. The guard stands still. He’s a pillar of history in a city that’s constantly moving. I feel a strange ache in my chest looking at him. Nothing here is accidental. The empty corner is not empty. It’s a breath held in the cold.
It’s a shame Kadulin relied on a 1/2000th shutter speed here. By freezing the bus and guard in such clinical, literal detail, he’s surrendered the kinetic energy of a rainy London street. I’d have preferred a long exposure to bleed that red tunic into the grey transit, echoing Sugimoto’s spectral theatres. Why resolve the bus so sharply? It’s technically competent, sure, but it’s just a snapshot. I’m bored by the clarity; I wanted chaos.