Ahhhh … Lower Manhattan in New York City on a hot July day brings out the sights, sounds and fragrances that only an electric city can do. The streets are awash with buskers of all types free to take in with a feast for the eyes as well as the ears. Dancers and dances of all genres vie for our attention hoping to seek that one shot at stardom whilst making their next weeks or days rent, food or some payment towards their dream of making it. The Dance Arts have always struggled to gain financial support from the public and often seen as only for the wealthy. Former dancer and renowned historian Jennifer Homans, launched the first institute, the Center for Ballet and the Arts devoted to both the study and creation of ballets at New York University in 2014 states, “Ballet today is adrift, in part because it is perceived as elite and inaccessible”. The second I saw this scene while trolling the streets these exact thoughts came to me that for the average person Ballet can be a bit stiff. The faded old peeling wall paper and chain linked fence that surrounds the Ballerina strikes me immediately that here on one hand, the old rundown apartment background where people can barely live with a Ballerina seemly living on the opposite spectrum of wealth or could it be that ballet dancers freedoms are constrained by the chains of bureaucracy and their bureaucrats.

SONY a99 24-70mm f/2.8 | Exposure 1/125sec @ f/6.7 | ISO 200 | Focal Length 30 mm
State of Drift and Malaise, by Stephen Chu

Award Winner: Photo of the Day | October 09
Award Score: 63 (Value 11.5, Clarity 11.5, Composition 16, Style 12, Skill 12)
Photo of the Day Award Category: Documentary Photography
Photograph Location: Lower Manhattan, New York City, New York, The United States

Photographer: Stephen Chu (Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada) Registered
‘Expressions, serendipitous, emotional, urban, beautiful, RAW, present’ … that’s what Stephen Chu says … Having lived in the USA for many years, this Toronto native returned to his hometown of Canada in 2016. As a well-traveled, past photography club event organizer he considers himself a lifelong student of the world. Unafraid and willing to try everything at least once he’s a foodie at heart loving all that is ethnic and diverse. He has a tremendous observational love for all of humanity’s quirks, foibles’ and emotions – what surrounds and encompasses society, something we call life. Purest in the sense, through his mind’s eye, he clicks at the RAW, as it happens and documents the moments that whispers in the wind. His compassion for those who possess less exceeds his own passion for reality. Ultimately he strives to imbue into his images a sense of humanity and through many years of continual training, honing his skills and practicing through the lens. As he journeys on this train, he’ll continue to strive and capture in his mind’s eye, the world and it’s never ending rotation we call life.

Website: http://www.picnchu.com
Gallery: http://www.eyesbychu.com/browse
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/stephen.chu.9822
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/picnchu89