Bucharest Women on a Bench Black and White Street Photography

Two Women Seated Beside Bucharest’s Outdoor Café Tables

Two women sit side by side on a wooden bench at the edge of a Bucharest café square. One turns towards her companion, while the other looks forward with a handbag resting across her lap. I photographed the scene during an unplanned walk through the city in 2011. The black and white image keeps their coats, hats and seated poses clear against the busier arrangement of café tables behind them.

I was drifting between streets without a fixed destination when this small pause drew my attention. The bench runs diagonally across the foreground, its dark slats making a strong pattern behind the lighter coats. Their hands rest low in the frame, and their shoes sit against the grid of paving stones. Beyond them, chairs, tables and people overlap in softer detail. Another seated figure faces away at the right, adding to the sense that the bench belongs to an active public space.

I liked the balance between the two women and the life continuing around them. Keeping the café setting in view gives the portrait context without taking attention from their faces and gestures. I do not know the words exchanged or the history of their acquaintance, and the photograph leaves those things open. It offers a familiar kind of city moment for someone who enjoys documentary street photography and everyday European scenes. For me, it recalls how a walk through Bucharest could shift from buildings and streets to a pair of people sharing a bench for the instant I stopped.

© Dan Kosmayer, 2011