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Eric Fichtl

Street

Candid shots from everyday urban life.

<p>Passenger, pigeons, and historic photos at a Berlin station.<br /></p>
<p>An evocative underpass in Dortmund.</p>
<p>A trio of taxi drivers chat while waiting for a fare.</p>
<p>Interesting arches over a passageway in central Rome.<br /></p>
<p>A street scene in São Tomé's compact city centre.</p>
<p>A bustling night scene in a San Polo passageway, Venice.<br /></p>
<p>A passing glance at one of Lisbon's hill-climbing trams.</p>
<p>A person stops momentarily on a rainy morning along Bergen's waterfront.</p>
<p>Waves gently lap over the Fondamenta Cannaregio as people stroll by.<br /></p>
<p>Late autumn light hits a facade in central Berlin.</p>
<p>Commuters emerge from one of Chicago's metro stations into a dark night.</p>
<p>A couple cut through a glistening Marienplatz, Munich.</p>
<p>A person crossing a plaza in Toronto.<br /></p>
<p>Waiting to cross 27th Street in the rain.<br /></p>
<p>A cook works the kitchen as an evening wears on.</p>
<p>A figure crosses the Ponte de la Balote by night.<br /></p>
<p>An autumn afternoon on Berlin's Oderberger Strasse.<br /></p>
<p>A street scene in Amsterdam.</p>
<p>People walk along the fondamenti either side of the Canale di Cannaregio, one of Venice's larger canals. The wake from passing boats washes up over the walkways. </p>
<p>A gondola slices through the waters of the Rio di San Salvador – notice how much of the slender hull is above water.</p>
<p>Reflected light adds to the contrast on Walker Street, lower Manhattan.<br /></p>
<p>A morning on Strandgaten in Bergen.</p>
<p>People rushing toward a night out in midtown Manhattan.</p>
<p>An early morning walk along the Chicago River.</p>
<p>Argentine trade unionists rally amid a forest of flags at the Plaza del Congreso. </p>
<p>A mock road sign comments on U.S. gun culture.</p>
<p>Descending the stairs in Voss.</p>
<p>The platform at Schönhauser Allee S-bahn station. </p>
<p>Fresh temptation in a bakery window.<br /></p>
<p>A family poses for a portrait in Tiananmen Square. </p>
<p>A boy running somewhere in Marrakech.</p>
<p>Friends playing football in the streets of Langa.</p>
<p>Marrakech's Jamaa el Fna is a central square that constantly whirls with activity. Here, cooks prepare meals at the lively food stalls.</p>
<p>The 'Friendship of Nations' fountain at Moscow's impressive VDNH grounds. Each golden statue represents one of the former republics in the Soviet Union. <br /></p> <p>The fountain is one of several standout attractions at the Soviet-era Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy (Выставка достижений народного хозяйства, abbreviated to ВДНХ, and translated to VDNH).</p><p>While I went with the colour version of this shot, the black and white brings out some interesting details (see below).</p>
<p>Pleasant details in London.<br /></p>
<p>A night scene in Prague's historic centre. The tower is the Prašná brána, or Powder Tower, a 15th Century gate in the city walls.</p>
<p>Perquín, a town in the Morazán department of El Salvador, was a key stronghold of the FMLN guerrillas during the Salvadoran civil war of the 1980s. Today it hosts a museum dedicated to their revolutionary efforts.</p>
<p>Rain softens the look of Kamergerskiy Pereulok, a small pedestrian street in central Moscow.</p>
<p>A streetlight works wonders on an old wall.</p>
<p>A group enjoying a spot of window shopping on a quiet night in Bressanone.</p>
<p>Signs of life at a storefront that's seen better days.</p>
<p>Police forces watch over protests in Plaza de Mayo, with a water cannon at the ready. Demonstrators from the northern province of Corrientes had come to the centre of Argentine political power to protest corruption and deteriorating conditions. </p>
<p>A boy cycling through town.</p>
<p>A man bails out his boat after a sudden rain shower.</p>
<p>A pretty corner store, no longer in use, somewhere in western Uruguay.</p>
<p>Window-shopping on a winter evening in Maxvorstadt.</p>
<p>Porteños relaxing in Parque Lezama.</p>
<p>Cologne's Ebertplatz shows its 1970s urban design, provoking the usual love-hate response. While the dark corners of its pedestrian underpasses have raised concerns about crime and safety, these recesses also host art galleries and restaurants (like this Nigerian place).</p>
<p>Passengers wait on the perfectly parallel platforms of Bruxelles-Nord station.</p>
<p>A woman and her dog take in the dramatic waters while crossing the Maria Kristina zubia (bridge) in Donostia. The Urumea river flows into the Bay of Biscay just beyond those buildings, and on this winter day winds off the Atlantic were driving waves well upstream. <br /></p>
<p>A man in his boat in a Jakarta canal.</p>
<p>Vines and a tree gradually reclaim a colonial era building in Jakarta's historic core.</p>
<p>A street scene in the former colonial core of Jakarta, known as Batavia under the Dutch.</p>
<p>A cyclist passes a stationary cycle. </p>
<p>Basketball courts shot from an urban cable car.</p>
<p>Children playing along Dili's waterfront after the daily rainstorm.</p>
<p>Designed by Viktor Andreyev (who also did the Hotel Cosmos just down the road), this 25-storey tower block dates from 1968 and is something of a Moscow landmark. The trees block the stilts that give it its unusual name, the House on Chicken Legs (Дом на ножках in Russian). </p>
<p>A sign with nothing to say.</p>
<p>The spiral staircase of a modern flat takes on a different air by night.</p>
<p>A night scene in Bressanone / Brixen.</p>
<p>A view down Whampoa Street in the Hung Hom district of Hong Kong. <br /></p> <p>Along the left side of the street there was once a relaxed little restaurant called El Merry where friends and I enjoyed the odd meal.<br /></p>
<p>Red stars (not that kind) at a Christmas market in Berlin.</p>
<p>'Memory' and 'vote blank' – two slogans summarising popular exasperation with the post-dictatorship Argentine political landscape. <br /></p>
<p>A band of musicians performs in a churchyard in Puebla, Mexico.</p>
<p>An announcement board on a disused platform at Ostkreuz station, Berlin.</p>
<p>A narrow street in the Barri Gòtic, the oldest quarter of Barcelona. Shot in the mid 1990s, when the post-Olympic boom was already changing the Catalan city, this photo shows a bygone era. You'd be hard-pressed to find a street in the Barri Gòtic that looks anything like this now.<br /></p>
<p>The buzz of Calle Florida, in central Buenos Aires, Argentina.</p>
<p>A commuter catches some some shut-eye on one of Buenos Aires' vintage subway carriages. The system dates from 1913, while the wooden cars on Lí­nea A were built only a few years later and are still in use.</p>
<p>The momentarily forlorn faces of shoppers at a market in Rio de Janeiro.<br /></p>
<p>A patisserie takes pride of place on a Parisian corner.</p>
<p>A cosy interior but no one to enjoy it.</p>
<p>An impressive amount of sass from two minimalist mannequins.</p>
<p>A bustling market in a Guangzhou alley.</p>
<p>A woman waits at a level crossing in Buenos Aires.</p>
<p>Remnants of a former bakery in Berlin.</p>
<p>The NYPD blue are quick to turn out in defence of the white collars of Wall Street. Here, police film, observe, and later arrest peaceful protestors outside the doors of the New York Stock Exchange.</p>
<p>The scene outside the stadium before a 2010 World Cup match between Argentina and Germany in Cape Town.</p>
<p>A crowded shopping street in Macao.</p>
<p>Two well-armed national police officers patrol the streets of Tame, passing sun-beaten election murals for the then-mayor.</p>
<p>Golden hour and some dirty plate glass windows make for a dramatic train platform.<br /></p>
<p>Men gather to read and air their birds in the shade of a tiny park wedged between busy streets in Aberdeen, Hong Kong. Taking a caged bird for a walk is an old tradition – it is said that the birds are inspired to sing more beautifully by these meet-ups.<br /></p>
<p>People gather around a statue of Hong Kong film idol Bruce Lee. <br /></p>
<p>During the Covid-19 lockdown of 2020, display cases outside the Kino International promise that film screenings are 'to be continued'.<br /></p>
<p>A woman stands near an office for the Committee for the Defence of the Revolution. Set up in the early days of the Cuban revolution to counter saboteurs and counter-revolutionary activities, they have persisted as a sort of hybrid 'neighbourhood watch' and community welfare association. Critics contend they constitute little more than a vast network of informants for the government, while defenders claim they are essential for the local coordination of everything from vaccination campaigns and blood drives to hurricane evacuations.</p>
<p>A street scene in old Havana.</p>
<p>A woman and her children on a backstreet of Tunis's Medina. <br /></p> <p>The date on the wall refers to the Tunisian general election from the previous year, which (unsurprisingly) saw the highly corrupt president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali 're-elected' for a fourth time – with a mere 94.9 percent of the vote. A few years later, Ben Ali's flagrant misrule sparked the Arab Spring that permanently removed him from power.</p>
<p>Soldiers secure a parade in Tame, a rural town rocked by the violence of Colombia's civil war. </p>
<p>A man lost in his thoughts on a tram in central Sofia.</p>
<p>A view shot from a prized window seat in a café along Buenos Aires' Avenida Corrientes. Despite the blustery weather, the avenue is still animated. Across the street is Café La Paz, something of an institution (still operating, but since remodeled away from this 90s po-mo look).</p>
<p>A Poblana passes an old truck and graffiti promoting the centre-left PRD party.</p>
<p>A group of admirers at the tomb of Carlos Gardel, the great tango singer who died in a plane crash in 1935. The men gathered regularly at the grave in Chacarita Cemetery, trading stories, lyrics, and photos. They all shared the view that with each passing year, Gardel sings better.</p>
<p>A night at a cosy bar in the Marais. <br /></p> <p>One of my favourite photos (of mine).</p>
<p>A contemplative fisherman in the heart of Zlatá Praha.</p>
<p>Strollers and cyclists pass a dilapidated building in a Marrakech side street.</p>
<p>An old street sign in Marrakech's Guéliz quarter preserves the name of Yugoslavia, a country that is no longer with us. The street has carried the name since Moroccan independence in 1956. Previously, it had also been associated with the Balkan state – named Rue Alexandre 1er to commemorate the Yugoslav king gunned down in the streets of Marseille in 1934. <br /></p> <p>I'm still undecided if that is some sort of tribute to Yugoslavia's passing scratched into the concrete around the sign.</p>
<p>An impeccably clean (how?!) taxi topped rather improbably by a <em>canang sari</em>. These simple baskets made of woven leaves are a ubiquitous daily offering made by Balinese Hindus.<br /></p>
<p>Two people quite enjoying the seaside district of Stanley, Hong Kong.</p>
<p>A Parisian carries precious baguettes through the glassy La Défense district. </p>
<p>Colonnaded buildings in central Havana.</p>
<p>Security forces muster while a team of workers sweep the space beneath the hulking mass of the Museu de Arte de São Paulo.</p>
<p>A woman shields herself from one of Hong Kong's sudden, torrential rain storms.</p>
<p>The remnants of a group's good night out at La Nacional, a Spanish social club in New York.<br /></p>
<p>A moment in Manhattan.<br /></p>
<p>Schoolkids on an outing in Cork.</p>
<p>A busy morning in Rabat.</p>
<p>A group of men practice football along Rabat's tattered beachfront.</p>
<p>A bustling street in Rabat. </p>
<p>Blinding light forms a sort of cross in one of Moscow's pedestrian underpasses. These tunnels are a consequence of the span of the city's monumental boulevards.<br /></p>
<p>A street in San Telmo wakes up with a bit of a hangover.</p>
<p>Saturday strollers along the waterfront pass through light and shadows.</p>
<p>A mobile worker in a modern space, or perhaps someone just relaxing.</p>
<p>A sculpture with an impassive gaze watches the world go by.</p>
<p>Passengers descending into and ascending out of one of Moscow's very deep metro stations.</p>
<p>Muscovites with places to be.</p>
<p>Emerging into the light outside the Kremlin.</p>
<p>Portland is a pro-bike, anti-car kind of town – as eloquently stated on this post about local transport options.</p>
<p>A gang of miniature Beethovens wait to be placed in formation by a worker. Part of Bonn's commemoration of the 250th anniversary of its famous son's birth, the Beethoven statues were later put up for 'adoption'. I like mine very much. </p>
<p>A woman turns her back on the visitors clogging the steps of Macao's landmark Igreja de São Paulo ruins and the skyline of casino towers to capture her own take on the densely populated city.</p>
<p>Encountered on a central Sofia side street. </p>
<p>Russia's largest hotel dates from the late 1970s, when it was built as part of the facilities for the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. There are over 1750 rooms in the Cosmos, which still operates today.<br /></p>
<p>A family slightly outnumbered by their contingent of matching dogs.</p>
<p>A wedge of a building makes for an interesting corner in Cork.</p>
<p>Empty kegs provide impromptu seating as the night wears on in Dublin's Dame Lane.</p>
<p>A dormant scoreboard by Trinity College Dublin's rugby pitch. Sadly no action that day.</p>
<p>People wait for a burst from the mysterious geyser that amused and befuddled visitors to Berlin's Schlossplatz in 2009.</p>
<p>A winter afternoon at the corner of Lavalle and Suipacha, entering the Microcentro.<br /></p>