Momo Takahashi grew up in Queens, New York. She is in her junior year as an art major at LaGuardia Arts High School. She loves to take photos on film and developing photos in the darkroom, as well as taking photos digitally. Besides photography, she enjoys drawing, painting, and spending time with friends and family. She hopes to continue photography later on in college and as a career.
Photography is not like painting. There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. -Henri Cartier Bresson
Henri-Cartier Bresson based his photography on the philosophy of the decisive moment and capturing a moment in its raw form. Street photography allows the photographer to freeze time and encapsulate it from their unique perspective. Through being an observer on the streets, I captured the elusive moment of how I saw strangers and their interaction with their environment, without directly interacting with any subjects. Despite the fact that these photos are taken in the highly populated cities of New York City and Toronto, the photographs have only a few people in a setting, which allows the viewer to pay close attention to these individuals. With the idea that these figures in the photos are unfamiliar, it’s up to the viewer to assume their story and the fascinating lives behind each person. These photos also portray how I see everyday scenes through various representations of lights and shadows, geometrical compositions, and color.