Day 201/516 2

Taken on 31st July, 2009 in La Paz, Oaxaca City, Oaxaca, Mexico. Nikon D90, Exposure 1/25s at f/25.0, Focal Length 28mm, ISO Speed 200. Show on Flickr.

Bread and cakes from Bamby Panaderia.

I've been influenced a lot lately by the photographs of Philip Taylor on his Daily Dublin Photo Blog. Philip has a great talent for spotting potentially banal but revealing urban details.

Typography plays a prominent role in many of Philip's pictures, and the almost omnipresent passer-by adds, often playful, context.

I keep a close eye on a good few Irish photo blogs but Philip is the first blogger whose approach I have consciously adapted to my new surroundings, at least as a temporary experiment. I'm presenting the result alongside some of his work, with his permission, to openly consider the relationship between my image and his.

They undoubtedly share a similar aesthetic, but I think differ in the details each reveals of the urban culture they are each part of. On a personal level, I find it interesting to draw comparisons between images of home and a street scene in Oaxaca. But more generally I think it demonstrates how meaning can be created by the relationship between one photo and another, between the work of one photographer and another, that a photograph does not stand alone as an aesthetic object or fragment of the world but exists in relation to other fragments, other images.

I will be working with Philip (and others, perhaps you?) soon on another collaborative project that will aim to further explore the potential of creating and publishing photographs in direct response to others.

What would you potentially see as interesting (or not!) about this kind of juxtaposition?

Update: Phil posted a response on his blog and discussion continues in the comments.