Today’s world is, perhaps, as diverse and versatile and it has never been before. It is full of contrasting colors, shapes, behaviors, different lifestyles and life standards… We may not always notice all the contrasts around us, but photographers do, especially those, who work in the field of street or social photography. A keen eye and an open heart help them to notice and capture the most contrasting moments of modern society. Unfortunately, humans have not yet reached the perfect social organization, and they will, actually, hardly manage to do that. Very often the gap between young and old, rich and poor gets too painful though unnoticed and unaddressed by wide publicity.

An old woman begging in front of a fashionable boutique or homeless people against the background of a poster with happy group of friends – the emotional load, expressed via such contrasts between the center and the background scenes of the picture, may reach the apogee of intensity. On the other hand, some contrasts may be pretty funny, especially those, which occur by accident. In fact, this is where the actual talent of a photographer manifests itself the most. To see the contrast, which may last only a couple of seconds, and to recognize its artistic value – this is a job for really skillful photographers. Below we have collected such works for you to demonstrate how modern photographers play with the theme of contrasts.

Just Be Cool by Matej Peljhan

Singin’ In The Rain by Matej Peljhan

The Beginning of a Long Journey by Matej Peljhan

Little Red Riding Hood by Matej Peljhan

Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus by Matej Peljhan

Orange by furious {pumpkin}

Untitled by Laurent Roch

Untitled by Laurent Roch

Untitled by Laurent Roch

Untitled by Laurent Roch

Urban contrasts.. by Edmondo Senatore

Generations.. by Edmondo Senatore

Urban contrast.. by Edmondo Senatore

Urban contrasts.. by Edmondo Senatore

The driver by Masha Zaharova

About… cat by Zilvinas Valeika

Collection spring-summer 2009 by di_kor

“What??!!!…….” by Hengki Lee

“Ain’t it fun???…” by Hengki Lee

Solemn by Hengki Lee

Big Brother – Metro Paris by Angela Vicedomini

The Bonfire of The Vanities by KoPi

The Window Cleaner by KoPi

Five, Six, Seven? Who cares:) by Andre du Plessis

Hands Up by RICHARD20D

Shh! by Antonio De Falco

Bikini smile by Angela Vicedomini

Cinque signori by Karl Bauer

The touch of heaven by Angela Vicedomini

Another day in paradise by Angela Vicedomini

One moment in time by Angela Vicedomini

Live Your Moment by Frank Waechter

Blue man by Przemyslaw Nowaczyk

Too late by HildeG

Photo by Alireza Ghamari

Oh no, not her again by Martin Van Hoecke

Desire by Ulf Börjesson

A deeper look by Johan Andersson

Clown And Man by Taci

Untitled by Shay Sapir

Mobile facebook by Cosmin Munteanu

No Pasaran by Elaine Vallet

The proletarians by Alfredo Caridi