Narrative Project

The Looking Glass Bus

Spanning one week in July 2024 and five separate bus trips, this photo series examines different ways of seeing from and through the bus. I set the goal of only taking pictures while riding along my usual routes from home to work, and from work to class. This was the most difficult assignment for me to execute, and I took over 500 photographs, of which 13 are shown. I learned that the clearest photos were taken when the bus was stopped at a light or to let passengers on, since I couldn't get the shutter speed fast enough to reduce motion blur when were were moving.

The initial inspiration behind the idea was to 1) make my bus commutes more interesting, and 2) do something where I could make multiple attempts. I did start paying closer attention to what I was seeing from the bus, and I was drawn almost immediately to the overlapping reflections that showed up on the window panes when there was direct sunlight.

Reflections, shadows, and people looking out windows of their own are recurring elements in these images. To see something through the looking glass is to see a strange, different, unfamiliar world. While the things I saw were in some ways perfectly ordinary, I tried to see them in unfamiliar ways, turning the bus window into my looking glass.

Catching the bus

A man rushes across the street to catch his bus, while the driver appears ready to close the door. In the back, another passenger looks out the window, chin in hand. Spoiler: he made the bus!

Boston, MA. 7/10/2024.

35 mm

f9, 1/100s, ISO 100

mother and child

Inside the bus, a mother and her child sit ahead of the photographer, their matching blue caps bent towards each other. Strong sunlight comes in through the window, highlighting the blue chairs. A solid white light give slight illumination to the foreground.

Boston, MA. 7/8/2024.

35 mm

f16, 1/60s, ISO 400

looking up

Inside a different bus, there is still a long white light in the ceiling. On a curved reflective piece, there is warped scene from the road outside. Perhaps the curved lines are reflections of the bus exterior, but it's hard to say. A figure or two stride over the crosswalk, their legs and shadows distorted yet identifiable.

Cambridge, MA. 7/3/2024.

35 mm

f16, 1/125s, ISO 800

3 in a row

Looking out the window, three figures appear almost in a row. One is nearly through the crosswalk, while the two on bikes are ready to slow down just in case. Does the walker see them? Likely so, but with their head facing ahead or down, it's hard to tell. Late afternoon light casts long shadows onto the road.

Cambridge, MA. 7/8/2024.

35 mm

f10, 1/80s, ISO 400

3 in a row pt. 2

Now looking both at the window and through it, two scenes play out. In the window there are three figures reflected, with the middle and back figures in focus. Through the window a biker rushes past, sunlit from the top while the bus passengers are illuminated from the side or back, depending on their physical orientation.

Cambridge, MA. 7/8/2024.

35 mm

f10, 1/100s, ISO 400

Deep in thought

The woman half visible in the previous photo appears focused here as she gazes out the window, a fist propping up her chin. What is she thinking about? Her gaze travels further than just out the window.

Cambridge, MA. 7/8/2024.

35 mm

f16, 1/100s, ISO 400

looking forward

On a different day, on a different bus, another woman with graying hair pulled into a bun sits in front of the photographer. Like the woman in the previous photo (although it isn't visible there), she also has silver hoops. Side lighting puts one side of her in light, while the other is in shadow.

Cambridge, MA. 7/10/2024.

35 mm

f9, 1/30s, ISO 100

Paris baguette

Two people share a table at Paris Baguette, but only one is highlighted. She wears a fluorescent pink dress, like the darker feathers of a flamingo. Although her eyes are cast downwards in this moment, one can imagine her looking out through the bakery window at passerby, even as she is seen through a briefly parallel window.

Cambridge, MA. 7/3/2024.

35 mm

f16, 1/100s, ISO 800

choices

The bright reds of the McDonald's store echo the woman's pink dress a few blocks away. Here, a man in white stands in front of the fast food chain's menu while two people walk past him, their movement slightly blurred while he remains still. He stood there for a while, and eventually walked away without placing an order.

Cambridge, MA. 7/3/2024.

35 mm

f16, 1/125s, ISO 800

on the move

Another man dressed in white, this time with a matching cap, bikes past a tableau of people walking and chatting. Each figure has a different stance and direction, their half steps and half pedals are frozen in time. The photographer's hand is a prominent blur in the center of the image, highlighting several figures in a warm tan.

Cambridge, MA. 7/8/2024.

35 mm

f16, 1/100s, ISO 400

camouflage

A woman's head appears as almost a reverse bust, her silhouette of leaves against the brick buildings of Commonwealth Ave. Her head and shoulders quite literally disappear into the leaves, and are placed right above a concrete lamppost as if they were a statue. In the background, several figures wait to cross the street.

Boston, MA. 7/11/2024.

35 mm

f10, 1/60s, ISO 125

Deep in thought pt. 2

A young person looks out the window in a strikingly similar pose to another woman from three days earlier. Her expression is soft, and a just barely visible pair of headphones encircle her head. In the background, light filtered through tall trees dapple the road.

Cambridge, MA. 7/11/2024.

35 mm

f10, 1/60s, ISO 125

look into the lens

The photographer turns to her own reflection in the bus window, one hand steadying the camera and the other curled around the focus ring. In the background, the body of a biker follows the curve of her hand for an instant before they part ways. This is one of the last photos I took on the way to the last day of photography class.

Cambridge, MA. 7/11/2024.

35 mm

f5.6, 1/80s, ISO 125

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