Duologues | ninaklingphotography

DUOLOGUES

I love to wander the streets and observe people. My series, Duologues, records fragments of these encounters. It is a play between two images creating meanings belonging to neither— a discovery process each viewer interprets differently. Reminiscent of the idea of synchronicity, an idea that describes meaningful coincidences, my pairings intentionally produce uncanny relationships.

Shooting intuitively and spontaneously, my eyes lock onto the unusual, the outstanding, and even the mundane. Frequently, dramatic lighting shapes the photographs. I collect the unrelated pieces like stems in a wildflower field - disconnected, yet bound together by their place of origin. The visuals seem familiar but particulars will distinguish them from the common.

I match the images by playing a game of Memory: finding in each image shapes, gestures, and symbols that rhyme. The rhyming may occur within the major elements in the image, such as the subject, or in minute details that otherwise might go unnoticed. By pairing two photos that occurred at different moments in time, the story that emerges can bring them together. The final sequence feels deeply connected, even though the encounters on the street were random.

AWARDS:

Winner, Passepartout Catalogue Prize, Rome, Fourth Edition, 2022

Finalist, 30 Over 50: In Context, Curated by Gordon Stettinius, 2022

Selected, 5th Online Portfolio Walk, DFA Deutsche Fotografische Akademie, 2021

Honorable Mention, Eyeshot Street Photography Open Call, 2021

Accepted, Review Santa Fe Photo Festival, 2020
Winner, LensCulture Critics’Award, 2020

Finalist, LensCulture Street Photography Competition: Singles, 2020
Finalist, Urban Photo Awards and Exhibitions: Street - Singles, 2020

Shortlist, Photo Athens 2020, Benaki Museum Athen, GR, 2020

FEATURES:

Pasadena Open Show #40: Conversation with Ellen Friedlander & Douglas Hill, 2021

Create. Photography with Daniel Sigg: Duologues - A conversation with Nina Welch-Kling, 2021

Black & White Photography Magazine (UK) June issue 253 “American Connection”, 2021