Lomography

Haven't I seen this scene before?

Photo by gionnired

I saw this photo as a print at Analog Life – Homeland Rumble in Zoetermeer, the Netherlands today and directly had to think of another well known photograph by Henri Cartier Bresson.
Here is a link to the photo in a german photoblog

So apart from reminding me of that photo, I still want to describe it.
First of all you see a room and someone on a bike. At first it looks like taken somewhere in middle east in a small street. But if you look more carefully, you can make out things that do not really belong in such an idyllic street as I imagine: for example the sofa. Actually you are indoors in a very huge room with a big hall. At least it looks like this. But why should someone ride a bike there?
What makes this photo also so interesting are the contrasts: black and white, soft and hard, round and angular, dead and alive. The stairs look so hard compared to the ceiling. And all those design pieces hidden in that photograph – the chair, the bowl, the sofa, the pillows and also the artwork at the wall next to the arch.
And still the question: Why is someone riding a bike in there?
My answer: gionnired wanted to make his version of the Bresson photograph and asked a friend to ride a bike in this fancy location – and it is well done.
Some more facts:
The photo was taken with a Fujica ST 601 (a SLR camera) loaded with Fuji Neopan 400 black and white film in Mantova, Italy.