"The City Pulse"

Budapest’s trams aren’t just public transport; they are the rattling, iron pulse of the city. While the modern Combino trams glide silently along the Grand Boulevard, the older Ganz models on Line 47 are a different beast entirely. They are mechanical, loud, and unapologetically analog.

I waited near Deák Ferenc tér, where the tracks curve between the grand, Austro-Hungarian facades. I didn’t want a clean shot. I wanted the grit. The goal was to capture the tram not as a static object, but as a moving force cutting through the stillness of the stone architecture.

The challenge with shooting these old trams is their unpredictability. They jerk and sway. To get this shot, I had to track the movement carefully. I chose a shutter speed that was just fast enough to freeze the cabin but left enough motion in the background to suggest speed. The driver’s face, framed perfectly by the window, anchors the image—a human element inside the machine.

In black and white, the famous yellow of the tram is lost, but something else is gained: texture. The peeling paint, the grime on the windshield, and the heavy metal construction become the heroes. It feels less like a commute and more like time travel.