This colorful and brilliant photography essay was given the 2nd place, Series award in the LensCulture Street Photography Awards 2016.Discover more inspiring work from all the winners, jurors’ picks and finalists as well as single images from the jury’s Top 100 highly rated entries.

I take pictures on streets around the world. My images are candid, never staged. I never direct any scene because for me, serendipity is the soul of an image: it makes it authentic and believable. It is very difficult to orchestrate a scene and get a good result.

I very much enjoy the process of searching for a great image. It is tiring and frustrating, but the concentration and obsessive mode I go into have a therapeutic effect. I just love it.

This series is a collection of candid images where serendipity and composition were major factors in the success of the project.

—Graciela Magnoni