Untitled, from El Salvador, by Lauren Lancaster

If you've never listened to 9 Beet Stretch by sound artist Leif Inge, which slows down Beethoven's 9th Symphony to 24 full hours, I suggest you start now. It's the perfect accompaniment to these photos by contender Lauren Lancaster, in which time  s l o w s    t o    a      c   r   a   w   l.

Time isn't standing still, but it's stretched out to infinity—where moments that Lauren describes as "fragile, surreal, and normal," become scintillating. The photographer herself is conspicuously absent—the subjects make eye-contact only with each other, and seem not to notice the presence of a camera. The resulting images are cinematic and microcosmic.

A woman's scarf is caught in mid-swirl...
Untitled, April 2010, from Kabul, Afghanistan, by Lauren Lancaster

...a fallen child is hoisted from the floor...
Untitled, from Kabul, Afghanistan, by Lauren Lancaster

...and the sound of a can opening echoes in slow motion:
Untitled, from Westfjords, by Lauren Lancaster

I'm tempted to think that in her past life, Lauren was a fly on the wall, but—truth being stranger than fiction—she was actually a shipwreck archaeologist. Lauren started out studying History and Archaeology, then pursued a master's degree in Shipwreck Archaeology at the Institute of Nautical Archaeology in Texas, and even worked on excavations in Kenya, Turkey, the United States and Bulgaria.

Then she switched gears, and in 2005 graduated from the ICP's program in Documentary Photography and Photojournalism. Since then she's been traveling around the word taking photos in places like Iceland, Russia, Africa, Afghanistan and El Salvador.

"I am fascinated with the way a story develops when you build it backwards, piece by piece," writes Lauren. I'm looking forward to watching these wordless stories develop as new images are created.

Lauren is currently based in Dubai, where she is working on completing the series she entered to Hey, Hot Shot! You can see more work on her website.