That's a kind thing to say, but I think there's a difference between preferring someone's photographs and the creativity of the photograph (or photographer).
Titarenko seems to me to be putting a technique directly into the service of a particular vision of place(s). There's an idea behind the photographs, or rather a nexus of ideas, I'd say - social, political and psychological.
When I look at my photographs, and think about how and why I take them as I do, I couldn't possibly say that they reflect a social or political vision, and I'm inclined to view them as looking rather "samey" in the way that you and others seem to feel about Titarenko's in fact!
Agree 100% I look at City of Shadows and, besides thinking about technique (I think that there is something more than just long exposure going on here, maybe an intermittent strobe of stacked exposures, otherwise I don't think you'd get the hands on the rail.) I ask myself, "what is Titarenko trying to say?" There are ideas of motion here obviously, but also idea of temporary/permanence in the handrail shots and ideas of the mass of society, almost like ants, in other shots, particularly looking up the stairs at what appears to be a building or subway.
The sameness of style and technique (or voice as some might say) is actually what many are taught in art school-to find something that works, that speaks to you as an artist, and explore the idea for many years if not a whole career. That singularity of vision is what establishes an artistic identity and what you become known for. There are very few Picassos out there, able to try many different things and be brilliant at all of them.
I think that's what is missing from some amateur photography-this idea of a voice, of a way to see the world and capture it. That video of Martin Parr posted a couple of days ago reinforces this idea. Parr said, "Ascot has what I want....Life is weird…it's so much easier to see in a situation like this than in a supermarket." An amateur, on the other hand, might go to Ascot and, without a voice, take "nice" photos of people in fancy clothes and horses racing about. Parr is not aiming for "nice" and neither is Titarenko.
This is where my photography journey is taking me as well. I'm less interested in taking pretty pictures than I used to be, although I still do it for the motorcycle stories. But at the gallery reception last weekend, I got into a heated discussion with an aerial photographer about what my quarry photo (and caption/description) was "saying". That was the most satisfying part of the day for me.