The spotlight event

I entered the spotlight event after meeting Nick Turpin who advised that my work was worth exhibiting. I applied and managed to get into the event to talk about my latest photography project for 10 minutes. Below is an audio clip and images of the talk, press play and scroll through the blog to see the images. If on the mobile check the images out after the audio Enjoy!

PRESS PLAY ON THE AUDIO VIDEO TO HEAR MY TALK

Big thank you to Adam Maizey for the image and audio, you can see more of his street photography at Adam Maizey

FIXED WING PROJECT

Street London Festival 

The  Street London festival is an event focusing on the genre of street photography. The event was over the weekend of the 17th-19th August 2018. 

 "Hoxton Mini Press, the renowned East London publisher, joins iN

IN-PUBLiC

Nick Turpin and guest creative directors, Kristin Van den Eede and Olly Lang, to once again create an unrivalled gathering in the world’s capital of street photography. Originally founded by Jason Reed of the Observe Collective, this annual event has become a highlight of the street photography calendar.”

Travel

I was very excited on Friday morning traveling up to Exeter airport in the early hours. I arrived in London City airport for 7:45am, which meant I had the day ahead to explore London and capture some interesting street photography. I thought I would visit the hotel first to drop off my luggage, I had been to the Holiday Inn hotel before and knew where it was, so it should be an easy process, or so I thought! I got to the hotel and to my surprise, my booking could not be found on the system, after having a manic month getting MARRIED I thought I mustn’t have booked a hotel. After a stressful few minutes, it was discovered that I had been prepared and booked, but I was in the wrong hotel! A quick tube journey found me at my correct destination. 

    The Art of Street

“Buy a good pair of comfortable shoes, have a camera around your neck at all times, keep your elbows in, be patient, optimistic and don’t forget to smile.”

Matt Stuart - www.mattstuart.com

I walked for 12 miles around London from the London Bridge to Brick Lane in Shoreditch, and I found the most interesting place to photograph was around the tourist parts and Brick Lane as these areas had more unique and interesting characters. I also looked for where the venue was for Friday night’s ‘meet and greet’, I saw that Nick Turpin was in the venue setting up for the weekend ahead, we had a quick catch-up. I was then really excited when I spotted out of the corner of my eye my image in the ‘street swap exhibition’, I was very honored and privileged to have my work displayed again in an exhibition in London.

Fast Forward to the Evening!

Walking to the event I was getting very excited to see who would be attending the evening. Looking at the list of professional photographers coming to the event as guest speakers; I was hoping to brush shoulders with the likes of Matt Stuart, Zed Nelson and Simon Roberts. Photographers who I have been studying on my BA (Hons) and researching their work.

The people attending this event were all so welcoming, approachable and friendly. I have been to events before and found people to be awkward to talk to and socialise with, so this event was easily the most comfortable one yet. Sharing the same interests with others also helps to spark conversations! After the welcome party, most of the people moved onto the pub down the road from the event. I found this to be the real ice breaker where I was able to really get to know the attendees.  

Saturday 

I turned up early Saturday to book myself onto the workshop with Nick Turpin as there was only eight places available, I really wanted the opportunity to be involved with this and learn more from Nick. The event started with the usual coffee, welcome and introduction to the events of the day.

Simon Roberts

www.simoncroberts.com
 

“For over a decade, Simon Roberts has photographed events and places across Britain that have drawn people together in public, communal experiences. This has often been an implicit theme of his work, the apparent desire for common presence and participation and the need to share a sense of belonging, suggesting something distinctive about our national character and identity.

Whilst Roberts’s interests have often gravitated towards evolving patterns of leisure, and the consumption and commodification of history, he has also chosen to photograph events and places that have a more immediate, topical significance in the turning of Britain’s recent history, and which – summoning the sense of a national survey – collectively form a visual chronicle of the times in which we live.

Merrie Albion ranges across several of his projects from the last decade, projects that have explored not only our leisure landscape but also our social and political landscape. The book registers a distinct shift in approach, and tone, from his work in We English. Roberts has exchanged the element of discovery and revelation evident in his earlier travels through England, for a form of ‘reporting’, in which he responds to subjects and places that are already firmly positioned within the public consciousness – defining locations in our recent national story.”

The book Simon was discussing was called Merrie Albion, his knowledge about the genre was amazing, and photographing in a style that includes landscape and people, I was completely immersed within his talk, powerful and thought provoking. I managed to catch five minutes with Simon who was very down to earth and a pleasure to meet. 

  Exploring the Borders of Street Photography

This was a really interesting debate exploring where the street photography sits within photography; does street lie only on the urban streets? With a panel discussion we explored the borders of where street ends and starts. This was a heated debate and towards the end of the discussion the overall feeling was that the boundaries within the genre of street photography are blurred, but as more people photograph street, the more we will understand where the genres true direction lies.

Spotlight - “my time to shine!”

Watching the five spotlights go before me made talking about your work in front of over one hundred people seem easy! The talks were all very interesting and thought provoking, despite having my upcoming presentation in the back of my mind. 

I was talking about my project called ‘Fixed Wing’, where I photographed the Air Show in my local area, my project was different to everyone else's because it was of an event with a street twist, having photographed the people watching the event. I walked up onto the stage feeling nervous to be talking in front of the heavy weights of street photography. When I finished my talk many people were really interested to hear and see more of my work. I felt accepted in the community of street photography.  I felt so good after my talk! I have since been contacted by a camera club to discuss my work in the future and I feel my presentations within street photography is positive for the community. 

If you have the opportunity to present your work, do not hesitate, it is a great experience!

Street Walk with Nick Turpin

This is the first time I have been on a photography walk and workshop, which I booked on the Saturday morning with Nick. This walk was very enlightening being able to talk and walk with a professional street photographer, but also see how his mind works when creating images was so interesting. We walked around in a small group with a range of abilities. I felt that I have learnt a great deal from Nick and I cannot wait to put this into practice.

Sunday - “when legends visits”

It was rumored all weekend we would be graced with Joel Meyowitz on the Sunday of the weekend event, I had doubts as to whether Joel would make the event, I was over the moon when I realised he was in the building. 

Matt Stuart

Matt’s talk was about his latest work which I found interesting how the boundaries of street photography can be used within a documentary sense, I was blown away by Matt’s engaging images of the USA and his travels. Matt’s work has only got better and better, he is definitely a street photographer to keep an eye on and to be inspired by.

Joel Meyerowitz 

Meeting this amazing photographer was a dream come true, I have researched and written about Joel in my BA (Hons) and have been inspired by his work time and time again. His words of wisdom were to stop focusing on social media and what other people’s photography, in-terms of there being so much imagery taken that focuses on your work, and to concentrate on what it is you produce and to create and showcase where the passion lies.

Overall Thoughts 

The weekend has been one of the most interesting and thought provoking events I have been on focusing on the street photography, I will be keeping this date in my calendar for next year! 

Few shots of london

My street photography 10 commandments

These are my thoughts and my own views

1 Never Hide

Over the past 4 years of creating street photography I have found it best not to hide the camera from sight but also not to be afraid of what other people think and how You photograph the subject, I’m not doing anything wrong!

When I start out photographing street photography I used to hide the camera and us a zoom lens. I used to look at other artist work such as Dougie Wallace, Martin Parr, Bruce Gilden and Nick Turpin I know their loads of other great street photographers but these were my first to really inspire my work and my contemporary style so I guess I appreciate them above all other street photographers.

I would always wonder why my work was not like the other professional street photographers I thought I needed a bigger zoom lens. This was wrong I just felt like the paparazzi. So I started photographing from the hip and now hiding my camera, but this felt like I was doing something dodgy but I also noticed my work was really poor or I wouldn’t really be sure what I was photographing.

The process I go through now, to create street photography is to have my camera around my neck I don’t hide it anymore. I see the subject I want to photograph I either wait for the subject to get closer then capture the subject. Sometimes if I’m behind the subject I will quickly get in front of the subject to capture a dynamic street image. 

2 Take your time!

I found I was always afraid of confrontation and aggression from the subject if I photographed them without permission, I would therefore, rush to capture the subject and lose the context of why I was capturing the image.

I now slow everything down if there is an area worth photographing I will hang around, where I gain confidence and knowing there are interesting subjects to photograph and watch. By taking your time and not hiding I found I was about professionally structure the image and create an interesting style to my work.

3 Confidence

This will take time to develop, the more you photograph subjects without asking in a public area you will eventually start to gain confidence in-turn getting closer to the subjects. I have gone from photographing without flash to stay almost hidden, to now photographing with a flash so the subject will see I’m pointing the camera at them but the flash will go off as well. The road to gaining confidence within street photography can be very fragile because you could be confronted by an angry subject and you with have feeling of resentment for photographing the subject, you may even question values and ethics around the street genre. Stay true to your vision and be creative and you will be able to roll with the ups and downs. go out there be brave and be confident to capture your style of street photography and enjoy.

4 Disadvantaged

I would like to say that I have never photographed the homeless but I have, these were early days when I thought that the homeless faces showed stories I would get from the higher end of Society.

As I grew as a photographer and tried to sell my street photography I found that the viewers enjoyed looking a the street portraits of the homeless but I never sold any. I felt if I created a body of work and theories around being homeless this might have been better received. I then realised that if you spend more time observing the societal patterns and social interactions I would see interesting subjects and other exciting things to photograph. Saying all this the photographer can create power within the image without knowingly doing so but not in a good way, if the subject is smaller than the photographer why stand at your eye height. I crouch or make sure I’m not pushing my confidence  towards the subject and powering the image and let the subject create the artwork by being the centre of my photography.

5 Keep both eyes open

This isn’t a wise tale or something you say to protect yourself when shooting street. This all about literal when photographing your subjects keep both your eyes open, it’s odd at first but the more you practice the better you will become. The reason I photograph in this way is so you can watch people come into the frame easier and create an exciting structured to the image. The process will create more interaction from your audience when viewing your images and I believe these are the stepping stones to making art rather than just photographs. Give this style of capturing images time we are binocular within our vision,why shut one eye?

6 Stay true to who you are as a street photographer 

I have had a rocky road to get to this level of street photography but I still feel I have the long way to go.

I have had my work published and have made to the final rounds of big internal photography competitions but still have not been noticed.right getting to the point now, my images are crisp and clear and have good subjects matter but I found people find street photography hard to take in or understand. To stay true as a street photographer and to who you are, you need to have loads self-drive and not create the images because of the fame or the money but for yourself. I’m still exploring Anthropological theories around human behaviour and the action, we can identify with one another but we also enjoy looking at each other “people watching.” I have had people tell me to stop photographing street because there isn’t a career within this genre but also have had people tell me my work is intrusive and makes them feel sick, to be able to create an outspoken voice from your audience is a massive achievement even if it’s negative. Focus on yourself as a photographer and why you're photographing this style and genre and you will become a great  humble street photographer.

7 Theme, theme, and more theme.

I have noticed over the last few years there has been a massive rise in street photographers and street photography images. But when I have talked to people who see lots of images like a photo editor or publishers their response to street photography is negative or turned off and not interested because there is a massive amount of street photography images without any meaning or understanding of the context of the images that have been created. Let’s remember street photography is a sub-genre of documentary photography, so let’s start here documentary photography has a purpose so should street photography! Now I’m not saying that every image you photograph in the urban environment should be part of a wider body of work but I would like you to consider why it is you have created the image and reasoning. I have created 4 projects over the last 2 years they were not massive but there were published because the work has purpose and story to images.

8 Use a notebook.

I’m not an avid writer but I have found that using a note book has helped focus my themes and styles photography. The note/journal has given purpose to my street photography and direction.

9 You don’t have to always capture street

I’m always carrying my camera around, but often just observing the social interaction  between humans. I would recommend just walking around the areas you want to photograph getting used to the feeling the areas give you. I would then use my notebook to make a note of times when the area is busy and times the area is busy. I will also look for places I can walk away safely from photographing if I’m confronted by an aggressive subject. 

Safety first!

This might seem silly about having this in my Ten Commandments But the streets genre can be so unpredictable when photographing people you never know how the subject is feeling or how they will react. Tell someone you where you're going and how long you will be out for. I would recommend you think about why you are photographing street photography and how to want your work to been from a wider audience. If you confronted by the subject you can confidently explain your theory and rationale around why you have photographed the person. If you get a feeling from a person do group even an area that is negative listen to that feeling and move on. Photography isn’t always worth the risk your health and well being is the most important matter to consider when photographing.

Now get out there and create some positive street photography!!