Joe Nugent: The photographer as seen …
Joe Nugent is a specialist photographer based in Shoreditch with a current focus on street photography. Many of Joe’s photos shown here are also from his travelling around the Middle East, Europe, and North America, capturing the diversity of peoples, cultures, and environments. Joe is now based in London and would very much like to reach out to local charities and support organizations to work with them for any/all of their photographic needs.
February 2024
This month I would like to share a selection of images with you from a series of visits to the Royal Academy Courtyard to enjoy the captivating sculpture currently in place – The First Supper, (Galaxy Black) by the artist Tavares Strachan. This work of bronze and gold is described by the artist as his re-imagining of Leonardo’s ‘Last Supper’; the ‘infinite black’ referencing how the early astronauts described their first view of the ‘space’ surrounding them. The twelve figures around the table are historical characters from the 17th Century to the present day; the artist himself is on the far left, the 13th figure, with a Tasmanian Tiger at his feet. The table is adorned with items some in gold, telling our story, as the artist describes these items, of our evolutionary journey.
The RA have put a video introduction to the work, voiced by the artist, on their website. He talks of how this work also is
‘… speaking to a betrayal … some of us have been forgotten. The rest of us reminds you of our haunting presence’.
The first image was taken in front of the work in the shadows with that bright sun hitting the façade of the RA and the statue of Reynolds, arms in motion, looking upwards. The shapes, the movements of the figures are barely discernible in the foreground.
The second image provides a contrast – the cluttered table and the animated figures clearly visible, sharper than the courtyard building.
The closer focus of this third image again highlights the animated gestures of the figures with that galaxy black contrasting with the brighter golden figures and items around the table. The background, less prominent, places the façade exhibition screen in the upper centre with Reynolds dwarfed by the foreground work.
On this visit, the rain had just stopped and the table was awash with puddles … it seemed too good an opportunity not to take this close up of the golden frog leaping over this small puddle.
This intense staring of the ‘owl’, perched on the table, caught my attention, looking through some of the gesticulating figures.
This image captures all 12 figures around the table, golden and black. The black sheen of Reynolds, contrasting with that deep, deep, black of Strachan’s work.
The final two images capture the bronze of the artist himself: in the first, Strachan is more visible, a sculpture of a Tasmanian Tiger sitting at his feet. In the video, he describes the inclusion of the animal:
‘At the end of the work I sit with a Tasmanian tiger near me. The animal’s extinction reminds us of our fragility’.
The second and final image shows the artist profiled down the length of the table with the sculpture of Marcus Garvey looking at the camera. This was a return for Garvey (in bronze) to London where he studied for two years. In the video, Strachan quotes from Garvey but, I would like to put another one of his quotes in this month’s blog – ‘Until you produce what the white man has produced you will not be his equal’. This work, in the Annenberg Courtyard of the RA with the statue of Reynolds by Alfred Drury behind it, must surely represent some level of progress achieved?
Strachan finishes his talk in the video with the following words:
‘And this First Supper is a meditation on humankind’s struggle for progress’.
January 2024
Happy New Year!
Last year was a great opportunity to visit (and re-visit) a number of spots close to Holborn Underground – Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square, Chinatown, and the occasional walk across the river. It also was an opportunity to find those smaller spaces such as the Phoenix Gardens and St Paul’s Church gardens. As always, the enjoyment was from walking around with a film or digital camera, one lens, and the ever-present flow of people doing those ‘random things.
After a longer Xmas break, this year I am moving further westward to a start at Marble Arch Underground – still on the Central Line but giving myself the opportunity to walk down to Hyde Park Corner or up to The Grand Union Canal, with the area all the way along, past Piccadilly Circus, heading back home via Oxford Circus as my 2024 circuit. This is a slightly larger area than last time: I felt that there were less specific ‘centres’ in this area similar to Covent Garden et al which all seemed to have quite distinct character. The West End, so far, has seemed more uniform with its variety of shops, rows of smart houses, the Royal Academy, and a few interesting side-streets to amble down. As the weather improves, I can anticipate a theme of ‘parks and canals’ coming into this blog.
Last month was about just trying to feel what would be good routes to repeat and capture a variety of images as the weather and the crowds change. My first walk was along one of the main paths down to Hyde Park Corner - busy as always and the weather, for most of the month, was wet, overcast, and cold.
The first two images are of the giant bronze horse head by Nic Fiddian-Green. This 6-tonne statue was installed at Marble Arch in 2011 and is called ‘Still Water’. Monumental in scale, perspective would suggest it is a high as the Hilton Hotel behind it? The aging bronze lent itself to the first of my colour images this month.
The next two images are of the Lord Byron statue just next to Still Water on the same traffic island. The isolation of both of these and the risks you take to get close was one of the concerns of the Byron Society who had hoped to raise lottery money for this 1880 statue of the Lord and his Newfoundland, Bo’sun, to be moved to a spot more accessible. As of last month, this statue and Still Water both remain circled endlessly by coaches and heavy traffic. The barely discernible marble plinth (a gift from the Greek government) of the Richard Belt statue, sits in a space full of homeless sleeping bags, pigeons, parrots, and general detritus.
Walking up Park Lane the line of art works hanging across the road just seemed too opportunistic as the traffic cleared and I could get a clear shot of this crowded gallery.
One of the benefits of these regular walks is that you never know what you will see as you come around a corner. These images of an entrant to BGT being filmed as he optimistically and hopefully strides towards the theatre were a bonus on this occasion. It was his bright yellow waistcoat that encouraged me to make these a brace of colour images in an otherwise gloomy and cold day.
The next image was whilst walking into the Royal Academy Courtyard and, beneath Sir Joshua Reynolds fine brush, workers were setting up the First Supper, 2021-23 by Tavares Strachan. I shall be re-visiting this once it is settled and shall share with you more about this amazing piece.
The final image is of the wonderful Piccadilly Circus with Eros blushingly turning his back on the Calvin Klein model in his underwear?
Catch up next month …
December 2023
This year has been a busy one with the weekly focus on a changing background – from Shoreditch to Holborn. Walking from Holborn to Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square, or Chinatown has provided me with plenty of opportunity to vary my images and capture all the different events that have been going on around this area. I have selected below an image from each month that I would like to end the year sharing with you. They are not just of this year’s walks from Holborn some are more local … Brick Lane and Spitalfields being clearly recognisable.
Wishing you all the very best for 2024 …
November 2023
For this month I wanted to share with you a selection of images over the year from my walks around Chinatown an area that really established this strong ethnic identity only in the 70s. These regular walks with a camera have always managed to capture the people, the changing sights, celebrations, and, invariably, very changeable weather. All of this has been very present during my dawdlings around Gerard Street throughout the year.
The first image is in bright red … the lanterns had been there since the New Year but added to them on this occasion were the Union Jacks and that large banner celebrating the coronation of the new King Charles III. I read recently another photographer did not do street due to the fact they did not want to take random photos of random people doing random things … is that not the magic of street where you can, if lucky, catch a slice of life that can be incongruous, touching, vibrant, or newsworthy? Travelling a lot in my early career those random photos and, very often, the generosity of random people always emphasised the wonders of diversity in our lives. I am no idealist, some of the images I captured were the complete opposite but they still affirmed to me the vibrancy, challenges, and impulses of everyday life.
My walk would take me through Leicester Square and up past the cinema to the first row of restaurants and shops on Lisle Street, apparently the location of the first Chinese restaurant as the population moved up from Limehouse. The billboard, very prominent against that brick wall, and the diagonal lanterns gave me a setting … then the wait. This wait was not long, with all 3 of the passers-by looking downwards, all with differing movements. The Unities cohered.
Gerard Street can certainly catch the sun well … it was mid-morning with the tables still quite empty and this viewpoint did provide me with a different perspective away from the always busy main thoroughfare.
Nuff said … what a gift!
There are very few restaurants now that keep their food visible by the window … many years ago I would often come here because it was possible for 2 people to eat a good meal for less than a fiver and the meats would be lined up and visible down the street … always duck! The rarity of this sight now does mean that I would often see another photographer taking a picture of this window and I did want to put one of those images in this month’s blog.
This is the entrance to my favourite cake shop and, after a great value meal, I would pop in here to buy one of the dark sesame buns. On passing on this occasion I noticed the boy waiting outside and, with a quick change of shutter speed took the image I wanted … the fluttering scarf and the diagonals pointing to the young man were an added bonus.
This narrow street leading onto Charing X Road used to have all sorts of distinct shops and venues but now smaller goodie shops, nail bars, and takeaways.
The final image of these upturned umbrellas, I had not seen before: they contain messages, inviting visitors to eat at specific restaurants, welcoming visitors to the variety of dining on offer. It seems a good way for me to conclude this month’s blog, sustaining continuity and wish that visitors and diners continue to visit this vibrant and colourful area of London.
October 2023
The images from the Lake did take me back to a hot day that was a very worthwhile excursion inland. For this month, more sun sharing images from my time in and around Budvar, a town I have got to know quite well now. Its many beaches, a walled old town (Stari Grad) showing its strong Venetian heritage, and the easy walking distances around the centre, make Budvar very typical of this stretch of the Adriatic coast. What has also become more typical is the crowds, both on the beach and around the town, with many houses now built on the hills around. The proximity to SV. Stefan also makes it a must stop for many coach loads of tourists coming down from Kotor or up from Bar.
The number of visitors, the large marina with its variety of boats, and the congested spaces nowadays made it ideal for walking around with the camera. I took with me an analogue and digital SLR and so, unlike the images from the Lake, I have mixed film and digital for this month … can you tell the difference?
The first two images are both very familiar to any visitor to Budvar - the ‘Mermaid’ which you pass as you walk over to one of the nearby beaches, is mounted on a plinth itself on a rock that you can step on to and have your picture taken with this local icon. The image catches the energy and flexibility of the ballet dancer … but Mermaid?
The next image is also a familiar one … the old walls, so solid even the 1979 earthquake could not collapse them. A passing parasail can be seen in the background … a real draw here and you can invariably see someone flying overhead when you look out from the city walls.
The remaining images provide you with a tour of the town starting with two images of the marina with the larger charter boats idling next to the traditional fishing boats in the next image – the old teak and bright colours distracting from the murky water. The next three images were all taken whilst walking around the old town itself.
The final image is of another two local residents, keeping a very attentive stare on a group of tourists passing by.
Next month will wrap up my walking areas for this year with a look at London’s Chinatown.
September 2023
The cold weather and darker days have arrived and it is only appropriate to bring some bright sunshine to this blog. For the next two months I shall be posting some images from my time in Montenegro. I normally stay in Budvar with a trip or two up to Kotor to climb the hills around the fjord and get some clear shots from the old fort. This time I was determined to spend some time inland beyond Podgorica, the capital. I had heard of a famous hippopotamus that had been seen in the shallow waters of Lake Skadar so that seemed a good place to start. The Lake is part in Montenegro and part in Albania – I only travelled on the local side.
The challenge would be to take a long lens that would enable me to capture the teeming wildlife on the lake against the backdrop of the colourful fauna. Both would be a challenge … as mainly a street photographer nowadays I have never needed a lens beyond 90mm. In addition, people would be supplanted by the multitude of birds that lived on the lake. My last image of a bird was whilst in Vegas … and that was a question to Aristophanes. I do have a 500mm mirror lens but could that really achieve the sharpness I was used to with my shorter focal lengths or would I be more creative and look to visualise impressions of fowl and fauna? I settled on the latter, working with the best I had! The next obvious question with such a lens was … could I avoid the bubbles or would that be part of the impression?
From the Illyrians, the Romans, the Byzantines, Venetians, and Austrians, Montenegro is only a 1000km from north to south but has been a stretch of coast prized by the Mediterranean Empires. Inland the high mountains and deep canyons enabled an independence for these martial people from the Turks. Nowadays, living within this small country, Croats, Serbs Albanians, Roma, Muslims and longstanding Montenegrin families cohabit, working towards an EU entry. The first image is of those Black Mountains, looking inland from the Coast.
The remaining images are scenes from my day in the Lake with a very friendly group of French tourists, often tapping me on the shoulder and pointing out another potential image for me. The impressions (and the occasional bubble) could not be helped with the mirror lens but I do hope the colours and those same impressions I captured will encourage you to visit this unique country.
A brief blog this month with a series of images from the Lake. Next month I shall share some images of Budvar, a busy, popular sea-side resort that provided me with plenty of opportunities to revert to my more current style of candid images.
August 2023
With the summer break over it has been good to settle back in to the weekly walk around my current trail, following quite closely the old Bedford Estate boundaries from Holborn, through Bloomsbury and Covent Garden to Tottenham Court Road. This month I am sharing images I have taken over the year from Covent Garden. Whereas Shoreditch could be much less familiar to people the circuit this year has been around places much more familiar, popular, and iconic even … how to find a distinctive angle for the Great Admiral for example? It has been a good challenge to try and frame the images in a distinct way and show the familiar from different angles and perspectives. Only you, the viewer, can confirm if I have been successful.
This month I shall go straight into the images although the history of Covent Garden before Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries and gave the land we now know as Covent Garden to the 1st Earl of Bedford, John Russel, in 1552, is quite fascinating in itself. The North’ish arcade in the first image and the church of St Paul’s (not in this image) was part of the building work started by the 4th Earl in 1630, commissioning Inigo Jones to design these distinct sections of the Square. The modern Apple logo can be seen in the shadows, the red phone box, the performer entertaining a group of young watchers, and the bright summer sun takes the eye to the gap in the colonnade that leads up to the Tube station.
The next two images are of another performer taking over the square in front of St Paul’s. The church was finally consecrated in 1638 but damaged by fire near the end of the 18th Century – Nebot’s painting from 1737 shows how the church looked before the fire. My two images of this spot have been placed next to each other as I managed to catch him preparing to give his show, tensely adjusting his tie before he starts. Standing on his trunk, calling a friend (?), and providing a very animated and energetic performance. I had moved across the square with the light at a diagonal and those 2 likely lads in the background were just too good to miss and include in the image.
The next image was taken at a different date also in front of St Paul’s. I had seen some of the Pearly royalty on the tube on my way to Holborn, reconnecting with them here … a really lovely group that were happy to share the stories of the old East end and what the tradition of the pearly kings and queens represented to the Garden and the working class of London in times past. I did not know if they were aware of the history of the Garden itself and how the revised square, we see now was in response to the market becoming an area of disrepute and degeneracy? The cleaning up of the area was the beginning of Victorian propriety and it was during the same period that the Pearlies evolved from the costermongers: their hand-stitched finery intended to cock a snoop at the better-off cut-cloth around them.
Moving around to the back of the Market building there are a number of shops and cafes leading up to the Museum of Transport. Coincidentally I noticed the lady looking after her family with her arm raised, matching the artist in the background working on another tourist portrait … a lucky coincidence.
It was in 1978 that street performance here really took off and the motivation was to bring the circus to the people. Such a variety of street theatre that entertains and brings joy to so many young viewers survived lockdown and continues to absorb the shoppers and passers by today. For me, they are similar to those graffiti artists from last year’s walks with a camera … independent, talented, and very supportive of one another. These next two images are of an established duo that have been performing at the Garden for many years. The joy of the young princess in the image and the group all rapt as the unicycle moves in front of them. The second image, the other performer of the pair seemed too good a framing not to include this month – such an impressive set of entertaining skills they bring to their performance.
Within the market there are also the variety of craft stalls that are always busy over the weekend and it is important to remember that Covent Garden remains a market. Not the cluttered and clattering spaces of earlier centuries with an open square filling up with tents or, until quite recently, the fruit and vegetable wholesalers that had to give up their spot as traffic (and lorry size) increased around the Garden. The pitches now are more varied but most often distinct to the Whittard, Chanel, and such in the shop spaces. The drawing of the eye is what held my attention for this image … the ocellus of my logo too close to mind.
Re-assuringly, you can still get a good cup of coffee: the area once boasted many ‘penny universities’ as the early coffee shops were named. Covent Garden did have its own flavour here and, despite Boswell’s (now gone), literary history, Henry Fielding describes a more ‘licentious hostelry’ in his ‘The Covent Garden Tragedy’: King’s Coffee-House. This ‘rude shed’, taken over on King’s death by his wife, Moll, sustained its reputation. Within this milieu I also read of one pamphlet written at the time (1747) describing the use of ‘flash’, a secretive language familiar to criminals (apparently) and exported to New South Wales in the 18th Century! Could this be the origins of the Cockney rhyming slang used by those Pearlies?
These last two images, to me, just capture the entertainment and the incongruity of the space – an animatronic T-Rex being patted by the child’s mum and a static sculpture taking a Jimmy Riddle.
Next month as the colder weather hits some summer sun from my travels …
June / July 2023
I am combining June and July for this blog as a hot summer has arrived and I shall be off for most of this period, hopefully accumulating some images for the second half of the year. Last month I shared some images from the very peaceful Phoenix Gardens, an oasis of calm behind Charing X Road. This month I am moving further along my regular weekend walks with a camera to Trafalgar Square. The challenge with such an iconic spot is how on earth to take any pictures that could be considered in any way distinctive and/or original? I decided to use Ilford Ortho film (ISO80) and, for another visit, a 500mm mirror lens with a red filter … a distinctive look definitely from both sources but sufficiently distinctive to provide an original view of such a prominent Square?
One of the reasons why I repeat specific walks over a 12-month period wherever I am living, is that it provides me with an opportunity to tune my images, capture the changing weather and/or events going on, and to observe the ever-changing flow of people passing through these spots. Trafalgar Square is a hub for so many things and each weekend I have taken this route it has provided me with something different to capture. The majority of these images with the ortho film coincided with the lions and column being cleaned. On other occasions the fountains have been on and off, a half-marathon was being run, a cyclist dominated West End, and, as some of these images reveal, I had found a very good condition mirror lens! I shall share with you in each of the commentaries whether the image is ortho, red-filtered mirror, or other.
The first 2 images have one of each – the first, looking through the columned portico of St Martin-in-the-Fields towards the great Admiral himself statuesque in profile, gazing towards Admiralty Arch and the Mall with his victorious fleet (in miniature) on the top of each flagpole. From such a height, one eye or not, I would imagine it has always been a pretty impressive vista. The complementary image is with the 500mm captured from the same position as a plane was flying past … with such a lens the great Admiral does not look quite so isolated?
The next image was a candid shot as I walked over the road from the church. I wanted to ‘look through’ the glass box at the couple admiring the horsed statue of George IV. I Then waited for a ‘triangulation of pairs’ and this was the moment I managed to achieve this. The man in front talking to his phone in a Marcel Marceau-like stance just added to the foreground, the ortho film emphasising an almost 1950’s Berlin look to the elderly couple nearest our distracted mime artist.
These images are both using the ortho film. The first is a variation of a view I had seen captured on a number of images from Google, looking towards the Gallery with the sculpture. Again, not wanting to copy any of these, I shifted my position, placing the flowing fountain in the foreground and a covered wing to the Gallery in the background. The two figures on the fourth plinth, the 14th commission in the Mayor of London’s Fourth Plinth Programme, are part of a sculpture named ‘Antilope’, I believe, by Samson Kambalu, unveiled on the 28th September 2022. The two figures are a restaged photograph from 1914 of Baptist preacher and pan-Africanist John Chilembwe and missionary John Chorley. The description of the sculpture can be read on the London.gov.uk site and is as follows:
‘On the plinth, Chilembwe is larger than life, while Chorley is life-size. By increasing his scale, the artist elevates Chilembwe and his story, revealing the hidden narratives of underrepresented peoples in the history of the British Empire in Africa, and beyond.’
So much of our Imperial history is linked to our sea-power it did seem only appropriate to juxtapose these 3 statues within a compressed shorter telephoto image (not the 500mm) for my fifth image.
This later one was taken with the red-filtered mirror lens with Chilembwe profiled against the clouds. The texture and softness of what is a bronze statue was compelling and this lens managed to let me get close enough to highlight the artistry and skill from the initial clay into the highly polished bronze: a real credit to the artist, the studio team, and the intention of them all to create such a super set for the Fourth Plinth. As with the image of the Admiral, utilizing the catadioptric lens, super-sharp and not a donut in sight!
Another candid shot that was just too good to miss?
It was whilst I was at the Square using the Ortho film that I noticed a team were working around the column ‘scrubbing up’ the monument. The lions were added in 1867, 25 years after the statue was erected which I was certainly unaware of as they now seem such an integral feature at the base of the column. On this occasion some were canopied over and some had been left uncovered. Both of these images intended to capture different views of the lions with the crane (sharing with the mane) being too much an association for me from my project last year of capturing the graffiti artists and the craned muralists around Shoreditch.
The final images, one colour and one in monchrome, using neither ortho nor the mirror lens … I just wanted to show a modicum of variety in the selection of images for these holiday months.
Catch up in a month’s time for my August blog …
May 2023
For this month my focus is on a project I have been working on closer to home. Last year I enjoyed walking around my local area and choosing to focus on specific themes that interested me and involved a diverse range of people – the graffiti artists, the advertisement muralists, and the ever-changing crowds moving around Shoreditch. This year I had wanted to consider other centres of footfall that would allow me to develop a few themes as I familiarised myself with a new challenge. The planning was simple … a few tube stops westwards … Holborn to be exact and, from there, I had planned a selection of walks with a camera that would give me interesting options each time I came out the tube station: One was across to Covent Garden and up to Centrepoint via Neal Street; another was along the Strand to Trafalgar Square, up through Chinatown, and then across to Centrepoint; and the third option was across London Bridge, along the Jubilee Walkway, coming back over the wobbly bridge through St Pauls, Liverpool Street, and then back into Shoreditch. Each one of these provided me with a rich variety of sights, a broad mix of people, and the opportunity to benefit from any of the spontaneous/planned events that would go on around those centres. I have now been taking these different options each weekend and have been able to pick out some specific locations and/or themes that I can put into this blog.
The focus of this month is on the Phoenix Garden, nestled in the shadow of Centrepoint and, unfortunately, quite missable unless you know where it is. If you have already visited you will, I hope, agree with me now writing about its merits and why it has become such a pleasant way for me to end two of my circuits. The Garden website itself is pretty informative and Tripadvisor flag it as ‘worth a visit’ with a multitude of photos.
These images are seen as you walk in through the main entrance with the community centre set further back. A whimsical sense of humour is present in many of the artefacts placed around the paths. The garden opened in 1984 and is the last remaining community garden in the area. It has survived (and thrived) through the continued support of local people and as recently as 2016 was under threat of closure. As its name suggests, it has always come through these difficulties and remains a wonderful space to come and relax, enjoy the diversity of plantings, and observe the requirements of the bespectacled totem … with such magical resonance as the phoenix and the Green Man should we be surprised? Even with such support, donations are always welcome and the community centre is a great space for use.
One example of its use was in the film ‘Last Christmas’ directed by Paul Feig which highlighted the mural by street artist Stik. The director described how he immediately fell in love with the piece and felt it communicated togetherness, a central theme of his film. This was in an interview he did with ‘Big Issue’. The first image, in colour, was taken on Cinestill which I felt was wholly appropriate in reference to the 2019 film:
The mural is behind a small pond surrounded by abundant greenery and, standing in the rubble pit, framed my next image:
The third image of the Stik work shows a group of Italians, I believe, that were being given a tour of the gardens by a tall top-hatted guide with a bright red scarf as his neck-warmer – a distinctive image and, no doubt, easier to see in more congested areas of their walk. Although he is out of picture, the far-left figure by Stik seems to be looking over, listening as he explains the background of this wonderful space … is that a look of surprise or consternation?
It is also very much a living garden always changing as the volunteers tend to the rich, dense, variety of plants and flowers that can be enjoyed. I have popped in when they have been bedding a new section or (re)moving some of the artefacts. The fish pond is always a pause-point for me often with a number of pigeons strutting around it hoping for a meal?
On one occasion when the team were in, I noticed that the Smurfs had been removed – they are hardy creatures that I hope will come out again next winter. For now, the final image shows those happy little blue Smurfs absent but smiling Henry now benefitting from a tousled abundance of hair! If the Smurfs were originally identified as coming from ‘Le Pays Maudit’, the Phoenix Garden is anything but and I hope you can take the opportunity to visit.
April 2023
This month I would like to share some images from my very brief (4-day) trip to Vegas. I knew with such a short sojourn I would have to plan carefully. Although I did visit the ‘old’ Vegas, the ‘strip’ was so overwhelming in visual potential I confined myself to this stretch of imagination, ingenuity, and fantasy. I also knew I would need to plan carefully the small amount of gear I would take with me … clear, bright, skies amidst a consumer fest of spectacle and spending. A super wide 15mm seemed the best way to capture the monumentality of the place with a short telephoto to compress these edifices of artifice. I also felt all should be on film – those clear, bright, skies and vivid colour were a gift for Kodak.
I have only selected a few from the 3 films I took … I already felt the higher number of images would give this blog the look of a series of ‘postcards from Vegas’! I was staying mid-strip walking between the Bellagio and the Paris with some frequency, trying to time those long traffic lights to my advantage … jay-walking is not recommended. The next two images are of The Bellagio, outside looking across the ‘lake’ and inside of the atrium swans … the intensity and compression of spectacle was overwhelming and I found the 15mm a good way of at least giving the impression of space.
Outside the Paris are replicas of the Eiffel Tower, Montgolfier’s balloon, and the Arc de Triomphe … that compression again! This next image is of the Balloon with the railway station looking canopies and a pigeon, just visible … human imagination and engineering ingenuity might have created all these jaw-dropping sights (do I need to get out more?) but I did need to ground at least one of the images with a natural counterpoint … possibly Pisthetaerus succeeded in persuading his colleagues to build this city in the desert and not in the sky?
Having only recently spent time in New York the replicated monuments and sights of that great city proved a compelling draw for me, using the iconic Liberty to create a number of distinct images. These walkways, although uncovered, were really useful to walk from end-to-end on each side. I would walk up and down the whole strip every day, noticing something extra each time … compression of stimuli! The begging was also commonplace but it would not normally be my style to take pictures of such but, in this instance, the outstretched arm almost in salute from the hooded figure seemed to contrast well with the Liberty flame held high.
This aspect of compression was something I worked to capture and, with so many iconic structures around me, this was my attempt around the New York-New York resort.
The next image is of the High Roller, set back slightly from the strip, and a brief walk through a shopping area with people screaming as they high wire past you … old Vegas had a similar wire and it was definitely an intention of mine next time I visit to spend more time taking shots of the lower key, and lower height, buildings in the old town. The wheel though did give me an opportunity to capture a nice starburst, counterpointing the wire struts of the wheel itself. The 15mm also allowing a distinct upward angle for the shot.
So many postcards but what about the people that make the city such an epicentre of forgotten impulse control? I had noticed these groups of women, often in pairs, strolling up and down the length of the strip, approaching men and couples for a shot and a tip. They were very prominent and there were also bare-chested men ensuring equality had its expression, even if only in a photograph as a memento of a trip to Vegas!
Near the Southern end of the strip on the way out to the airport is the Shrine of the Most Holy Redeemer and it seemed only appropriate in such a place to share with you just this one image of this low profiled church with the cross prominently visible from the main road with a non-enigmatic Sphinx looking over from the other side of the road (not in this picture though!). There was also something about the design of the church and those not-too-distant foothills surrounding the city that caught my eye.
For this final image from the strip the Arco (and the lawyers) captured for me the road outta Vegas …
This statuary, just outside the Paris, seemed the best way of representing my state of mind after this whirlwind 4-day trip … I enjoyed every moment and a trip to Vegas, no matter how brief, is a must for anyone’s bucket list of experiences!
March 2023
Edinburgh is my home city, where I was born and where I spent most of my teenage years. One of my initial photo projects was trying to capture that Sunday morning quiet around the Royal Mile after the heaving energy of an Edinburgh Saturday night. The one image I share from that first project is of a board painter, balancing on one of those old (and thin) wooden ladders that would never pass health and safety checks nowadays. The streets were empty, the betting shop and pub closed, and just myself and the writer, preparing for the pubs to open again.
The second image is from the same period and was another early project where I was documenting the union tensions of the day as Britain went through the early Thatcher period. This strident poster references a number of topical points of confrontation with no peaceful approach recommended. The militant workers would hoist the Tories with their own ‘missiles’, boomeranging them back to the ‘capitalists’ … as a way of making them see sense? If that failed, the ‘Harrisburg Bomb’ referenced the Harvey’s Resort Hotel bombing in August 1980. That was not intended as a conciliarity option either …
My trip to Edinburgh this month, the first in some time, was for a new kilt … my old one had long ago been a moth-feast. This gave me the opportunity not only to visit some of those spots I had rarely visited in the past but also look at a ‘new’ Edinburgh with many buildings refurbished/repointed or quite recently built. A walk-up Carlton Hill seemed like a good way to achieve this aim – I had rarely gone up there when younger, there was so much more to do! This panorama of Edinburgh from the Hill has the Castle in the middle and, in many ways, a profile I was very familiar with … I left out the new ‘walnut-whip’ from the skyline as it really is discordant with this more traditional view that I remembered well. I did take some images though of this modern addition to the skyline but I shall possibly post those some other time.
The main edifice on the Hill is an unfinished colonnade, Edinburgh’s soi-disant Parthenon, started in the 1820’s to commemorate Scots who fought in the Napoleonic wars. Despite the enthusiasm at the time, the funding was soon exhausted and it has remained since then as it can be seen today. The purpose and ambition of the monument was to be an ‘… Incentive to Future Heroism of the Men of Scotland’. Even unfinished, it seems to have served that purpose well. It is imposing and I did wait just a wee bit for the visiting tourists to provoke interesting silhouettes as they looked down to their friends or, leaning against a column, checked their phones.
Over the weekend Murrayfield was hosting the Scotland – England game which meant I had to get up to the Royal Mile beforehand to capture all those visitors milling around and soaking up time before the game began. The result suggested Carlton Hill remains a valid incentive … as intended. A familiar image for me was always the piper on the street, playing a bit, attracting a gaggle of listeners and, in this case, providing a photo opportunity … much more overtly commercial nowadays! Almost as familiar, the ubiquitous tams with the straggly red fur attached have always been popular although not that flattering. These ladies did seem to pull it off better than most but, as I watched them, I doubted they were checking their selfies?
I always enjoyed a walk down to Leith Village (Stockbridge) and I had read that an Anthony Gormley set of sculptures ‘6 Times’ had been positioned along the Water of Leith, starting at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and finishing at Leith Docks where it meets the Firth of Forth. This image is of the 3rd statue. I believe this was the one that had the ‘bawbags’ put on it to preserve modesty in such a public spot … the one at the Gallery is torso only. Alamy has a good selection of images on these but none seemed to capture the oppressive and stilted nature of these sculptures … as if the male figure is shaking in frustration bursting to shout out loud. Walking around behind the sculpture gave me the opportunity to surround the standing figure with the dense bank branches and the flowing petal flecks fallen into the Waters.
The cut down Fleshmarket Close off Cockburn Street was always a good run down to the ‘Halfway House’ pub, a swift pint, and then through the station to Princes Street. On this occasion I didn’t pop into the pub but did notice an image in one of the dark recesses on the right-hand side that have always been rough sleeping spots. Amidst the detritus and graffiti, I noticed a familiar image – Banksy’s camera-rat. I have no idea whether it is an original or not but it did seem a fitting image to capture serendipitously my last day in my home city!
Next month … Viva Las Vegas!
February 2023
What is it that motivates me to photograph? I was thinking about this as I have been reviewing my images from last year, selecting those that I would like to put in the Collection and Gallery sections of my website this year. I always do this as it gives me an opportunity to review the year in photographs although this blog will often be accompanied by more recent images.
Atget’s historical record of the trades, shop -keepers, citizens, and buildings of Paris provided that visual document that continues to provide a reference for me or, similarly, Blossfeldt’s collages encourage me to look at natural objects and see if I can detect those familiar man-made items or the spirit of the natural object itself. The ‘moment’ of Cartier-Bresson is not easy … ever! It is the classical unities of drama that also direct me in an attempt to harmonize the elements of action, time, and place in a single image. There are many other prompts that I observe in these images … the better ones that is … the remainder are just doodles, testing a new lens or camera, or just ballast as I tune in to my walking with a camera.
There is also the aspect of people and how my images can resonate with the viewer … I know that if I was to provide many of last year’s street images to all those people I photographed around Shoreditch there would at least be some of them interested in the image. That is why I also went around many of the shop-owners last year and took images of them in situ … with their permission of course … and would then provide them with a framed copy of their favoured image … moderately inexpensive publicity and goodwill. These observations helped me, in part, to answer that initial question but I also recognized that I am unsure if I shall ever get to the bottom of it!
For this month I have selected a set of images from my most recent trip to New York where I extended my radius down to Brooklyn and Wall Street. I stayed around Times Square again which provides an inexhaustible source of potential for images, re-visiting some of my sites from my last trip with a walk along a much quieter Highline and a visit to B&H with Penn Station and those pigeons just around the corner.
The first image is from the Highline – I am not sure if it was the Hopper exhibition, the iconic aspect of those external fire-escape stairs, or just the rich contrast of framed colours but I did feel I had to start this series with colour …
The second image was from around the Gridiron, covered up and I did not have the inclination to try and capture an inadequate Christo and Jeanne-Claude artwork. Milling about I noticed these two setting up and a pigeon observing… the image of the wandering biwa hoshi was too front of mind not to take a few images.
This third image was after my visit to B&H and I was looking to capture those criss-crossing pigeons again. This time I went down to the other end of the colonnade and waited. Another photographer possibly had the same idea but had also arrived with some bread crumbs which she sprinkled around the steps … my work done for me. The heavy traffic quickly spooked the group and they all took off together … obviously adhering to the ‘No stopping’ sign.
On my last trip there had been so much to see around the centre I had no need to take the subway. This time I did want to get further out and thought I would start with the iconic Brooklyn Bridge.
In Venice I had been fascinated by the log bulwarks and, walking up to the bridge, there was a quieter patch looking through these to both bridges … so many images of the Bridge I am familiar with only show abstracted parts of it and this quieter corner seemed a good opportunity for me to try the same.
It is a fascinating and intricate piece of engineering, affording views up and down the river as you walk over. It was a sunny Sunday with only light clouds with a good gathering of people walking over at the same time. I did also take colour images but the sun, concrete, steel, and the geometric structure of the bridge encouraged me to share these black and white images with you.
Times Square always provides …
Catch up next month after my trip to Edinburgh …
January 2023
Happy New Year!
There are those occasions when you are out with the camera when an unexpected opportunity appears wholly spontaneously. One of those occurred when I was walking back from Spitalfields Market between the outdoor stalls at dusk and I noticed some interesting silhouettes on a frosted glass panel of a flower shop. The lighting in the store projected these flowers on to the glass as they were being moved around, the leaves brushing against the frosted glass. As I watched, the shapes seemed to present distinct silhouettes and I started to capture the movements.
As it was already dark, I was using a slower shutter speed 1/30 and 1/40 (thank-you IBIS) and it had the effect of trailing these shapes across the glass as if they were flying through space. The lens I had mounted was a telephoto macro so I could move closer to the glass surface without distorting these wonderful shapes.
I have included a few of them below and I share with you how they struck me …
In this first image the sense of space, speed, and light is manifest with that larger ‘winged’ shape chasing those smaller ones. I chose not to touch up the partition line on the glass or those two anomalous white circles. The areas of shade do help provide some depth to the shapes with everything visible racing over to that darker patch on the top left … Star Wars came to mind?!
The second image was distinct again as those plants moved behind the glass. This time the wings and the small ‘head’ struck me as bat-like, rocketing out from the fauna and the mist? The light frames the shapes wonderfully … again I did not need to adjust the image at all!
The third image, more indistinct, is less clear in what it could represent … I just liked the different tonal shades that it presented to me. What is absent in these images is the sound and sight of these plants being moved behind the glass. As each image was taken, just prior I would hear the swish of the leaves brushing against the glass and it would prime my next shot.
For this final image it is a second one of that ‘bat’ but, with the macro lens, I could move in almost touching the panel with the end of the lens. Although the light areas are still clear, it struck me the grey areas looked like an x-ray of all the different shapes crowding into this closer frame as the ‘bat’ hurtles through the space, stretching forward.
My main project last year was collecting all those images of those different activities going on around my local area here in Shoreditch. People, within different spaces, were very much the focus and I chose not to spend too much time on my conceptual work. This is an example of the latter and this year I shall be posting more examples of these associations, objects, and shapes that resonate with me and, at least in my mind, present different vivid objects. The element of composition in any image requires a sense of balance, harmony, tension, dissonance, and many other qualities perceived by both the image-maker and the viewer, whether the image is conceptual or more grounded in the everyday. I have always felt that these qualities applied to my more conceptual work have helped me with aspects of composition for those images of people and places that I enjoy equally.
Next month I am hoping to post images from my second trip to New York with the M3 … which is quickly becoming my favourite film camera!
December 2022
This post will complete my first-year blogging on my own website. It has been a learning process that has given me the opportunity to explore what I would like to write about. I began these monthly writings with some earlier images I had taken in the 1980s of punks and from my travels in the Middle East. Inspired by Andre Kertesz and Don McCullin, I would spend most of my time wondering around with a camera looking to capture people and their stories. It has been quite a hiatus since then but I am very happy to be back, once again, wondering around with a camera, working on projects and shoots around Shoreditch.
This year I have also used the blog to present some of the themes that have motivated me as I have been living in this area: the graffiti artists, the advertisement muralists, and the busy markets, with the occasional diversion of sharing some images from the Rockies and New York. This blog is being written as I once again am over working in the Big Apple … much colder this time round though!
The images for this final month of the year are all from around Brick Lane, the main artery of Shoreditch. I have spent a lot of time here and share with you images of some of the characters, tourists, and regulars working and/or providing such rich variety to this busy street. They were all taken at different times last year: it is quite a narrow street for most of the way but it opens up for a short stretch near the Bethnal Green end. The mid-day light, directly above, has often provided some interesting direct shadows but there is also a broader section which allows the capture of more of the regular weekend pitches, the characters, and the visitors all enjoying the lively buzz of this well-established street in Shoreditch!
Next month I start a new year of reflections, thoughts, images, and comments as I continue to wander around with a camera.
Thank-you for reading and my very best wishes to you for 2023!
November 2022
For this month I would like to share a selection of images taken during my recent visit to New York. It is such an amazing city for a photographer and this was also my first opportunity to test an M3 I had recently acquired with a 50mm lens. I had never used one of these mythical rangefinders before and I was rather curious to see how I found the experience!
I was staying a few minutes from Times Square and was quickly reminded of how much the city encourages walking – a straightforward grid system, water either side and, despite all those skyscrapers, the bright sun also visible through the gaps at this time of year.
I had wanted to get over to B&H Video just off 9th Avenue as soon as I could and so walking down, arriving early, I walked around to Penn Station. At the Farley Post Office building entrance with the older classical exterior, knowing the large number of pigeons would criss-cross the street, I wanted to just wait for the right moment. Just as a guy came up asking me to buy him breakfast, they flew across, filling the ’gap’ looking down to the buildings beyond. I managed to get the shot but no breakfast for my interlocutor! As it was quite early, more of the ‘locals’ were still lying on the steps, matching the angle of the rails leading up to the central entrance.
The second image, slightly further back and taken a little bit later, catching the sun, the shadow, and a man waiting for his colleagues to join him from the other side of the street. Once united, they all promptly walked into the station together.
B&H were great and always so helpful although I did manage not to buy a good condition 35mm with ‘goggles’ for the M3 … very tempting though!
Another spot I wanted to re-visit was Jemmy’s Dog Run, a park in the shadow of the Flatiron building. Some years ago now, I had originally headed to this area to see if I could take some shots of the Flatiron but I was quickly distracted by the popularity of this park with dog-owners. Without Ivor I was no more than a curious passer-by and so I kept walking up 5th, the Flatiron behind me but, no further than the National Museum of Mathematics, I looked up and had my next shot.
The external stairwell fire-escapes are a perennial sight around the city as is the construction work and scaffolding that seems to be up everywhere. This was an opportunity to bring the two together, silhouetted against an overcast, very grey, sky.
The next 3 images are all taken whilst walking along the High Line. As it mainly follows a North/South line it is a super walk in the morning on a sunny day to capture images from one side, have lunch in Chelsea Market and/or visit the Whitney, and then head back up with the sun and shadows providing opportunities looking over the other side of the walkway. It always seems to be busy, providing a super number of shots and varying light and shadow. I cropped these all to square.
The final image was from the East Side looking over to Roosevelt Island from the ferry terminal by the UN building. The departing ferry, the distant skyscrapers contrasting with the jetty pipes, and a distant Brooklyn Bridge all seemed like to good a combination to miss!
These images were all taken with the M3, using a hot-shoe mounted light meter. The Angle-of-View on this was 40 degrees which did seem to help render all the exposure pretty accurately and match the 50mm well. The camera itself was a treat and I shall be using it an awful lot more!
Thank-you for reading!
October 2022
Last month I shared some images from one of my local markets – the Flower Market along Columbia Road. Another market also close to me is Spitalfields Market – a much larger space with an equally interesting history. The more recent space we experience now was once the fruit and vegetable market to the growing local community, competing with Columbia Road and its grandiose buildings that have now almost completely disappeared. However, in the early 90’s, the market had moved further east to Leyton and the developers moved in. The regeneration we now see took 18 years to develop, opening in 2005. Even today we can see continual renewal and development of this social space.
As you can see from these first two images, 21 bronze elephants were positioned around the market, moved from Marble Arch some years ago. There are 20 orphan elephants and 1 mother. They are moved around from time to time around the space from spot to spot as you can see from these images of the Mother Elephant. If you go up to each bronze you can read a plaque with their name and that they are actual elephants protected and cared for by the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, an intended reminder to us of the continuing risks of ivory poaching, habitat erosion, and the impact of those ecosystem changes that continue to impact the environments of these wise animals.
These bronzes are not the only animals that can be seen around the Market … there is also a wonderfully soothing goldfish pond with lilies floating atop the water … a whimsical placing of one of those young elephant bronzes was too good to miss!
Inside, under the roof, the market is a vibrant selection of market stalls with a super food zoo, over the years continually tidying itself up and attracting tourists, locals, and others throughout the week but particularly over weekends. The stalls are varied and stand next to the fixed site shops and restaurants.
The final image is of the steps down to the ruins of the charnel house which goes back to Roman times. The name ‘Spitalfields’ is the joining of hospital and field, reference to the 12th century St Mary’s hospital. Over time the role of the hospital changed from a stopping place for pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem to a hospital caring for the sick and the dying. Plague, famine., pestilence would often strike London and this holy site became a deposit, outside the old Roman walls, for many from the area dead and dying from these blights. I have not shown the ruins themselves, just the stairway down, the mid-day sun catching those polished tablets relating the history of the spot.
All images are digital or scanned film.
Thank-you for reading!
September 2022
This month I would like to share with you some images from one of my local markets – Columbia Road Flower Market. This is one of two near me: next month I shall share some images from Spitalfields Market, a much larger space with a variety of shops, stalls, sculptures, and eateries. The numerous flower pitches on Columbia Road are on Sunday only, the result of an interesting evolution of the Street itself and the history of this spot in the East End. The history behind this evolution can be read about in a number of disparate sources from the information provided by the local council, Tower Hamlets, to Wikipedia, and, in most lively detail, a wide range of anecdotes and descriptions of both the area and Columbia Road itself on the website – Spitalfields Life: a rich resource of all things Spitalfields!
All the images this month were taken after lunch as the market was winding down. It is busy all morning with a large crowd of shoppers and tourists alike winding their way slowly past the stalls and shops which provide an equally colourful diversification away from the rich blooms, plastic canopies and tubs, and those varied metal frames both supporting the canopies and providing varying levels of shelving for the wide range of flowers. The images follow the Road down from The Birdcage to the Royal Oak pubs. This comparatively quieter time also let me get behind the pitches and look out at the shoppers and passers-by on a wonderful clear, bright, Sunday morning.
The final two images taken from behind the Road where there are more shops, stalls, and cafes. As you can see from the final image it is also a perennial stopping point for photographers!
All images are digital or scanned film images.
Thank-you for reading!
August 2022
August is a holiday month and so a shorter narrative. All the same, an opportunity to share with you a series of images from my continuing project of documenting and describing some of those ever-varying activities always going on around me here in Shoreditch.
The area has a strong association with graffiti – it does seem to be everywhere and is very popular with photographers and tourists alike. Last month the muralists were noted as a more formal, commercial, counterpoint to the creative, expressive, and spontaneous space coverings that are vivid, colourful, humorous, and skilful. These are wholly appropriate terms that should be used when noting all the graffiti, often, it seems, covering any free space of wall, board, or even pavement!
My project has very much been about not just capturing so many local activities but also listening to the people I am photographing. This has always been my preference, from those early travels in the Middle East to my current focus here. It has allowed me to get closer to each of these communities, hearing what motivates them. I hope this small selection of images does them justice!
All images are either digital or scanned film images.
Thank-you for reading!
July 2022
Those landscape images from last month were an opportunity, albeit limited, to revert to a style and approach quite distinct to how I approach my street photography. I appreciated many years ago that my ‘style’ (if I have one) is the tension in opposites: either a focus on the dynamic change perceived in my surroundings or the capture of a melancholy stillness that I perceive more often in Nature. The occasional portrait I take will blend the two. Both instincts recognize nothing is still, our surroundings are always changing, but the slower style required for landscape images provides me with opportunity to ‘write’ with the light available – street, that dynamic, overtly changing style, requires a quicker evaluation and capture of the light, shadow, tone, depth, and contrast around the subject.
This month I have put up a selection from a social contrast. Shoreditch is such a vibrant and dynamic area with a background colour of ever-changing graffiti visible in abundance. In contrast to this there are a number of buildings whose walls would experience a much slower rate of change, representing familiar (often high value) companies marketing their products. These single theme designs, taking the whole expanse of wall were colourful advertisements for marketing these goods – intrusive, often striking, and expertly applied. They would remain for a month or so and then would be changed, the previous advertisement painted over, for a completely different product image. If the wall was not quickly recoated, graffiti would soon appear … they are too large (and surely too tempting) not to put up some more impromptu motifs until, this too, would be covered and a new advert would quickly appear.
In recording these processes, it is the working practices of these workers that was also distinct to the collected group of street artist that would be expressing their work in less overt locations. A key distinction was the muralists using the hydraulic platforms to slowly work along those walls whereas the graffiti artists would use a sturdy (?) telescopic ladder depending on the reach required and space available. Such an overt difference is very much related to budgets available! That is why, from my earlier blogs, I felt that nominating these product appliers as ‘muralists’ which, I believe, sustained a clear distinction between these two forms of street artwork. As I spent more time with both ‘tribes’ I realized that such an overt, nominated, distinction does not apply: frequently those I pictured in their Hi-Viz vests on their raised platforms would very often be the same people I would picture working with their spray cans and free-form designs on the more out-of-the-way locations.
Another overt distinction that can be seen is the recording of the muralists … another leitmotif, along with those hydraulic platforms, of the ‘time-is-money’ catechism. This would often be well humoured and you could hear a sociable level of banter between the parties. I would frequently stop and speak to cameramen (always a man!) doing the recording. Again, a clear contrast to those gatherings of graffiti artists where you would often see their kids or friends milling about as the work progressed … the only ‘cameramen’ being myself or other photographers wanting to capture the scene. There are a few well-known places where street photography groups would turn up en masse, take a few photos, and then leave in a pack to the next busy patches of activity … they were often ignored! I did occasionally wonder whether some of their photos would end up on sites being described as performance art?!
This month I have shared with you a selected group of images from the muralists, next month I shall select a group from my images of the graffiti artists, providing you with the opportunity to note these differences for yourself.
For this image … a message for us all?
… and if the machines took over?
All of this month’s selection are either digital or scanned film images.
Thank-you for reading!
June 2022
This month I would like to share a selection of my landscape shots from the Rockies. I knew it would be quite a change switching from street photography around Shoreditch to a style I have not been able to apply for some time. I also knew that I would not have much opportunity to wander along the trails and paths around where I was staying due to family commitments.
As a result, I realised the challenge would be not only to refamiliarize myself with a very different style of photography but also try and elevate my images to be more than just ‘snaps’ as I followed the more popular routes around the mountains such as the Sulphur Mountain gondola and walkway. This is very much the antithesis of the great landscape photographers like Ansel Adams and Sebastian Selgado whose work I so admire: I would be unable to immerse myself in the scenery, camping out, lugging a good selection of gear in my backpack, and enjoying those more isolated spots. That limitation was also a reason why I took so little with me – a digital with a 10mm and my 645 with a standard lens. In limiting my choices, I did hope that would make me consider each shot and plan carefully for opportunities along my route.
I had read that there had been a late winter with a lot of snow still up on the peaks and that the weather had not yet broken out into clear blue skies and high temperatures. This meant I would have snowy peaks and lots of cloud if I was fortunate in the days I could head over to Banff. I had also read that the walkway is quite extensive and leads along the peak to a high point where there is a weather station with vistas looking out in all directions at the Rundles, Sundance, Norquay, Goatview, and through to Lake Minnewanka.
A clear impression from the local maps and images that they had chosen a good spot to put a tourist walkway!
All 4 images this month are of scanned medium format film
This first image is a panorama looking through Cascade and Rundle to Lake Minnewanka with Spectral and Girouard either side, still very much snow capped. In the foreground is the ‘Mighty Bow’ river and to the left is the Trans-Canada Highway 1, both snaking their way around the image. My digital shots were B&W but I only used colour film – I prefer B&W for my street photography so this was intended as a conscious change to use colour again. From this image you can see that thick cloud cover with that small patch of blue sky allowing me to capture the light falling on those distant mountain peaks.
This second image is looking out to Pilot and Ishbel with the Bow and Highway 1 visible in the valley. The familiar change in weather conditions, if you have ever spent time in the mountains, was a great opportunity to capture the low mist over the distant peaks. This contrasts to the bright sun you can see reflecting off that patch of snow just next to the right of my viewpoint.
I did manage some trail walking whilst I was staying in Cochrane and this image is from a trail that runs along the Bow and borders with an indigenous reservation. The woods were rather bleak in their surroundings with trees left fallen as they died. They were just left and it did not seem they were collected or being cut down in any planned way. As I walked further into the trail the undergrowth became more unkempt and the rain clouds began to collect overhead. As I had walked further into the trail the birds also could no longer be heard; any wildlife seemed to be wholly absent. There was a sense of desolation and melancholy and I wanted to capture this strange feeling I had. This image, I feel, captures that bleakness, a sad gloominess, an exhaustion even.
The final image for this month is taken from the same trail but my inspiration here was not the great landscape photographers I am familiar with but the artists Isaac Levitan and Akseli Gallen-Kallela. The landscape of this area did not appear too dissimilar to the scale that both of these artists conveyed respectively of Russia and Finland. The specific image I had in mind of Levitan was ‘By the whirlpool’ – the first time I saw this painting I was stunned into silence. The stillness, the melancholy, the late-light reflections all held me strongly. It is that mood I attempted to capture in this image. There is no artifice but everything just seemed to be in the right place. This stillness, the melancholy, of so much of this trail clearly contrasted with those mountain panoramas.
It was a very welcome break and, coming back to London, I promised myself I would not wait so long before I could visit areas of the UK and work more on my landscapes. Next month I look forward to sharing more of my project work as I return to my local area.
I do hope you have enjoyed the images this month,
Thank-you for reading!
May 2022
This month is ending with me over in Canada finally being able to capture the wonderful mountain scenery around the Rockies. This has been my first trip abroad for over two years. The decisions on which cameras to take was surprisingly simple: a medium format film and a digital with a 10mm. I have always adopted the practice of using only one camera when I am out so as to ensure that I keep to my belief in one camera, one lens, and my five senses. I was very much looking forward to the break!
The opportunity to switch to slow set-up landscape shots did make me reflect on how much I have enjoyed the focus on people and their environment over these past two years. As I was looking at the maps and images of the locations, spots, and photo opportunities around Banff the images, both amateur snapshots and well studied professional images, provoked the question of whether to focus on those iconic familiar images around the mountains or just let the weather, accessibility, and such things determine the images I would capture. This I did note has been at least one influence of spending these recent years walking around and letting nature provide. The images this month, as I write from Canada, are a sequence where each of the subjects was ‘just there’.
This first image was taken whilst I was living in France as a student. I was walking around the city with my camera and saw these two ladies talking to each other. I recognised both; the one on the left worked at the local Doc (supermarket) and the older lady lived opposite me, often haranguing me for my imprecise French. What struck me at the time was the respectful distance and posture of the woman on the left as the older lady was talking. The latter, fists on hips, bag placed on the pavement, leaning in and, certainly from my experience, possibly complaining about some municipal practice or the laziness of young people. The attentiveness, the rigid posture, the eye contact of the store lady just seemed a moment, a contrast, too good not to catch. As I am writing this, I have last month’s image in mind of the two women in front of Maks’ on Columbia Road talking to one another … that distance between the parties leaving quite a different impression.
The second image is much more recent and was taken on one of my walks around Shoreditch. This railway bridge is a favourite spot for the local graffiti artists and it is often part of my walk behind Brick Lane. On this occasion I was walking under the bridge and these two passed me. The taller male figure acknowledged me as they walked by. I turned to catch them as they were about to go up the steps with that rather sinister piece framing their turn. The white scarf on one of the pair, otherwise both of them in dark clothes, made for a good combination of contrast and detail with what looked very much like the plague doctor’s mask. The difference in height between the two of them, the crowded graffiti all the way along their walk here, the rubbish, detritus, and the tyre brake marks represented another contrast as the height difference contributed to the sense of scale. They were not walking briskly or looking around – they did not turn around to see if I had moved on – trust.
This next image was another recent one from a recurring walking route of mine, along New Inn Yard, around the back of Shoreditch High Street. The background to this image is the giant mural ‘Connectivity Matters’ on the Colt Technology building which was a collaborative work by 16 of the UK’s top street artists. This specific section was painted by the Nomad Clan as a homage to retro connectivity: the pigeon, the letter, those arrows representing the forward/rewind indicators you would find on old cassette tapes, and the feather quills which links with the statue of Shakespeare in the foreground. This statue sits close to the foundations of the first purpose-built theatre in London. There are many parties guided through this area and this group were listening attentively to the guide as he explained the different artworks on the Colt building. My interest was with the mother, sitting but listening to the guide, and the girl, resting her hand on the scroll, looking down at it. I checked after they had moved on and there was an interesting splatter of blue paint dots. The manifest curiosity and attention of the group, the sitting trio … Shakespeare even appears to be listening to!
This last image is of my Dachshund looking at me from the sofa.
From these four images I have reflected (and I believe captured) different emotions in each one: respect from the DOC lady, trust between those two that walked past me, curiosity from that little girl, and, in that fourth image, the most important emotion of all: love. For me, even though currently immersing myself in the stunning scenery of the Rockies, photography will always be about capturing the human.
I hope you have seen the same, and possibly more in each of my images this month?
Thank-you for reading!
April 2022
Last month I completed a 12-month project I have been working on, trying to capture some of the contrasts around my local area, Shoreditch. There has been a wealth of opportunity as I have become more familiar with some of the popular spots for different groups: the large covered market of Spitalfields contrasts with the narrow, always packed, Columbia Road flower market on Sunday mornings; the main shopping thoroughfare of Brick Lane with its contrasting ‘sections’ before and after the Mosque; and the different locations for both the graffiti artists and the marketing muralists. It is this last one that has provided such a varied source of images, noting the similarities and differences between both the graffiti imagers and the advertisers with each changing so frequently.
The motivation was also more personal as Covid limited my ability to travel and compile projects at a given location abroad: the opportunity to research a foreign location; review the stock photos; read the Lonely Planet and DK guides; organize the camera bag; and prepare for any eventuality! I have always found this an exciting way to visualise the images I wanted to capture at my selected location. Little did I know that after a year of working around this area the diversity, vibrancy, colour, and contrasts, would provide more than enough material for me to compile a portfolio of many parts with Shoreditch High Street running down the middle.
For this month it is a rather eclectic selection of different spots along my route, starting with Columbia Road on a Sunday morning, then a mobile of angels near St. Pauls, a masked rooftop sculpture fishing by the light of the moon, and then the final one of Shoreditch High Street Overground as a multiple exposure. They are a mix of scanned film and digital.
The first image was taken on Columbia Road in 2017 before masks, the 1-way system, or even when it could not open due to lockdowns. Maks is a family run newsagent that has a great selection of foods and magazines inside. The two women in front just looked so distinct … they were certainly not arguing (no raised voices) but I did find the focus of one, the distracted air of the other, the ‘social distancing’, and Mrs Maks’ image in the background catching my lens. Attempting to project what they were thinking or running imaginatively with a potential conversation that never happened have always seemed fruitless to me. What I will look for, on occasions, is a perceived unity in action, time, and place in the anticipation of catching an aspect of drama at the time of the shot: it just seemed to be too good an opportunity not to catch them mid-flow at that moment!
This image was from the summer of 2019, before Covid broke that December and all of our lives changed. It was a mobile installed by KHBT and the German artist, Ottmar Horl. It was erected during the London Festival of Architecture and the intention was to ‘celebrate what can happen at the creative boundary of art and architecture’. The theme for the LFA that year was boundaries. The 40, finely sculpted, gold-plated guardian angels were attached to a wire frame, suspended on swings, all with a deliberate air of pensiveness. The images I took framing the cathedral dome or even one framing a 747 passing overhead just seemed too ‘busy’. The high contrast rich blue sky, the powder soft cloud, and the framing by the angels themselves seemed to me to be the most appropriate image for this blog.
This third image is of another sculpture, this one by Mark Jenkins, ‘Fishing Man’, currently on the Truman Brewery Rooftop just off Brick Lane. This was put up in 2019 after his earlier work, ‘Project 84’, placed 84 hooded male sculptures on top of the former ITV building over on the South Bank. This sculpture was from his ‘Brd Sht’ installation but with the painting of a worm on a fishhook removed. The image is working with Jenkins’ own stated intention that his works should lead only brief and lonely lives. I cropped this image to anamorphic to ensure only the corner of the Brewery building did not distract from the sculpture, the later afternoon light, and the bright moon all within the stretched viewpoint. Instinctively I also saw the image of the ‘Man on the Moon’ but I realised I was representing my interpretation of the ‘The Great Beyond’ as the figure, blinded by the closed hood, nothing yet caught on that dangling hook, could only hope on blind instinct and the immensity of space.
This last image is of the old walls of the former Bishopsgate goods yard with the more recent overground station visible in the background. I did a few multiple exposures around this spot with the jumbled-up Boris bikes providing the foreground to the large painted slogan of ‘EAST ENDEAD’ on the old red-brick wall behind. Despite the lower patchwork of graffiti changing often I have not seen anyone with the ambition, or inclination, to paint over this statement. The site is situated on the boundary between Hackney and Tower Hamlets which was another incentive for me to use multiple exposure here to blur the boundary between the individual frames.
Although, as noted above, this has been a rather eclectic selection of images this month, displacing those classical unities, the common theme has been boundaries. Just as the project this year has provided me with a highly creative, but bounded, range of locations, so have we all been bounded, restricted, and limited by the pervasiveness and fatal impact of this virus.
Thank-you for reading!
March 2022
Paris has always been such a favourite city of mine for photography. Those early influences I noted of Atget and the Paris Humanists did encourage me to visit Paris recurringly, looking for those everyday images amidst such iconic familiarity – ‘qu’est-ce qu’il faut faire ou pas faire …’ ?
This month the 4 images selected are from a walk around Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur a few years ago. Apart from the first image, they are all from the corner of the Rue Briquet and the Boulevard de Rochechouart. On first checking the stock photos, they were mostly looking up the street to the church itself. I had noticed from the street maps that there were a variety of used clothes’ shops and that one of those had been referenced as the café Chez Leon from Maigret … there was my focus!
As with the previous two blogs, the images are all from scanned film.
The first image takes advantage of the high ground of Montmartre, famous for its windmills, with many familiar spots still sustaining the reference. The image, taken from near the top of the butte, looks over the so-called Quartier Africain, the Gare du Nord, and beyond. The relevance and motivation for the church construction does have a darkness to it, despite its blanched exterior. The clearing of the area, prior to its construction, removed much of the area’s strongly artisanal roots, leaving only tourists filing up and down those steps.
Looking for some of that past vivacity and diversity in community, the opportunity to take some images of those clothes’ stalls provided me with a welcome contrast to that linearity of the first image.
I have put these three images in sequence, the first from the bottom of the street with those rushing workers on their way home and then those last two images of women filing through the bundles of clothes that were spilling over onto the street.
I do hope you have enjoyed these first three blogs … next month I shall start setting out my recent work around Shoreditch.
Thank-you for reading!
February 2022
Last month, for my first blog, I wrote down some of the influencers on my style and approach to photography. Influences on your photography are not just those of great photographers although they will invariably be present when you are out taking those images that resonate with you. There are also those other internal influences on your work and that is why, this month, I would like to write about my first trip to Cairo and Jerusalem.
Having grown up in a Moslem Arab country I was a visible minority. However, immersed in the local culture and language I was also provided with a distinctive view of a wholly contrasting society to my own with their customs and beliefs quite different to my white European background. I also had the opportunity to mix with young people of my own age and hear their ‘version’ of the Israel and Palestine issue. That is why I was curious as to how I would photograph Cairo and Jerusalem and whether these influences would be present as I walked around the city with my camera.
For each of these blogs I would like to confine myself to just four of my images, at least in these earlier ones. It is a good exercise and makes me think carefully about each one I select. Looking at them again I do tend to be more critical of the technical aspects of each: they do represent a much earlier stage of my development as a photographer when the focus on the subject and framing was not equally, and instinctively, complemented with a technical precision. That does make them look very raw to me now. As with those images of the Kings Road punks in January’s blog, these images have been scanned from film.
The first image is from Cairo: two young brothers taking some lunchtime shade having spent the morning hustling tourists (so they told me). They were relaxing in an area they certainly did not expect to see any tourists with cameras or otherwise. Introducing myself and learning a bit about their backgrounds they asked me to photograph them. They were in no way self-conscious about their clothes or how they looked, not even feeling any need to pose for this photo. When I moved on they didn’t ask or expect any money from me either … I was pretty sure the tourists to be hustled that afternoon would provide.
The remaining 3 images are from Jerusalem. The first of these is of a group of young Israelis around the Bethlehem Gate which was very close to the hostel where I was staying. Although the black fatigued military were very visible in Cairo, only the police went around armed. Jerusalem was very different and you can possibly see in this photo that the group of young men up on the steps have at least one carbine between them. The young woman staring at me was not staring out of curiosity but more about whether I should even be taking the photo. This censorship/challenge was very present whilst I was walking around the Old City and the religious sites such as the Dome of the Rock.
The next image is of a small group of primary school children so absorbed in their conversation that they had not even noticed the teacher leading the rest of their class back to the classroom. The absorption, affection, and enjoyment in their interaction was something that had struck me as I was taking a series of photos around them. The backdrop, a holy site of three faiths, was oblivious to them as they played and entertained one another.
The final image is from a parking lot where Arab workers would wait to be picked up for work around the city. It was late afternoon and this group were just catching up with each other as all the VWs, Toyotas, and Mercedes were bringing men back. They knew I was there and we had greeted one another but they just carried on talking, absorbed in what their colleague was telling them or keeping an eye on the goat.
Is there an element of bias in these photos I have selected for this blog? Was I influenced by my own familiarity with Arab culture? Jerusalem, for me then, was a city with an uneasy and often tense contrast between two peoples and this is what I tried to capture without bias or without political statement. What I do feel though is that, if you just photograph accurately what is present within any city, those contrasts, whatever they are, should be present in the images you take. It can often be the bias of the viewer, not the photographer, that will be expressed in any critique or commentary of the image itself.
Thank-you for reading!
January 2022
As my introductory blog for the site, it did seem like a good opportunity to write about my current project and some of the influences on my photography.
My main focus, starting March last year, has been a 12-month street project, completing in a couple of months. This was, in part, imposed by those circumstances that we have all experienced of being confined, frequently, to our local areas. The intention has been to photograph my local area, Shoreditch, a stimulating area for a photographer with so many varied street activities and locations. This has been a great area for inspiration … Columbia Road, Brick Lane, Spitalfields Market, and the City itself. These bustling locations (lockdowns restricting) are immersed by those ever-changing marketing adverts painted prominently on building walls. Contrast these sites with those corners of this area where you can find an energetic, ever-changing graffiti. The spontaneous expressiveness and authenticity of this work, often in back streets or near local railway lines, compared to the glossy, structured, works of large consumer multinationals, has also been a recurring theme in my images.
What I also wanted to juxtapose with the ephemeral nature of the graffiti and those wall-painted advertisements was those natural changes. Not just the weather and light, but also the different stages we have all been transitioning with the pandemic everpresent around us: restrictions, liftings, masks on, masks off … all changing many times over these past 9 months. In capturing many of the muralists/graffiti artists as they spray over earlier pieces, it has enabled me to consider the comparison between their work: expressive, often humorous, quirky, always creative, with the impact Covid has had simultaneously … oppressive, suppressive, fearful, and destructive. These are just a couple of the key themes I wanted to capture in my images over this year.
I also wanted to use this first blog to introduce some of the influences on my work. I have always enjoyed street photography and this did seem to me an ideal opportunity to re-focus on this spontaneous style. The photographer that had the most influence on me when I began as a photographer was the Hungarian born Andre Kertesz. Travelling from Budapest to Balaton a few years back now those images he took of the puszta, the Hungarian Plains, certainly resonated within me. It is his work in Paris and New York, however, that has had the most influence on my style over the years … his ‘writing with light’ as he described his approach has always been much more influential on my work than the Moholy-Nagy quote: ‘writing’ just resonated with me more than ‘manipulation’.
Another key early influence was the work of Eugene Atget. His street photographs of Paris, ‘fumigating’, as Benjamin writes in his short essay ‘On Photography’- ‘… the
stifling atmosphere that conventional portrait photography of the epoch of decline had propagated.’ Atget moved away from those ‘great sites’ and ‘so-called landmarks’ and
in this approach, if I can conclude this blog with another quote from Benjamin about the impact of Atget’s work, clearing a way where ‘all intimacies abate in favour of the
illumination of details.’
This is how I aspire to write with light, illuminating a narrative in the details of each of my images, away from those landmarks and great sites. Thank-you for reading!
