Issue 8
In the Spotlight
“C’mon Boys!”… Southbank, London.
The challenge in practising street photography, if you cut to the heart of it, is to find something interesting in an ordinary place.
As I stood on the deck of Southbank Centre watching people come and go, I reflected that it cannot get blander than this: grey concrete flowing seamlessly from a grey sky with colourless people drifting past.
As I probed my environment for clues, my eyes kept returning to the rainwater pooled in front of me. At one such moment a father and his two boys walked into the periphery. Hitching his large daypack, he turned to face me as he cheerfully said, “C’mon boys!”
My instinct was to lift my camera and capture their happy solidarity as they soldiered through the grey day. Instead, for reasons I cannot explain, I turned my camera towards the pool of water and waited until their broken reflections floated into the composition.
I wanted just an impression of them at the frame. That would tell the whole story.
Decontextualising the everyday – leaving only hints at what transpired – so that your audience could fill the blanks is something masters like Bresson and Klein did well.
Me? Well sometimes I get lucky!
One or two Quotes
1.
There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterwards you can remove all traces of reality.
2.
The longer you look at an object, the more abstract it becomes, and, ironically, the more real.
That’s it – thanks for reading! As always, please feel free to hit reply and exchange your thoughts or to just say “hi”.