Bye, Bye 2014 !

Well its almost done, 2014 has been and gone . 

Personally and photographically the year has been okay for me. I managed to get through the year without confrontation on the street and captured a few decent pix, one of which will be exhibited in a major London gallery next year.

Recognition of my photographic efforts is not that important to me as I believe in my work and create it for its own sake rather than the pursuit of praise or worse still money. Having said that it is reassuring when others show appreciation for the images I make, as I , like many other togs have times of doubt and suffer creative lows, its good to know I'm not wasting my time and that others are connecting with the work. At the end of the day Exhibitions are a great way to increase awareness of my pictures.

As the years pass the one thing I become more concious of is the value of time, when I was in my twenty s I believed I would live forever and lacked any sort of urgency in my photographic endeavours..  I now value time above everything, as the penny has finally dropped that life is not infinite and a time will come when only my pictures remain.

This realisation certainly helps me to focus and prioritise.

I understand that some new togs need to develop a level of confidence before going alone on the street and may choose to join others in order to help develop a level of independence and creative vision. I am planning to offer a few  one to one Street Photography sessions during 2015, this will be a very limited service and will hopefully help aspiring Street togs get off on the right foot.

I have a number of shoots planned for 2015 and will probably return to my native North East in order to complete my "Another day Off" series.

The shot below was inspired by the long shadows offered by the winter sun, it was the last picture I made in 2014.

Happy New Year !

David Barrett

Merry Christmas

Many thanks to all of of you who have popped into this blog from time to time this year. I hope the year has been good to you and look forward to your visits next year.

I hope you have achieved at least some of your photographic ambitions this year and that the Street Photography Gods have blessed you with at least a couple of unusual moments,  I really do believe that some of the moments I capture are gifted to me, but I do not know from where or who ! Long may it continue.

Remember that Christmas is not a great time for everyone, if your out shooting over the Holidays do not exploit the vulnerable . Show some kindness, it will be reflected back.

My final picture of 2014 explores the influence of American culture on England and the commercialisation of Christmas.

Merry Christmas

Santa's List !

Following much deliberation I managed to complete my letter to Santa and have released it up the chimney, I hope it arrives safely.

I have asked Santa for the latest Winogrand book, it appears to be quite a significant publication. and will give me a great opportunity to study the work of this prolific American photographer who has inspired so many street togs. I have also listed the William Klein book ABC on my Christmas list and  live in hope that a book by Saul Leiter might  appear under my Christmas tree. I would also love to get my hands on a copy of Grim Street but I don't expect that even Santa can sort that one.

Looking closer to home I am anticipating ownership of the Chris Steele- Perkins book England ,My England as I believe it will complete my collection of British Photography books which already includes studies of England  by Tony Ray Jones, Ian Berry and Martin Parr.

While on the subject of English photographic studies I have decided to continue my humble English project "Another day off" throughout 2015, this will be my fourth year of this project but it is no real hardship as I love the subject matter of England and the English.

Finally I am expecting some news this month regarding my "English pictures" but I am unable to say more at the moment, I have included a scene from last years International Mummers Festival below to try and give this blog a more festive feel.

Keep it real !

Christmas Theme

I have decided to try and create a few street pix working around a Christmas theme over the next few weeks. I have no idea how many images I'll manage but I hope it will become a welcome distraction from the festive madness that appears to have started already.

I went out today to see what I could see and once again I was a bit apprehensive about the quality of the available light, it would be better described as " available dark" !

I cranked up the iso to 800 and knew I would have to rely on squeezing every bit out of my raw files later if anything worthwhile was to be achieved, the Xmas street lighting above my head looked as if it might feature in at least one of my shots so I took up a low camera position to try and catch a few passers bye .

I had noticed the star shaped light and wondered if I might be lucky enough to get three men as my main subjects in the foreground to try and suggest a sort of modern nativity vibe (3 wise  men) I eventually came away with the shot below, I might return to this location and see if I can better this one.

Anyway have a good weekend and keep it real !

Rural Street Photography ?

I'm a little uncertain about the title for this post but I shall plough on regardless, although SP is certainly the child of urban living I do think the rural lifestyle throws up opportunity's for togs with the right mindset to exploit moments that are almost exclusive due to the small population of street photographers in rural communities. 

The greatest problem rural based togs experience is the density of population, as in many ways SP is a numbers game and highly populated locations offer the most opportunities.

Rural locations certainly offer fewer chances for togs to capture worthwhile images but I believe a change of approach can pay off !

Many of the folk who live in our city's and towns head for the country side to relax and participate in leisure activities giving togs the chance to capture great moments of people in what can be surreal situations.

I would also remind togs that now and again a picture can be created without people that might still deliver a response from viewers.

I captured the image below yesterday and post it here because it makes me smile, I hope it makes you smile too.

Keep it real  !

Walking Home After Eating "U" !

Integrity or Creativity ?

The clocks have gone back here in the UK and the Street Photography days are getting shorter and this presents a bit of a dilemma for togs who try not to intervene with their subject matter.To flash or not to flash that is the question ?

I must admit I prefer to shoot straight but the shortened days and flat oppressive light is making me think what was previously unthinkable for me !

I went out today in search of moments but captured only 2 frames of the same subject , in short my day was tough and I did think about using flash but resisted, despite my fondness for the work of Marc Cohen I just did not feel comfortable using a light source that is not a natural part of the moment although I am happy to use artificial light sources that belong to a scene.

The question I am wrestling with comes down to integrity or creativity ? as I am convinced that flash combined with blur can produce interesting images, in fact I'm no stranger to the technique but that harks back to a time when I was motivated by the bottom line and in the business of supply and demand. I am increasingly concerned about protecting the integrity of my work, I believe  introducing a light source that is foreign to a scene diminishes the element of truth and brings into question the ability of an image to be representative of a moment .

I think I will shoot with flash on the street at some point but I don't think it fits with my current series , I will use it for visual effect and I will be aware that I have polluted the moment and sacrificed truth for pictorial reasons.

The picture below was taken today, no prizes for guessing where the inspiration for this one came from.     Keep it real !

PS :No ringflash was used in the making of this work !

A Quote

"I have tried to show the sadness and the humour in a gentle madness that prevails in people. The situations are sometimes ambiguous and unreal, and the juxtaposition of elements seemingly unrelated, and yet the people are real."

Tony Ray-Jones

Creative Camera & British Street Photography

Following my last blog which promoted the acquisition of photography art books rather than photographic kit, I would like to pay tribute to one of my favourite photographic publications ever.

Creative Camera magazine was published between 1964 and 1999 and was a cornerstone of British art photography, it was published by the Coo Press which was famed for racing pigeon publications and represented the beginning of the Great British photographic revolution !

I am old enough to remember being confronted by this publication and have to admit that as a teenager I found the imagery quite challenging and just did not get it !  Looking back I now realise that my visual photographic vocabulary was not developed well enough for me to even begin to understand or meet the the challenge of many of the early portfolios;  Ralph Gibson, Paul Rogers, Chris Killip and Homer Sykes:  all featured in the early days of Creative Camera along side historic photographers like HCB and Eugine Atget.

Colin Osman, Pete Turner and the legendary Bill Jay should all be commended for not only driving this quirky publication forward but for helping to lay the foundations of what became British Art Photography against a background of technique / kit based amateur photography publications and an establishment that had not embraced photography as art at this time . The democracy of internet publishing was a long way off back in the 1970's, the golden period for this iconic publication in my opinion.

Creative Camera magazines can still be found on internet auction sites alongside the 5 Creative camera year books which I believe are extremely relevant to 21st century UK street photography and might still challenge many photographers understanding now , Creative Camera brought readers a important overview of where photography was at this time and suggested what it could be …

Should you wish to understand how we got to where we are now and discover the publication that gave Martin Parr, Tony Ray- Jones and many others early opportunities to be seen by a wider audience you should become acquainted with Creative Camera you will be surprised by the quality of reproduction and the vision of the publishers & contributing photographers.

As the Sex Pistols rocked the musical values of Britain , Creative Camera was preparing for a revolution of photographic anarchy in the UK !

Keep it real !

Save Your Cash & Feed your Soul !

It never ceases to amaze me how much time and emotional energy some togs invest in looking at camera kit, not to mention their investment in hard earned cash to acquire this kit  !

The belief that certain kit will make you a better tog or that you will be perceived as a better tog by your peers because you've just blown a months wages on a piece of kit is madness !

It appears to me at least that the digital camera market is more or less where it needs to be and not many practical advantages are being offered to those who still hang on to a level of sanity.The analogue market or should I say used film camera market is great for buyers in terms of cost although you must factor in the on costs of film etc.

The point I wish to make is that most togs can afford to buy good kit for sensible money but what many fail to recognise is that sticking with familiar kit is a huge advantage as you will eradicate what I call the "fiddle" period of not being 100% certain of what buzzer or bell does what, Stick with what you know!  Don't let the kit get between you and the moment.   I would advise sticking with a fixed focal length lens as part of your familiarity regime.

Only change kit when it lets you down or you want a different look to your work !

Now that I have saved you all thousands of pounds over the next few years I want you to consider an alternative use for this cash. This investment will make you a better tog, a happier tog and might even pay out a dividend at the end if you get it right.

What is this investment I hear you ask ?  Books, books and more books is my answer but not technique books or "how to" books but art photography books, picture books if you like, invest your time and money in the work of photographers you admire, they don't have to be first editions, become familiar or even challenged by the work of other togs especially those who are being published now, not only will you learn a lot but many of these books will hold and often increase in value.

The other reason why we should all invest in books is that the more photo books we buy the more publishers will publish and the more togs that get published the stronger the street photography community becomes !

Most of the SP books on offer usually feature international or american photographers, I would ask that togs consider books that reflect the society they live in and that British togs make an effort to support UK artists especially those who are being published through small local publishers.

One day we might even be invited to exhibit in real galleries rather than on-line ones.

Keep it real ,  Buy a book !

PS: One of the first Art photography books I ever bought cost me five pounds from a bucket book shop on Oxford St, it now sells for more than £200 on Ebay( as it is out of print) the trouble is I love this book and will probably never sell it.

( Added on the 21/10/14 ) I have a confession to make to my readers, within 3 hours of completing this blog I ignored my own advice and purchased a Olympus XA 4, I had been on the lookout for a nice one for sometime, strange how it turned up the moment I had written  this  !

Inspired by Mondrian !

I was out on the street last weekend and managed a couple of successful shots, my favourite was the shot below.

I was attracted to the Mondrian like background that featured on one of the windows of a empty store in Gloucester, I knew that if I could capture an interesting moment against this clean abstract design that the picture had a chance of working well, the background was almost worth a shot as it was

The strong autumnal sunlight was coming from the left of my camera position and I knew that this light would either make or break my shot, at this stage i had no idea if my subject would enter the frame from the left or right, I crouched down behind a large street planter and awaited my unaware subjects, this was a stake out !

This picture was my second attempt, I did not try for a third once I had seen this result as not many people were out on the street and I thought it unlikely that a better moment would present itself.

This image was made by selecting a interesting background and investing a little time waiting for the "moment" to arrive, I could never have visualised the outcome.