Hitting the streets of London

I don’t do as much street photography as before the pandemic, but it’s something I’d like to get back into when time allows. Last week I went into London to catch the end of the Paul McCartney photography exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery and decided my focus for the rest of the day would be people watching.

I had a few minutes before my booked time to see the exhibition so I loitered for a while here, hoping for a good juxtaposition between the Anthony Gormley statue and the folks exiting the escalator.

After leaving the National Portrait Gallery I strolled back through London towards the city, making good use of the strong sunshine - perfect conditions for a spot of black and white photography.

Finally back at Liverpool Street I took a photo of Benson. He’s owned by a homeless chap called Mick who I regularly chat with here and I thought he might like a print of his pet to keep. Benson isn’t in the best of health but has defied all the vet’s dire predictions in recent months and is always happy to received some ear tickles whenever I stop by!

Photos taken 26 September 2023

Still searching

In one of my earlier posts I shared the photos from a day in London when I dipped my toes back into some street photography. That was in preparation for a workshop with Brian Duckett where we learned to shoot in the style of American street photographer Saul Leiter - the images from which I have for you here.

We gathered at a cinema cafe in Shaftsbury Avenue for a briefing and some guidance on the style we’d be aiming for. before walking down to Jermyn Street. Brian set us a series of assignments to shoot and here we were looking to play with reflections - in windows, cars and wherever else we might find them. Frustratingly there were many white vans in the street, along with workmen in high-vis jackets, which spoilt many of the reflections but I still found a few photos.

After lunch we moved on to Bond Street where our new challenge was to use things around to use as frames or as out of focus foreground colour and texture.

From there we walked on to Savile Row, where we hoped we might encounter some well dressed characters about town. The plan was to look for interesting details, such as stylish hats, shoes and the like. Naturally, all the well dressed folk had vanished but I did find one dapper looking chap inside one of the expensive shops.

Normally it’s typical to use a wide angle lens for street photography but Saul Leiter tended to use a longer focal length - often around 85mm, and frequently with a large aperture. I’d spend the day so far using a 75mm effective focal length but for the rest of the day I swapped to 135mm. This gave me a greater reach as the light faded and I found it really helpful for our final assigment.

Brian asked us to use shop fronts to shoot through, using colour and steamy windows to create layers as we walked through Chinatown and Soho.

Click on any image to see it enlarged.

By the end of the day I had a much better idea of the style we’d been searching for. My photos from the workshop have some of the qualities we’d been looking for, but I can see my search for Saul Leiter’s elusive style will continue.

Photos taken 16 January 2023.

In search of Saul Leiter

Street photography used to be something I did regularly, capturing the life and gestures of those around me in the city. Of course the streets became much quieter during the Covid pandemic so I focused on other genres of photography. I wanted to get back onto the streets with my camera so when I saw a workshop devoted to Saul' Leiter’s style of street photography I jumped at the chance.

Rather than going in cold I decided to use my day off yesterday to get some practice in and see if I could begin to see the world like Saul Leiter. His photos often use colour and texture so I spent the day in London looking for these things. He often shot through things, such as windows, to create depth so I tried my hand at this too, using the architecture of Borough Market to frame this image.

Leiter’s photos don’t always include people so I didn’t shy away from photographing other subjects when they caught my eye.

More windows on London life…

After a walk along the river I ended up at Tate Modern, which I find is always a rich hunting ground for people watching. This very dapper chap caught my eye and, even though he’s engrossed in his phone, I couldn’t resist taking a quick photo.

I love the way the light catches this chap as he’s engrossed in one of the art installations.

Reflected colour

Just as I was about to leave the gallery the heavens opened and this scene was visible above one of the stairwells. Such scenes appear in several of Leiter’s photos and he once said he found a photo of a rainy window more interesting than a portrait of a famous person.

Eventually the rain eased off and I braved the gusty winds across the Millennium Bridge.

As I walked near St Paul’s Cathedral I tried capturing the colour and movement around me with slower shutter speeds.

Movement and reflections around these eye catching bollards.

A passing bus. I’m probably stretching things a little too far here, but you don’t know unless you try!

Using intentional camera movement on one of London’s most iconic designs.

The stroll along Cheapside brought me more opportunities to play with colour and reflections.

And finally, this is one of my favourites from today. I saw the George Clooney advert and wondered if it might create an interesting element in a photo, then this gentleman came along and looked up quizzically at the perfect moment!

It’s debatable whether I’ve captured any of Saul Leiter’s style here, but I had a fun day playing and it helped me get my nerve back for taking photos around strangers on the street. No doubt I’ll learn a lot more at Monday’s workshop and I’ll be sure to share the results here.

Photos taken 12th January 2023

The rainy streets of Bishop's Stortford

It was workshop night at the camera club again last night and one of the practical activities on offer was a short photowalk around the town. A small group of us braved the rain (which quickly changed from a light drizzle to a downpour!) to go and forage for photos.

Most of my photos were pretty underwhelming, but I found a couple which appealed to me. I’m attending a workshop next week focused around the style of street photographer Saul Leiter, so I decided to ty and get into the zone ahead of time, using things I found around me to shoot through, creating a sense of depth. The bicycle shot makes me think of a scene from a gritty old movie - although I’m not sure whether to expect a hero or a villain to appear from the shadows!

Photos taken 10 January 2023.