I was invited to the Jubilee Celerbrations at St Marys Community Centre in Leyland.
All images shot with the Fuji Film X100F using Classic Chrome
documentary
Perfect Strangers.
It's a strange time for the creative, especially the street photographer who thrives off the busy streets. The lunchtime rush is no longer there, and the race to get home has all but disappeared.
We have a city in slow motion, and it can be difficult to find that creative thread.
For me, photo books are a great source of inspiration, and my latest addition is.
Melissa O'Shaughnessy – Perfect Strangers.
This book has been like a breath of fresh air, especially in these uncertain times.
Melissa is our modern-day Helen Levitt, as both are beautiful humanists. I know that is high praise, but I would like to think if Levitt were alive today, she would be taking these kinds of images.
The framing of the subjects on a moving street is a testament to the hard work and dedication needed to produce good quality work on the street. And I, for one, admire that dedication.
Look closely enough, and you start to feel the sensation of the hustle and bustle of the city street.
We are there in the crowds, being pushed along and seeing what she is seeing. We witness kindness and, at times, tenderness, but there is also this movement that only adds to the narrative.
With each turn of the page, you can feel the rhythm of New York.
I have never had the privilege of watching Melissa work the street. I imagine she is so stealth-like that the subject only sees her for a fleeting second, and then she is gone looking for the next stranger.
Joel Meyerowitz wrote that this book would become a historical document in 20 -30 years. These images show us what the world looked like before Covid.
If you are looking for inspiration, I suggest adding this to your collection.
Thank you, Melissa, for giving us your Perfect Strangers.
Keep the Faith.
KV
Goodbye 2020
Goodbye, 2020.
Here are my photographic highlights from the past 12 months.
Keep the Faith people as nothing lasts forever.
Somethings never change.
With the lockdown restrictions beginning to ease, the homeless and the unfortunate are steadily returning to the city streets.
As a rule, I never photograph the homeless as they do not choose to be on the streets.
There was something about this scene that made me press the shutter button.
I could see some emotional upset and comforted each other; they are lost in that moment so much, so they do not even see me with the camera.
We will never know what was going on. It could be one of a hundred things.
Maybe it is the prospect of a night on the street or the realisation that they have no money for the simple things we take for granted like food and a warm bed. We will never know the truth.
This pandemic has changed the way we live our lives, but some things it seems will never change.
Under the Influence #5
Luigi Ghirri
When I visit the coast, I like to look for these big sky compositions with the clouds on the horizon.
My settings on the Fuji Film X100F are inspired by the Italian photographer Luigi Ghirri and the book Kodachrome.
Film Simulation Classic Chrome Colour -4 Shadows + 2 Highlights – 1 Grain Effect - Weak
Kodachrome was Ghirri’s first book. The photographs present Italian landscapes in tightly cropped images through its adverts, postcards, walls, windows, and people. His work is abstracted compositions with highly textured frames within frames. Ghirri’s work reminds me of Willaim Eggleston as it takes time to understand the photograph's narrative fully. With each viewing of the book, his work starts to click into place, and that’s when you can really appreciate the photographer’s vision.
Keep the Faith
KV
Street Photography is Weird.
I wouldn’t say I like street photography – Not my words but the words from a friend.
At first, I was a little bit confused by this statement because I am a street photographer, and this is my thing, but then I realised it is not the like, but maybe its the understanding of street photography that he doesn’t understand.
Street photography from an outsider looking in can seem a little bit strange. We walk around open spaces and take pictures of strangers. Sounds weird.
Some use street photography for documentary purposes, and some use it to express their creative mind.
To get a real understanding of street photography, we need to delve into the back catalogue of those that have gone before us. I have made it my business to study Gary Winogrand, Joel Meyerowitz, Cartier-Bresson, Saul Leiter, Harry Gruyaert, Alex Webb, and Tony Ray-Jones, Ernst Haas and many more. It is not about emulating them. It is about seeing the possibilities.
What I love about street photography is not knowing what you will see. You cannot go out there and think I will get this or that because it does not work like that. You must go with the flow, and if it happens, then it happens.
I go out there with a blank canvas, and sometimes I will return with what I think is a masterpiece and then there are the days that I can come back with a bag of shit.
Slow down, take your time and get some decent footwear.
Keep the Faith
KV
FUJIFILM X100T CLASSIC CHROME -MANCHESTER
The Moment
My style of photography is all about the moment.
This image of my Mum and Niece captures the true essence of my approach to photography.
There is nothing staged. It is just a natural interaction between the two of them, and luckily, I was there with the camera. They will both age, but this image will always be locked into that moment, which becomes timeless.
Keep the Faith.
KV
Progressing the Process.
My life before photography was pretty chaotic. I was on a downward slope with no exit plan. So, when I eventually sorted my shit out, and the clouds of doom began to lift, I decided to fuel my interest in photography.
In the early days, it was all about nailing the image and shooting anything that moved. My approach was very sporadic, and I was blinkered because there was no real direction for my work. I was too busy looking for my next hit as I wanted photography to make me feel better about myself.
I could see myself burning out with the days of failure and frustration because photography was not providing me with the constant highs.
So, what changed? Me, I had to change because I was the problem.
It took me a good few years to find a style and an approach that I enjoyed doing. Nowadays, I work mostly in colour, and yes, I enjoy working with light and shadow, but I try and keep progressing bit by bit.
I still have them days when nothing is going my way, and I can find myself in the right place at the wrong time, but I no longer get frustrated and start questioning why am I doing this.
The difference between then and now is that I enjoy the process instead of expecting the process to make me feel better. There is no progress without failure.
Sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly, we all get there in the end.
Keep the Faith
KV
FUJIFILM X100T CLASSIC CHROME - JULY 2017
Colour v Mono
The colour v black & white debate is something that I had a good few years ago and I decide that colour was the way forward for me.
This was partially due to my purchase of the X100T. Once I set the camera to classic chrome and looked through the viewfinder it was like a switch going off in my head and I was sold, hook line, and sinker.
Black and white still have its place especially with my commissioned work like weddings and portraits but with street photography is was going to be colour. For me, it is the difficulty of the two as there is a lot more thinking required, as all the elements need to be spot on for colour to work on the street.
I am not disregarding BNW but there is always the temptation to cover up the faults of the image by clicking that black and white button in Lightroom. And I think we can all agree that you cannot polish a turd by switching it to BNW and pumping up the clarity.
This is not me saying all BNW street work is shit because that would not be right as there are some superb street photographers out there who are producing some beautiful images in black and white.
And this is the point that we go full circle. I recently acquired the Fuji Film X100F and I am in love with the Acros film simulation settings especially the Red & Yellow filters. It was like a déjà vu moment when I looked through the viewfinder and I was seeing this beautiful grainy BNW image.
It is just small steps back into the world of BNW, but I am enjoying the process, so much so that I have opened another Instagram account for my BNW work.
Have I missed working in black & white? Yes and no but if I can have a slice of both worlds than I am happy with that. At the end of the day it is all about doing the things that make you happy.
New Instagram Page - https://www.instagram.com/kv_mono/
Keep the Faith
KV
MANCHESTER - X100F ACROS+RED
Under the Influence #4
Jane Bown - Exposures
I was introduced to Jane Bowen’s work when a good friend of mine gave me his spare copy of the book Exposures. Each portrait is different, but they give us this little glimpse into the subject's true persona looking out from the page.
Jane Bown worked for the Observer newspaper for over five decades, and in that time, she photographed the great, the good and the not so good of politics, music, art, and theatre.
Observer editor John Mulholland called her "part of the Observer's DNA".
What can we learn from Jane Bown and the book Exposures?
She was uninterested in the latest camera equipment and mainly used second-hand cameras, with the Olympus OM1 being the one she favoured the most. There were no gimmicks to her work, no props, no glamourous studios or locations. Everything was done with the available light. The camera was already set up, and she could be done and dusted within 15 minutes.
Jane Bowen was extremely reluctant to speak about her work, and the quote “photographers should neither be seen nor heard” is a testament to that approach.
Jane Bown, photographer, born 13 March 1925; died 21 December 2014.
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2009/oct/18/jane-bown-60-years-portraits
Keep the Faith
KV
Under the Influence #3
Kevin Cummins.
Kevin Cummins has documented British music culture for the last 40 years. From the Punk scene in the ’70s to the Madchester era of the late ’80s to the Cool Britannia days of the mid-1990s and everything in between.
As NME’s chief photographer for much of the ’80s and ’90s, he provided us with some of the most iconic images of that time, and I was an avid reader of the NME in them halcyon days.
The images of Shaun Ryder hanging off the E on the Hotel sign and the paint-splattered Stone Roses, which both graced the cover, are now defining moments from that era. And let us not forget his work with Joy Division that will seal their legacy forever.
Kevin Cummins's contribution to British culture's historical documentation is something that we will probably never see again. That is why is he regarded as an icon of documentary photography.
For further reading and prints, go to his website - http://www.kevincummins.co.uk/
Recommended Book – Looking for the light through the pouring rain.
Cummins has raised the status of his work to the level of art. - John Peel
Keep the Faith
KV