News
Festival News
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One month to go until the 2012 festival!
01 May 2012
Only one month remains until the 2012 London Festival of Photography takes over some of London’s most celebrated venues, with 18 exhibitions and over 30 events transforming the city into a vibrant hive of photographic activity.
Read more...The festival will have outposts across London and a central hub in the King’s Cross area, making most exhibitions within convenient walking distance of one another. Venues include St Pancras Station, British Museum, British Library, Kings Place, Tate Modern, Museum of London and Guardian Gallery. The comprehensive range of festival content on offer will ensure that photography lovers of all types will find something of interest within the programme, which includes everything from pinhole camera workshops and historic archives to interactive contemporary installations and portfolio reviews with industry professionals.
The full festival programme is now accessible in the online diary. Some exciting new additions include:
Contemporary London Street Photography — 1 June to 15 August, King's Cross Station
Burn My Eye Collective — 1 to 30 June, Only Connect Theatre
Camera Obscura - Minnie Weisz — 1 to 29 June, Minnie Weisz Studio
Henry Fox Talbot - Intimate Talk by John Falconer — 10am-12pm, 21 June, British Library
Burtynsky: Oil, Exhibition Tour — 5pm, 23 June, The Photographers Gallery
The Secret Life of the Magic Lantern: The Erotic, the Exotic and the Bizarre — 6pm, 24 June, Conway Hall
Up Close and Personal with Mimi Mollica — 10am-6pm, 23 June, venue TBC
Top photo: Richard Baker
Bottom photo: William Henry Fox Talbot - Nelson’s Column under construction, Trafalgar Square, London, April 1844. Courtesy of the British Library.
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Like our new Facebook page!
27 April 2012
Are you aware that we have a new Facebook page? If you like our LFPH page anytime between now and 1 June, you will automatically be entered into a draw to win a range of amazing festival prizes.
Read more...With the 2012 festival approaching in just over a month, and new content being added to the programme on a daily basis, one of the best ways to stay informed is by 'liking' us on Facebook so you can receive all our latest updates.
If you 'like' our Facebook page over the next few weeks, we promise to make it very worth your while! Every person who likes our new page between now and the start of the festival will be entered in a draw to win:
- 2 tickets to both of our headline exhibitions, The Great British Public and The Gaddafi Archives - Libya Before the Arab Spring (value £40)
- 1 ticket to the day-long festival symposium (value £60)
- A copy of Steve Bloom's exhibition publication
- A £28.95 Blurb book-making voucher
- An awards catalogue
- A festival bag, t-shirt, badge, and poster (value £30)
LIKE THE LONDON FESTIVAL OF PHOTOGRAPHY FACEBOOK PAGE
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Ticketing for Edward Burtynsky: Manufactured Landscapes is now live
26 April 2012
Tickets are now available through the Tate website for a unique screening of Jennifer Baichwal's film, Edward Burtynsky: Manufactured Landscapes, followed by a rare Q&A with Burtynsky himself.
Read more...Burchail's award-winning documentary follows Burtynsky to China, where the artist studies and documents the environmental repercussions of the country's all too recent industrial revolution. The film is not merely a portrait of Burtynsky or the state of contemporary China's physical and metaphorical environments, but serves as a captivating study of what the artist defines as "manufactured landscapes"—slag heaps, e-waste dumps, factory sites and beyond become sites of simultaneous beauty and devastation when viewed through the observant lens of Burtynsky's camera.
Purchase tickets or find out more about this exclusive event.
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2012 Festival Programme Now Online!
02 April 2012
The 2012 festival is less than two months away, and it's time to get your diaries out because a detailed schedule of events and exhibitions is now live on the website!
Read more...20 exhibitions and 40 events including workshops, talks and screenings are scheduled to take place throughout June 2012, and now you can easily access information about festival content by simply clicking on the exhibitions, events and workshops links in the top right corner of the website. You can also search events by date using the festival events calendar on the right hand side.
Festival highlights will include the unseen Gaddafi photo archive, new work by Simon Roberts and Magnum photographers Chris Steele-Perkins and Martin Parr, an exhibition of Steve Bloom's images of 1970s apartheid South Africa, as well as a masterclass workshop with 2011 World Press Photo Winner Jodi Bieber.
Below you can see our 2012 festival promo video - please watch and share with your friends!
The majority of the programme is currently finalised; however, some details are still pending, so stay posted for further exhibition and event updates.
Top photo: Martin Parr Bottom photo: Liz Hingley
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2012 International Award Finalists Announced
20 February 2012
The 2012 International Street Photography Award finalists have been announced! From over 2,400 entries, our jurors managed to narrow their selection down to 16 finalists, whose work will be exhibited in the 2012 International Street Photography exhibition at 29-31 Oxford Street from 1 to 30 June.
Read more...Congratulations to the following photographers (listed in no particular order): Jack Simon, Matthew Goddard-Jones, Matthew Murray, Colin Hutton, Daniel Mueller Jansen, Kay von Aspern, Arnhel de Serra, Massimiliano Cardelli, Tomasz Lazar, Ed Peters, Aristide Economopoulos, Ian Hughes, Alejandro Cartagena, Dougie Wallace, Siegfried Hansen, and Artur Eranosian.
A gallery of the finalists' images and the shortlisted entries can currently be viewed on our website. The winner and runners-up will be announced during the festival.
Top photo: Arnhel de Serra, 2012 Finalist
Bottom photo: Kay von Aspern, 2012 Finalist
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A new direction for 2012
21 November 2011
For next year's festival, we plan to broaden our scope and explore documentary and conceptual practices alongside traditional street photography. To encompass this change of direction and allow us more freedom and flexibility, we have decided on a new name: the London Festival of Photography.
The annual Street Photography Awards will continue to celebrate the best street photographers in the UK and abroad (with strict rules on the definition of the genre). In January 2012 we will announce a new submission-based project which will be connected to our theme, and open to wider interpretations. Look our for more details and our new logo in the near future.
Read more...photo: Mimi Mollica from the Seen/Unseen exhibition, 2011
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Security guards finally get proper guidance on interacting with photographers
09 November 2011
As Amateur Photographer magazine reported last Friday, the UK government has at last taken action after years of campaigning by photographers to end their mis-treatment by security workforces around the UK.
Read more...New guidelines have been penned by the Home Office after consultation with counter-terrorism police and various photography groups, including Grant Smith, founder of I'm a Photographer Not a Terrorist and lead photographer in our Stand Your Ground campaign.
The guidance was written in conjunction with the British Security Industry Authority, a trade body for the private security services industry who will distribute it to their 570 members who employ more than 75,000 security officers.
We are so happy to have played a small part in the campaign with the Stand Your ground film and subsequent debate 'Why Does Street Photography Make Us Paranoid', which took place just after the Home Office consultation with Head of Counter Terrorism Dermont Robinson on the panel. We all look forward to being less hassled on the city streets when out and about with our cameras next time!
Top photo: David Hoffman
Bottom photo: Grant Smith
Both taken from the Stand Your Ground project
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Student Street Photography Awards Open
28 October 2011
The Student Street Photograpy Awards are now open to anyone over 18, living and studying at any UK educational institution. Spread the word by downloading this poster and displaying at your school or college.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: Thursday 1 March 2012Read more...
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The International Street Photography Awards
09 September 2011
The International Street Photography Awards are now open! Photographers anywhere in the world are invited to submit images that capture, explore or question contemporary society and the relationships between individuals and their surroundings. The first 500 applicants will be entered into a draw to win an array of great prizes.
Read more...There will be an overall winner, a runner up, and ten finalists. The international winner will receive £2000, a solo exhition in London, and an all-expenses paid trip to the exhibition launch and awards ceremony in London in June 2012 - total value £10,000. Selected finalists will be exhibited in the same gallery and one image from each entrant will be showcased in a digital display. All photographers who enter will receive a £28.95 voucher to print their own book with Blurb.
The deadline for applications is Thursday, 5 January 2012.
For more information or to enter, visit the main page for the contest here.
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Film released of panel discussion: Why Does Street Photography Make Us Paranoid?
27 July 2011
After the resounding success of the Stand Your Ground film and recent panel discussion 'Why Does Street photography Make Us Paranoid' we have cut together a film of the best bits of the debate so you can see what the panelists had to say.
Watch the film clips of the debate here Listen to the full audio of the debate here
Read more...Audio by Sophie Black
Photos by Matteo Mencarelli
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Carina Hunter reviews John Falconer's talk on the history of photography
26 July 2011
On Friday 15th July, John Falconer took a lively audience on a witty and engaging journey through the early days of photography.
Read more...From the Daguerrotype and France in 1839 to William Henry Fox Talbot and the callotype, from the first social documentation by Hill and Adamson to the entrepeneurial, commercial photography of Bourne and Frith, Falconer showed the audience how these early photographers saw these new processes as a wonderful tool for recording history.
For an audience used to the omnipresence of photographs, who are confronted by hundreds if not thousands of images daily, the idea that it could take up to an hour to create one photograph is mind-boggling. With over 3000 images being uploaded to Flickr every minute, it is hard to comprehend the effort it must have taken to produce these early photographs. The composition of each photograph highlights the thought that went into every shot, as is to be expected when using such time-consuming and expensive procedures.
John gave an often humourous and constantly informative talk that left everyone in the audience a great deal wiser about the early days of photography than when they entered the lecture hall.
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Tom Archer wins Student Award!
22 July 2011
Tom Archer has won the overall prize in the first Student Street Photography Awards, after receiving the most number of votes from visitors to the finalists' exhibition at the Orange Dot Gallery.
Read more...The six finalists were selected back in April from hundreds of students around the UK who entered the competition. They worked together with festival curator Grace Pattison to produce their own exhibition as part of the festival programme. They also received workshops from photographer Tiffany Jones and Photofusion's printer-extraordinaire, Richard Wills.
All six displayed originality, wit and a passion for documenting the world around them. Although their individual styles were very different the exhibition came together coherently and received praise from festival attendees. The competition in the people's choice vote was tough, but Tom Archer wowed viewers with his beautifully subtle reflections of surburban moments. Tom wins an Olympus PEN camera. Congratulations!
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Stand Your Ground film and Debate outcomes
21 July 2011
The Stand your Ground film, challenging private policing of photography in public space in the City, was released yesterday and has received over 24,000 views in 48 hours!
Read more...Last night a debate was held at Housman's bookshop where the question: Why does street photography make us paranoid was discussed by our panel. The bookshop was packed out, debate got fairly heated at times and the outcomes were overwhelmingly positive.
As part of the London Street Photography Festival's 2011 program we felt it important to address the situations where photographing on the street can become an issue and to clarify the legalities for photographers on this matter. We wanted to open up a discussion between the private security workforce and photographers as this is increasingly where the problem lies. The Stand Your Ground event, film and debate successfully demonstrate that despite a lot of progress within the police force in the last few years the increasing privatisation of public land in the city means there is still an issue with the private security workforce confronting photographers without proper knowledge of the law.
We will be continuing to pursue the discussion and hope the debate will lead to some formal action from the private security industry in better informing their staff on how to deal with photography.
Selected photos from the Stand Your Ground day are on display at Housmans bookshops until the end of July. www.housmans.comRead the reviews below to see what others thought:
Amateur Photographer
Fad
EphotozinePhoto by Matteo Mencarelli
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Walking and Photographic tour of King's Cross with Alan Dein
21 July 2011
Broadcaster and local oral historian Alan Dein lead a fascinating walking tour of King's Cross on Saturday 16 July. Despite the intermittent downpours it was an enjoyable few hours, filled with fascinating facts and insights into this historic part of London. Some of the images that participants took can be seen here: www.flickr.com/groups/kingscrosswalk/
Read more...
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Maria Saracino reviews Restless Cities: Psychogeography and Street Photography
19 July 2011
Editors of Restless Cities Matthew Beaumont and Gregory Dart discussed the book and its themes together with the award winning photographers Mimi Mollica and George Georgiou at Housmans Bookshop last Wednesday, 13 June.
Read more...The book invited writers and academics to pen their thoughts about the city, expressing their ideas as states of being, with chapters such as ‘bombing’, ‘daydreaming’ and ‘zigzagging’ identifying and tracing ‘the patterns that have defined everyday life in the modern city and its effect on us as individuals’ (Restless Cities).
Matthew Beaumont opened the discussion: “I like the word Inhabiting and its archaic form “to habit” because it means, or did mean, inhabiting, but also performing, wearing. And “inhabit” means also to habituate yourself to something. So it expresses all the interior and exterior forces that regulate the city.”
Beaumont commented on the irony of his own chapter ‘Convalescing’ after a recent stint in hospital, and highlighted the importance of a “convalescent” way of being, the natural sensitivity to daily life typical of a convalescent man, who is dissocialized and has to do a process of re- socialization.
Mimì Mollica stated this convalescent state of mind is typical of the photographer, referencing his Bus Stories project: “my work is related to the convalescence state, because a convalescent is slow, he sits down, he observes. And the crucial point is the separation of me from reality. I stayed in a state of invisibility, because people on the upper deck of the buses didn’t know I was taking photos of them while being filmed by the CCTV cameras.”
George Georgiou described CCTV cameras as a kind of “invisible voyeurism”. He related his work to the ‘Phoning’ chapter of Restless Cities, by David Trotter: “people speaking on the phone isolate themselves in public spaces and feel like they are in private spaces. Private minds accept distances and isolate themselves in public.”
Asked about the difficulties street photographers face when people become suspicious of them taking pictures on the street, the photographers expressed their confusion about the overused concept of privacy, which they believe clashes with the concept of freedom. Speaking about what he called the ‘Facebook era’, Mimì Mollica said that people are constantly exposed. But the more people appear, the less privacy they have. His conclusion, sad but in some ways true, was that the times we live in have created a ‘big lonely people crisis’.
People in general, and street photographers, should reinstate that romantic, dynamic and poetic openness that is the convalescent’s view of life.
Review by Maria SaracinoPhoto by Diana Jarvis
More info about Restless Cities
George Georgiou's Invisible: London
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Carina Hunter reviews No Man's Land, Mishka Henner
18 July 2011
If ever an exhibit was going to provoke debate, ‘No Man’s Land’ by Mishka Henner is the one to do it. Using the medium of Google Street View photographs Henner has edited and compiled a body of work focussing on prostitution in urban and rural environments in Spain and Italy.
Read more...The conceptual nature of this exhibit saw a lively crowd debating both the merits of Street View as a method of social documentary and the subject matter itself. As one viewer said, “these photographs emphasise the paradoxical nature of the sex trade. Despite so many people participating in the sex trade around the world, these pictures capture the innate loneliness of prostitution.”
As controversial as it might be, Street View lends itself well to this subject matter, with the blurring of the faces serving to highlight the anonymous nature of prostitutes within the sex industry.
Henner himself acknowledges that it is a “problematic medium”, but given it is “rooted in a much deeper history of social commentary” he believes that there is “room to evolve into a new era and age” of street photography.
Whether you believe that Street View is a valid form of social documentary or not, make sure you pay this exhibit a visit, and be prepared for the lively debate these photographs will provoke.
The exhibition is on until 26 July - more info
VIEW PHOTOS FROM THE LAUNCH
Reveiw by Carina HunterPhotos by Miles Taylor
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Braden & Campany's exhibition extended until 24 July.
17 July 2011
We are delighted to report that Polly Braden & David Campany's exhibition Adventures in the Valley has been extended until 24 July.
Read more...Be sure to take a look at this show when you visit one of the other three exhibitoins in King's Cross and see what the area around the Olympic park looked like before the bulldozers moved in.
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Maria Saracino reviews Firecracker talk, Polly Braden & Kate Hooper
15 July 2011
Revealing their aesthetic interests, inspirations and current experiments, Polly Braden and Kate Hooper entertained a participative and interested audience during the talk, organized by Firecracker, the online platform dedicated to supporting European women photographers.
Read more...Charmed by American photographers of the 1970s, Kate Hooper told the audience about her uncontrollable interest in the “disorganized and incoherent pictures” of John Meyerowitz and her excitement at discovering their underlying structure and heightened detail.
Speaking about her initial fear of taking photos of strangers, the artist then uncovered her passion for “spontaneous images” that “make it impossible to ask for permission”, underlining her way of making street pictures as “non-judgmental”, avoiding contact with other human beings who remain closed in their own worlds.
Focusing on the busy crowds of central London, Kate Hooper works with both digital and film camera through the crowds: “Because I am so close to people” she said, “they don’t react. It took ages to get close to people, but with time I got used to it. I now move quickly.”
Rather than the masses, what calls Polly Braden’s attention is the individual, the personal stories. From her Chinese experience in 2003, through her “Square mile” project and “Adventures in the Valley”, to her return to China in 2007-2009, she wants to tell the stories of small moments, often surrounded by strong architecture.
When she returned in China in 2007, at a time when everyone was telling stories about the country, she wanted was to avoid the pictures of an homologated country with hoards of identically dressed workers and instead tried to show the beauty of the cities, despite the “sell-sell-sell” consumer trend she found developing on the streets.
Polly tries to avoid the rushed moments of street photography, simply staying “sometimes in a place…something will happen”. She is now experimenting with a new perspective, taking pictures of people in their houses in the Middlesex Estate: “I find it so difficult; I needed years to find courage to embark on this experience”, she says.
The common objective is that of photographing people: from workers to inhabitants of the city, from Chinese people to Londoners, the living bodies are what the two photographers strive to enlighten, the crowds at once overwhelming them and becoming part of their multicolored and reflective masterpieces of street photography.
Reveiw by Maria Saracino
Photos by Artur Assis
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Review: Film screening double bill, Everybody Street and In-Sight
14 July 2011
With Cheryl Dunn fresh in from New York and Nick Turpin just off the Eurostar from his Paris workshop Monday's screening of their films felt like a red carpet event. Not least due to its setting: the beautiful, crimson Starr Auditorium at Tate Modern.
Read more...By her own admission Cheryl made her film in order to meet her street photography idols and it shows. The film is beautifully sensitive to its subjects, capturing them with great honesty and energy. Ricky Powell gives a delightfully candid account of his early photogaphic beginnings, owing to an ex-girlfriend who played him like 'a soggy cannoli' (Sicilian pastry for those who don't know) and whose camera he picked up after she left him in the lurch. Rebecca Lepkoff is still sprightly and shooting at the ripe age of 95 and we see how Bruce Gilden's in-your-face photography gets him into frequent confrontations on the street.
In In-Sight, Nick Turpin follows his fellow in-public photographers around the world. The film is an up close and personal account. A small camera is attached to the top of the photographers own camera, so the audience sees exactly what the photographer is seeing and when they choose to click the shutter. Melanie Einzig weaves in and out of the hustling New York crowds crowds while David Gibson's quieter approach leads us through the East End of London.
A Q&A followed with issues of privacy, the state of street photography today and the photographers' own practices discussed. Then, out of time at the Tate, many audience members moved on to the pub to continue the chat as the sun went down on the Southbank - a truly inspirational evening!Watch Everbody Street film clips
Photos by Paul Powici
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Photos from London to Paris workshop with Nick Turpin on display at Street Photography Now exhibition, Exmouth Market
14 July 2011
12 participants joined Nick Turpin on an adventure from London to Paris last weekend to learn from the street photogaphy master and hone thier skills in the hustle and bustle of the French capital.
Read more...The workshop aimed to highlight the strict publishing laws governing street photography in France and a final selection of participants images have been printed and displayed at the Street Photography Now exhibition at 18 Exmouth Market.
See Nick Turpin's final edit from the weekend
Photos below by workshop participant Martin Pickard
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Sebastian Hesse-Kastein reviews the Pinhole Camera with Madaleine Trigg
13 July 2011
12 students were given an unusual and unique experience, when they were roaming the streets of London not with a flashy DSLR and a bag full of lenses, but with an old coffee can.
Read more...These cans had a tiny hole and contained a sheet of photographic paper: they were pinhole cameras. London Artist Madaleine Trigg taught them how to build these extremely basic cameras out of very simple material. Then every student had the opportunity to develop his or her photos in the darkroom, so bringing back home a very unique set of images at the end of the day. Pinhole Photography is a statement in the digital world, a return to the very beginning of photographic imagery. And thereby a perfect means to explore our (visually) complex world slowly and with care.
Review by Sebastien Hesse-Kastien
Photos by workshop participant Thierry Durand
Many thanks to Centre for Creative Collaboration for hosting the workshop:
www.creativecollaboration.org.uk
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Olympic Photo-cycle with Toby Smith
13 July 2011
The Olympic photo-cycle tour with Toby Smith was an interesting insight into an often unseen and overlooked part of London, and culminated in a stunning view of the vast Olympic site.
Read more...Following the myriad of canals which cut across the city, the tour opened my eyes to another of London’s many faces. Despite living in the East End (and a stones through from the canals) for over four years, I had previously never ventured to explore the networks. Toby revealed to me an entire world that had been sitting upon my doorstep. Stepping off the streets and down onto the narrow canal-side paths, the familiar hustle, bustle and noise of the big city life were instantly forgotten amongst the gentle lanes bellow. It was easy to forget that we were even in London at all.
Toby’s tour utilised photography as a framework for which the network of canals could be explored. Cycling allowed a large distance to be covered, and the backdrop of quaint houses backing onto the water, old dilapidated warehouses and factories, and barges chugging up and down provided ample photo opportunities along the way. Cycling also allowed the freedom for participants to stop and photograph at will. In addition to photographic freedom, Toby occasionally stopped to provide historical insight and photography tips. Toby also allowed time for one-on-one photography advice with each participant, providing the opportunity for photography tips on a personal basis.
The tour culminated in the chance to view the vast development of one of London’s Brownfield sights into the Olympic park which will showcase the city to the world in 2012. For myself, this was a unique opportunity to gauge visually the scale of the development. The world will view the finished product, but not many will have been able to see it as a work in progress. For myself, and surely many others, this was a highlight of the tour.
Review and photos by Alex McFarlane
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Launch night review: Polish Perspectives
12 July 2011
Another fantastic launch last Friday, ‘Polish Perspectives’ at Swiss Cottage Gallery saw a lively crowd come out to enjoy the work of three Polish street photographers, in an exhibit coinciding with the beginning of the Polish presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Read more...Zbigniew Osiowy’s pictures focus on the ‘second, underground life of Londoners’ with his images capturing eclectic moments from the London tube. For anyone who has ever wondered about how street photographers are received by the public, ‘Girls going to the party’ gives a fair indication, with one girl swearing at the camera and the other giving a thumbs up. To be loved and loathed is the plight of street photographers.
The photographs of Witold Krassowski have a timeless air, aided by his use of black and white, and as one viewer said are ‘iconic images that will resonate for years to come’. Showing photographs spanning nearly 20 years, the viewer would be hard pushed to work out which were taken in 1988 and which were from 2005. An example of the different perspective Witold gives the viewer are the photographs taken after the 7/7 bombings, which focus not on the bloodshed and chaos as the majority of photographers did, instead looking at moments away from the action, showing how the event affected different Londoners.
Damian Chrobak also works in black and white, with a grainy element that gives a wistful edge to his photographs. The lines, shadows and composition make beautiful photographs, the kind that you can look at time and time again and ‘see a different feature on each viewing’. The London Damian shows us is one focussed on the details, the individual elements that make up a city.
To see this exhibit is to see the magic of street photography, where no photographer comes at a city the same way. The London in Zbigniew Osiowy’s photographs is vastly different from the London in Witold Krassowski’s work, which differs again from the view Damian Chrobak gives us. Yet as one viewer said they are all ‘so good, so bl**dy good’ that you will want to look at the work of all three for a long time to come.
Review by Carina Hunter
Photos by Michal Zajac
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More launches last week: Student Awards and Dougie Wallace
11 July 2011
We had launches coming out of our ears last week, here's some news from another couple:
Read more...Student Street Photography Awards Launch, Wednesday 6 July
We spent a stupendous evening with the photographers of tomorrow at the first Student Street Photography Awards finalists’ private view last Wednesday at the Orange Dot Gallery (it hasn’t taken us this long to recover, we’ve just been super busy!)
If the media are to be believed, we are living in an age where heightened security and suspicion are the order of the day and they are becoming an intrinsic part of our everyday lives, so much so, that we are forgetting how to interact with each other on a basic human level.
But all is not lost. This is where the six student finalists and street photography are here to save the day, breaking down social barriers by creating community projects on the streets and letting the camera be the bridge builder.
Hear what one of the finalists Richard Fish had to say about his experience of the awards.One of the interesting things about the finalists’ photographs is the way they all see the world differently (this should come as no surprise) but when you place their images in the same room, it provokes a rollercoaster of emotion for the viewer.
What are our photographers of tomorrow using to capture their images? For the majority of the finalists, the format of choice is film and using a mixture of SLRs, rangefinders and twin lens reflex cameras with fixed 35mm, 40mm or 50mm lens. You heard it here again, the future is film.
Pop down to the Orange Dot Gallery and vote for your favourite photographer to have your say about who will become the Student Street Photography Award people's choice winner!
VISIT EXHIBITION
VIEW LAUNCH NIGHT PHOTOS‘When I grow rich say the bells of Shoreditch’ Dougie Wallace
The party continued after Seen/Unseen launch with the launch of Dougie Wallace’s exhibition at the CAMP bar in Old Street. Dougie's images are rich context and subject matter and the luxuriousness of his images seep out at you, transfix you to the spot and make you want to reach out and caress them. There’s an unadulterated humour about them, they are so full of energy and ‘in your face’ and the CAMP bar is the perfect venue to host them.
The most repeated comment about his photographs was that the subjects reminded people of someone they knew or they could identify with a particular situation. Wallace certainly manages to capture the ‘trashy’ but mesmeric side of life and he does so with little fuss and great ease.
Review by Emma Mapp
Photos by Kate Scannell (thumb nail) and Miles Taylor
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Photowrap photowalk
10 July 2011
Ten budding photographers joined Mimi Mollica yesterday at Broadway Market to hone their craft and learn from a master. After a briefing revealing Mimi's background and street photography history (including stories of harasment and arrest - not his but his subjects'!) the group took to the streets to practice their craft.
Read more...Each student chose a particular theme to focus on - dogs, street vendors, food etc - and with Mimi's careful guidance spent a couple of hours making pictures at the market. Gathering back at the pub Mimi showed them a few shots he had taken, describing framing, subject and moment choices and giving valuable insight into his shooting style and street work. When asked his response to people trying to stop him taking pictures in the street he simply said 'this is who I am, photography is my life'.
The group made thier way to the Street Photography Now launch at Exmouth Market and sat downstairs in the workshop space where Mimi reveiwed and edited their work and each participant choose their favourite photo to be printed and displayed in the gallery.
VIEW PHOTOS FROM THE WORKSHOP
Here's what some of the participants had to say about the workshop day:"Mimi is realistic about what you can achieve, what you can and can’t do and is an entertaining character! I have been scared and reluctant when it comes to street photography in the past, but the workshop has helped to overcome this."
Adam BowieI really like Mimi’s style of photography, I like how there are no rules. I think my definition of street photography has been quite artificial until now."
Stephen CotterelI enjoy all types of photography but I think street photography is exciting. I enjoyed the editing process of the workshop and gained valuable experience that can be applied to my work in the future."
Hong Hoa Pham
If you would like to benefit from Mimi's expertise check out his Photowrap workshops:
www.photowrap.orgReview by Rachael Ward
Photo below - Fabrizio Quagliuso, workshop participant
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Exhibition review: Seen/Unseen, George Georgiou & Mimi Mollica
09 July 2011
Considering the furore surrounding the issue of surveillance in the media this week, the ‘Seen/Unseen’ exhibit, as part of London Street Photography Festival, of George Georgiou’s and Mimi Mollica’s work is perfectly timed.
Read more...Focussing on the issue of public and private lives and the ethics surrounding surveillance, the two projects complement each other perfectly. While Mimi Mollica captures eerie, hidden views of passengers on London buses, George Georgiou takes pictures of London street scenes from the vantage point of London buses inspired by the ‘constant migration of population’.
These two award-winning photographers interestingly began these similarly themed projects independently, and only were made aware of their similarities when curators Grace Pattison and Hannah White, broached the idea of a joint exhibit. However, as Mimi said, ‘the two bodies of work are like a jigsaw’ and are fascinating observations on voyeurism and surveillance in the modern world.
As only the best photographs do, these images provoked debate, this time on the controversial issue of the boundaries between public and private lives, with one observer commenting that while ‘enjoying the images, they still felt troubled that the subjects have no idea their images are available to the public’. However whatever your individual views, as Brett commented, ‘street photography is essential to help analyse the ordinary’, and this exhibit allows the audience a view of people in their more unguarded moments, giving a glimpse into their inner thoughts.So if you have ever wondered what Londoners look like when they are caught unawares, this exhibit is a must-attend show.
VIEW LAUNCH NIGHT PHOTOS
Review by Carina HunterPhotos by Annabel Vere
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Street Photo Workshop with Jesse Marlow and David Gibson
05 July 2011
Kate, one of our super volunteers, was lucky enough to take a workshop with the newly crowned International Street Photography Award winner Jesse Marlow and renowned in-public street photographer, David Gibson.
The workshop began with a talk from David using other street photographers’ (Matt Stuart, David Bailey, Henri Cartier-Bresson) images as examples, with a particular emphasis on the East End of London, given this was where the workshop was taking place.
Read more...Jesse then ran through some of his images, giving examples of the ‘do’s and don’ts of street photography and here is a small selection of top tips from them both:
1. Explore locations. Go out and make a note of interesting locations before you start taking any photographs and do this at different parts of the day to enable you to capture the changing light.
2. Be observant. If you see the perfect backdrop, then sit back and observe the moment. It may be a case of waiting for the moment to happen, or observing your surroundings and then lining up the shot.
3. ‘Snap ‘n run!’. If you are asking people if you can take their photograph, you will then turn this into a portrait and you will miss the candid moment. However, please respect people’s privacy and if the subject of your photography doesn’t want to be photographed, then don’t do it and taking photos of children without permission is a no-no.
4. Framing. You should try and avoid cropping your photographs and instead, take the time to frame up your shot using the one-thirds composition rule. Take your time (if you can) and think about composition and why it works.
5. Photoshop. Avoid, avoid, avoid! It’s easier said than done but learn to use your camera on manual and the settings properly and this will help improve your photographs without the need for technological intervention!
Review by Emma Mapp
Photos by Kate Scannell
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Vivian Maier now open on Mondays
05 July 2011
Due to popular demand, Vivian Maier is now also open on Mondays from 10 - 6pm.
Read more...Exclusive first UK exhibition of the most talked about photography phenomenon in recent months, Vivian Maier.
"Chicago nanny Vivian Maier died in 2009, leaving behind 100,000 negatives that no one but she had ever seen. Her work was discovered by chance, and now the photographs she took on her days off are being hailed as 'ranking up there' with the best in 20th-century street photography."
Hermione Hoby, the Guardian
48 framed prints will be exhibited, both black and white and colour. A selection of Vivian's fascinating silent films will also be shown.
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The Story of Vivian Maier
04 July 2011
Emma Mapp reports from John Maloof's fascinating talk at the National Portrait Gallery about his discovery of Vivian Maier and her incredible archive:
Read more...Perhaps it would have been more accurate to call our exhibition ‘A Life partially Uncovered’. Little did John know that when he purchased a job lot of negatives from a Chicago auction house for a book he was writing about a local park, that he was about to embark on a journey that would change his life forever.
Initially, Maier’s architectural photographs caught John’s eye and he became inspired to recreate the scenes that she had captured around the city of Chicago. John slowly became interested in photography, started to develop his own film (including some of Maier’s photographs and he used the notes she made for her printers as a guide) and eventually completed a Masters in photography. The rest, they say, is history.
How many photographs are there?
Thousands! John went back and purchased the remaining boxes of negatives at the auction house and estimates that he has only developed/scanned 10% of the contents. There are bins and bins of undeveloped black & white film, colour film and slides. Maier also made interviews of people on 8mm film, so John and his army of volunteers have a mammoth but poignant task ahead of them cataloguing and developing all of the material.
What was she like?
She was an intensely private person and became a prolific hoarder during her life, leaving boxes of newspaper clippings, books and strange objects that she collected throughout her life – for example, railroad spikes! One family she stayed with had to have the floor of her room (which was always padlocked by her to protect her privacy) reinforced because the weight of all her things threatened to weaken the floor. Save from some personal effects of clothing , hats and her cameras (Box Brownie, Rolleiflex and Leica), no diaries or letters have been found to provide us with an insight into her personality or emotional intelligence. We know that she was well travelled but she always travelled alone and often left on her travels at a moment’s notice and was sometimes gone for months on end. It is still possible that people that she encountered on her travels will get in touch with John to recount some anecdotes and provide further information.
It is rumoured that she didn’t like having her picture taken and would hit photographers with her umbrella if they dared to photograph her!
Who were her influences?
It is difficult to say but it is possible that she was influenced by Jeanne J Bertrand because Maier and her mother stayed with the photographer when Maier was a young girl. There is also a similarity between Maier and Lisette Model, an Austrian-born American photographer but one thing is for sure, Maier is now an influence on photographers across the globe, inspiring people to see the beauty in their immediate environment. This inspiration is not only significant in terms of making photography accessible to everyone but it is also an important documentation of social history.
So, did John Maloof discover Vivian Maier or did Vivian Maier discover John Maloof? We think they both found each other and the best is yet to be revealed.
John Maloof’s book on Vivian Maier is due out later on in the year and his documentary will be screened in 2012.
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Festival launch party
01 July 2011
We have spent the latter half of the week installing and refining the Vivian Maier exhibition and the International Student Awards photographs at the German Gymnasium in King’s Cross. We have stuffed (goodie bags!), hung, drilled, nailed, cleaned, swept, painted – to name but a few adjectives – and all with a proficiency that the Germans would have been proud of!
Volunteers briefed? Check. Press tours & the Street Talk media team in full swing? Check. LSPF staff glammed up? Check.
Read more...With the three other launch events already installed (Entente Cordiale: Nick Turpin & Nils Jorgensen on the concourse of St Pancras; Adventures in the Valley: Polly Braden & David Campany at Minnie Weisz’s studio and London Street Markets in the 1940s by Walter Joseph at the British Library), this left the official unveiling of Vivian Maier’s photographs and it was an unveiling that she would have been proud of. Luckily, John Maloof managed to make it from France despite the strike action, saying that is was serendipity and that he hoped that Vivian may have played a part in it (after all, did John Maloof find Vivian Maier or did Vivian Maier find John Maloof?). John has just been filming a documentary in France about Vivian’s life but more about this at his talk at the National Portrait Gallery tonight, Friday 1st July.
The recurring comments about Maier’s photography are that the majority of her photographs are technically brilliant – she really knew how to handle the Rolleiflex camera and associated flash (twin lens reflex cameras can be notoriously tricky to focus and have limited shutter speeds). A further comment was that there were more intimate portraits than expected and these provide an enhanced acceptance of the subjects of her images and she captures the transient events that still occur on streets the world over on a daily basis with precision. There was no consensus on a favourite image but this just goes to show her photographs appeal to everyone across the spectrum.
One of the volunteers on the Street Talk media team summed up the evening perfectly when he said that most of the photographers that he admires were at the launch: Steve Bloom, Nils Jorgensen & Mimi Mollica (to name but a small selection) and it was the equivalent of celebrity spotting for shutterbugs.
Vivian Maier:A Life Uncovered is on until the 24th July
Review by Emma Mapp
Photos by Andre Penteado
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The Awards
23 June 2011
Another highlight of the festival is the announcing of the winner of the first ever Intentional Street Photography Awards (the student category has already been revealed).
Read more...We are delighted that the catalogue has been sent to print and cannot wait to expose (pun intended!) the winner on the 30th June.
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Street Photography Now
23 June 2011
One of our super volunteers had his 18th birthday this week and as a birthday present, he was a given a copy of the book Street Photography Now (of course!) published by Thames and Hudson with a forward written by Sophie Howath and Stephen McLaren
Read more...A selection of the images from the book will be on display at 18 Exmouth Market London EC1R 4QE from the 7th-17th July and you’ll get a chance to purchase a copy of the book at the exhibition.
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Stand Your Ground - photographers challenge over-zealous security guards in the city
22 June 2011
Yesterday's Stand Your Ground event was a bittersweet success.
Six photographers (Grant Smith, David Hoffman, Toby Smith, Philip Wolmuth, Pennie Quinton and Michael Grieve) went out to different parts of the City armed with nothing more sinister than a tripod and camera to test the over-zealous policing of public spaces by private security forces.
Needless to say all were obstructed from taking photos at least once and three had encounters with police. None were doing anything illegal, all were simply excercising their right to take photos in a public space without being suspected or aggressively treated on unreasonable grounds.Read more...Excuses for obstructing the photographers came as no surprise - so called 'anti-terror' and 'privacy' laws were the norm while some guards were aggressively adamant that a permit was required one minute, and back tracking the next when the police arrived and set them straight. One guard even admitted that his reason for stopping the photographer was because 'the company' doesn't like photography of their building. Does a 'company' have the right to police our public space for what seems to be their own fear-mongering, profit-making gains?
In each instance the police provided a welcome intervnention and were reasonable and knowledgable, proving that the problem lies with the private security firms and this is where the buck must be stopped.
Each photographer had a videographer with them and each incident has been recorded. All the footage will be cut together to create a short film about the day's activities. The film will be the introduction to the debate 'Why does street photography make us paranoid?' on 20 July, where panel members including police,human rights lawyers and security professionals will discuss and debate the outcomes.
The film will also be released online in a couple of weeks so watch this space!
Read Grant Smith's blog of the day
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Festival tickets go on sale
03 May 2011
Tickets for the London Street Photography Festival are now on sale on Tuesday 10 May. The website is updated with detailed information on events and artist biographies as well as some of the photographs that will be on display during the festival.
Read more...Ticketed events will include the Vivian Maier exhibition, John Maloof talk at the National Portrait Gallery, and workshops by Nick Turpin, George Giorgiou, David Gibson and Toby Smith.
Make sure you are connected to us on Facebook and you are signed up to the newsletter to be first to hear about tickets, exhibitions, workshops and events.
Image By Vivian Maier, courtesy the John Maloof Collection
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Student Award finalists announced!
18 April 2011
The six finalists of the first London Street Photography Student Awards have been announced!
Read more...The winners were chosen for the promise they showed as emerging street photographers. A seleciton of their work is showcased in the online gallery and they will continue making new work for inclusion in their group show as part of the festival in July.
Winners will travel to London for a workshop with street photographer and editor of fLIP magazine Tiffany Jones. This will give them direction and guidance to continue producing new work for the festival. A session with the festival curator Grace Pattison will help students make their final exhibition selection and a print workshop and portfolio review at Photofusion will give them invaluable skills for thier future careers.
