A while ago I mentioned that my current photography tome was “The Ongoing Moment” by the brilliant Geoff Dyer. When I say a while ago it has in fact been many months. It isn’t a long book by any stretch of the imagination, a paperback at just over three hundred pages long. It’s inspiring, there are some absolutely fascinating sections that are superbly written by this master. Equally it can be hard going and dare I say a little boring in places, not a book to be read in one sitting. It’s described as a meditation on photography and with that I absolutely agree. Dyer has essentially looked at connections between the photographic greats and the scenes that they photographed. Those moments repeat themselves: benches, hats, hands, roads, streets. The likes of Strand, Evans, Kertész, Arbus and Winogrand squint through the viewfinder to see very similar scenes, motifs and subject matter. They release the shutter in different decades and continents, although often they never meet are somehow connected. Sometimes they copy those scenes, but of course in the end they evolve and develop a style which is indelibly stamped onto the resulting photographs.
As they say: “There’s nothing new under the sun” (see what I did there?). That doesn’t mean we have to stop taking photos like the one above, if we do and continue with that mindset then we’d give up on photography altogether, it’s all been done before. I’ve made photographs in these areas of Bath thousands of times…
…but I continue because I still haven’t got what I’m looking for. By the way, I’m not entirely sure what that is, but I’ll let you know when I either see or get it. That guy in the first shot looks as though he’s just robbed a bank and legging it, not quite running, but it’s a get away for sure. Before you call the police, the photographic police that is, I have an idea what you’re thinking: ‘Wasn’t he moaning about all these light and shadow predictable shots a few blogs ago?’ ‘They’re too easy to make he said, now he’s posting the exact same shots’ or a more likely thought: ‘I really wish I hadn’t opened this email’. Well, I still think all that, although I’m glad you opened this email/link. I’m showing these shots to demonstrate my process of an hour or so session of Street Photography in Bath and to reinforce the point of this post. I begin with the easy stuff, still looking for whatever it is I’m looking for, and then move on to more complicated compositions. Albeit in very familiar scenes to street photographers wherever they are in the world.
To me, at least, the second shot is more interesting. I like the way the girl in the window is looking at me, hey, she’s only human and we all know that I’m totally irresistible!
See how pleased they are to see me? Where were we? Oh yes, recurring scenes, motifs and not forgetting those all important actors. I used to work in pubs, behind bars where some say I belong, and can tell you that after a while you see people repeating themselves and not necessarily because of too much beer. You’re working behind a bar and at 10:30am sharp in walks Fred. Half a Guinness and a scotch, there you go Fred. A year later another pub in a town one hundred miles away and you’d swear it was the same guy. The mannerisms are identical as is the character and even the drinks, this time he’s called Bill. We look over at Edna who’s sat in the corner with a barley wine puffing on a cigarette, hang on this is a different pub, this old lady is called June. Then there are the the bar room lawyers, holding court at six o’clock where they easily solve the current political and social problems with over simplified solutions that their sycophantic friends lap up along with their beer. Around seven o’clock a sad bunch of characters, the adulterers, with their secrets and lies go home to their loving families. Next he younger crowd arrive, full of joie de vivre, the next generation of Freds, Bills, Ednas and Junes. Meanwhile a fight breaks out, behind the bar we all saw it coming. It’s all very predictable, the names change, but not much else. If you want to observe the human condition get a job in a pub or take up Street Photography. As a side note, and to prove myself wrong, my very good friend used to run a pub near London during the early 1980’s. It was frequented by a Chapter of the Hells Angels. The only problem he ever experienced was with a salesman in a business suit who made a nuisance of himself by standing on a table whilst pulling his trousers down, he was subsequently thrown out and banned. Mostly for his own protection! I used to drink in there quite often and there was never any trouble whatsoever, the patrons behaved like angels, ones from the other place.
That shot above is my personal favourite of the day.
Once we have taken up our new position (bar tender/street photographer) it becomes increasingly easy to observe and predict the movements or actions of the predictable. In the next couple of shots, and if you’d been there, it’s crystal clear what is going to happen. Obvious in the first shot, two tourists are at some stage going to take a selfie, I had to wait for a minute, but sure enough out came the smartphone. I wonder how many photos of people taking photos there are? The second is another of those. Just after I saw a couple walk down to this area, she with her camera looking through the viewfinder constantly. They ended up by these columns, a matter of time before predictably she asked him to walk thorough as she took a shot. Her version of a scene replicated a million times. I waited and took a shot of her taking a shot of him walking through. Also predictably I followed the rule of thirds to the letter to make another of those photos that have been made so many times before.
We’re all seeing the same things, all photographers have since the dawn of photography, okay maybe mid-morning, but you know what I mean. Someone sat on a bus? I always grab a shot down at the bus station. Here’s my version from this trip into Bath:
My eye was caught by the coachwork stripe, it leads neatly from the right bottom of the frame to our lady in the mask with an itchy nose.
I think one the reasons why I’m so drawn to Street Photography is that although things are fairly predictable and been done before there is always something new to work on and with. It’s a challenge, a never-ending one that will undoubtedly fail to be conquered. I get the feeling that all Street Photographers are connected, we suffer the same setbacks and disappointments and of course the euphoria when we get it right as things fall into place. We’re walking the streets, seeing similar scenes and making our own photographs in the style we’ve evolved. There’s a connection, as though we’re in some kind of huge collective or club, all those moments we share and are ongoing. Occasionally things aren’t as easily read, they can be unexpected and we sometimes see a character that isn’t replicated anywhere else. We might think we know the type, but this one has a slight mutation. I like landscapes, trees, architecture and all that stuff, but it doesn’t move, if it does then its glacial. I’d get bored really quickly, I chose people as my preferred subject matter for that reason. Street for me is a natural progression in my photographic journey.
To finish here’s a couple of shots from our family shopping trip last week. Sam looking like a model and Louis who of his own volition wandered off to be with his new mates/doppelgängers, he called me over, “hey, daddy”, I turned and clicked. Predictable? The Fab Three perhaps. Incidentally I don’t think men of certain age should walk around a ladies underwear shop with a camera…just saying!
As always my sincere thanks go to anyone taking the time to read this blog.
All images can be opened by clicking on the thumbnails and are made using a Leica M with Summicron 28mm Lens fitted.
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