Brick Lane Street Photography

I’ve also managed to get down Brick Lane the past few Sundays and catch some more pictures for the on-going black and white street photography project. Both the above and below shots are from recent jaunts around London. No doubt I’ll be up there again soon annoying the trendy too cool for school kids with my camera. If all goes well I might be able to sell my flat in Southend soon so I can finally move up to London. This would give me a lot more time to spend on the street, protests and other photography projects, network more with other photographers and potential clients so I can get more paid photography jobs.

London Street Photographer

Stop The War protesters along Whitehall

Protesters with various anti war banners

A police officer asks the demonstrators to move on

I know the photos should tell the story, however for the next pictures I must point out that the line of police wasn’t penning the Stop The War protesters in. This is a very busy part of London (for those that don’t know) with a large number of tourists passing by so the police formed the line to prevent people potentially getting hit by road traffic. For the actual march part of the protest there was only a couple of police walking with the demonstrators.

Police lines outside the Houses of Parliament

99% Desires Peace

Stop The War protesters holding banners outside the Houses of Parliament

AFGANOSTAN

Police and protesters in conversation...

Photography wise the more rowdy protests do make for better pictures. Talking to the Stop The War demonstrators and police rather than running around ducking batons, moving in and out of police lines with an invisible press card and being chased by Congolese for “being on their patch” made a nice change. Will get more London and Brick Lane street photography along with the few dodgy pictures from the Congolese Whitehall protest on my site soon. Link, comment or email me here there and everywhere.

Southend Tower Blocks

Follow The Rules

In the unwritten rule book of street photography, photographing random people from behind generally doesn’t work. If possible you should try to capture the face of your subject within your composition. It’ll improve your street pictures if you currently do people from behind. You gain the all important eye contact and facial expressions, which immediately gives the viewer a connection to the subject within the picture. Photographing people sitting on a park bench from behind with a shallow depth of field (which seems to be a reoccurring theme on Flickr street photography groups) just doesn’t have the same effect. Also the backs of heads are normally as boring and bland as watercress in water sauce.

Break The Rules

Ok for all the hippies out there shouting “fuck the rules”, “rules are there to be broken”, “street photography has no rules” and so on, I will now contradict myself. Just before I do, if you are new to street photography stick to the advice above before you start giving the street photography world the finger.

Pictures from behind can work, but generally they need a strong point of interest other than the person/people included in the composition of the image. For example the picture above of the girl with a fat arse and the blocks of flats isn’t a classic street photography shot by any means. However I think it manages to still work for a few reasons. 1: the main subject of the picture is the blocks of flats. 2: The girl bending over works as a added element in the scene, adding some oddness, context and humour to what is a pretty grim street scene. Agree, disagree, or don’t give a flying monkeys then say so in the comments below.

There are also plenty of other examples from much more talented and famous street photographers than me all over the interweb. So if you insist on shooting the back of random strangers heads whilst doing street photography at the very least try to make sure there is something else of interest in the picture.

Confidence

I’m assuming most of these pictures of taken from behind come from a lack of confidence by the photographer. Fine if you are just starting out but not so good if you are jetting around the world claiming to be an International Street Photographer. I still maintain the best way of building confidence is throwing yourself into the deep end. Stop reading this post on my bloody photography blog and get out there on the street. Shoot more!

I Talk Too Much

Right time for me to shut up. I could go round and round in circles about this but in simple terms, particularly if you are new to street photography, try to avoid photographing the backs of heads for no reason.

You can bitch about how bad I am at writing, tell me what an idiot I am in the comments, just be aware this is a dictatorship. As always most of my work, including the ongoing black and white Brick Lane street photography project, is on my Flickr stream.

Santa Street Photography

I couldn’t resist following the revellers as they blocked off most of the roads in the West End forcing traffic to a standstill. It’s not something you see every day and that’s one of the things I love about street photography, just being on the streets means you can unexpectedly walk into interesting photographic situations.

Santa in London

As I headed home after all the fun and frolics I walked head on into clashes between Congolese protesters and the London police down Whitehall. It was in complete contrast to the jovial street partying I was in the middle of 5 minutes earlier! I’ll save those pictures for another out of date post to my blog soon.

Santa party down Carnaby Street

Now to think of some more street photography tips for a future post… Must also sort out a proper gallery for my photography projects. Having a blog format isn’t the best for showing off my work, but without it Google doesn’t send any visitors (rock and a hard place). Also need to start selling some more of my photographic prints, think about finding somewhere in London to hold a street photography exhibition and come up with a new project or two. So many ideas, so much to down, must ingest more caffeine!

Santa talks on the phone- Trafalgar Square

A part of street photography that I like is the lack of purpose. Generally you aren’t going to make much money from street photography apart from the odd print sale or perhaps newspaper report. That means you don’t have to worry about running around trying to catch the best shot like at an event, you can sit back, relax and wait for the scene develop in front of you. On the flip side that means you could spend a couple of hours intending to do “street photography “and go home empty handed.

There seems to be a lot more people doing street photography now compared to when I originally started annoying tourists and the trendy too cool for school brigade around Brick Lane. Must be a side effect of the very successful International Street Photography Festival held in London during 2011? That and sites like Flickr, the abundance of good affordable digital cameras and ever improving camera phones it is a trend that is unlikely to go into decline anytime soon. You could say doing street photography on Brick Lane has become as cliché as wearing dead peoples vintage clothes!

I’m all for street photography becoming more mainstream, but I do wonder what the saturation point is? Particularly with the 70-200mm f/2.8 Macintosh clad plonkers hunting in a pack style swinging their expensive lenses around like some kind of washed up porn stars third leg!

I seem to have gone off on a tangent as usual. I’ll post more of my street photography from Brick Lane and around East London here on my blog and my Flickr account. If you happen to see me (funny looking bloke with a dishevelled chav bag until Billingham and Leica decide to sponsor me) out and about do say hello.

Lee Welton Photographer Guardian Published

Fingers crossed I can get some more images published in national newspapers this year, more commissions from people, groups, promotions etc holding events in London and Southend and looking for a photographer. So there we have it a early post for 2012 and not the last. Don’t forget if you wish to hire me as a photographer for an event or commission you can email using the contact form.

So after listening to a couple of discussion groups that had formed on the first floor and talking to protesters taking part I decided to wander off and explore the occupied UBS building on my own. As a photographer who normally photographs events and specifically people at those events, taking interior pictures of this old office block isn’t something that got me all that excited. I’m just putting the pictures from inside The Bank Of Ideas on my photography site to show the wider world what’s inside.

The following shots are from the original Occupy London Stock Exchange camp at St Pauls.

2 Pictures Published in Nuts Magazine

They also published a picture from the main BAMMA fight and the other “posed” photographs of Brandy Brewer taken by a photographer working for Nuts magazine. Ok it’s hardly a world changing event or a amazing piece of photojournalism published in the likes of The New York Times, The Guardian, The Times, Vanity Fair and so on (who should all commission me of course), but regardless it’s always a good feeling to see ones pictures printing in a publication.

I did creating a second website. 1 for a commercial photography portfolio aimed at clients and, 2 for a community focused photography blog, but I (foolishly) hope they can work successfully side by side on this here site. The business of being a photographer is a tough one especially in this economic climate, so no clients means no photography jobs which in turn means no tips and advice!

I’ve already moved the 10 Street Photography Tips For Beginners to the new advice and tips section of the blog. Fingers crossed this should help make the place a little easier to navigate. It’s pretty obvious that I’m an avid street photographer so over time I’ll put as much advice about it as I can. Expect articles along the lines of best locations for a street photographer in London, how to tackle those dreaded nerves, what is the best lens to use for street photography and so on (you get the picture).

I was also thinking of reviewing camera equipment, however this is pretty well covered on the web already so may limit it to my opinions and experience of the photographic kit I use regularly. So there you have it the new photography advice and tips section is live! As always I appreciate your opinions and ideas so if you have any for this new part of the site please drop them in the comments box below.

I have no intention of joining the paparazzi but who could resist getting a shot or two off. I wasn’t totally on the ball and really should have asked if he would mind posing for a couple of photographs for me or even better if I could video him mentioning my website (good pimpage material especially considering all the Harry Potter nonsense at the moment). However it was one of those oh look, someone famous, shoot, type moments.

It’s not a great picture or anything, but just helps to emphasize the photography tip that you should always have a camera with you (especially in London). Another tip that I must remember is to take my Moo cards with me when I go out doing street photography as they’re pointless if left sitting at home in the office.