Hey everyone! Hope you’re having a great week.
Another wander through the digital archives and another attempt at applying a crop. I think this one improves the composition of the shot. This was taken in Covent Garden ten years ago ouch, time flies!
Thanks again for stopping and allowing me to take the shot Hayley!
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I’ve opened a shop on Big Cartel to sell prints and original works. You can have a look here.
Hey everyone! Hope you’re having a great week.
Another wander through the digital archives and another discovery of an unused shot – and again a slight crop applied. This was taken in Covent Garden five years ago wow, time flies!
Thanks again for stopping and allowing me to take the shot Fuki!
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I’ve opened a shop on Big Cartel to sell prints and original works. You can have a look here.
Trawling through photos in search of a hand to draw, I came across this shot of Jean taken outside The Black Garden tattoo parlour in Central London in 2013. At the time I was very much opposed to cropping photos, but I think this one benefits. Anyway, thanks for the shot Jean.
Back to searching for suitable hands…
One of the great things about 2020 so far is I seem to have rekindled my interest in photographing people. An even greater thing is that I ran into Rakia yesterday.
We made 8-10 shots together around London Bridge and these are my favourites…
The photographs work as well in colour as they do in black and white. But I tend to favour the monochrome.
You can visit Rakia’s Instagram here: @rakiamoctar
Thanks very much Rakia!
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If you are interested in seeing more street portraits, digital constructs and paintings visit my Instagram here or my website here.
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In the last few days I’ve been experimenting with converting portaits I originally presented in colour on TFIPM to black and white. This was partly to test Ted Grant’s adage. Above is the new processed main portrait of Yozmit, and below the original.
Back in 2013 I must have preferred the colour version as a true representation of Yozmit’s style. Today I like the inkiness of the new version.
The original post featuring Yozmit can be found here.
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Around 2013 I wanted to show my portraits alongside abstract paintings. For all sorts of reasons (one being I didn’t know that many abstract painters) it didn’t happen, so I started trying to imagine and make the kind of abstracts that might work with street portraits. Seven years later, I think I’m beginning to find stuff.
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If you want to see other work, visit my Instagram here or my website here.
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– Street Portrait (for and of Becky), 2017 –
Becky was on Shelton Street when I spotted her. I loved her style. Thanks for letting me take your portrait, Becky. Hope you like your picture!
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– Street Portrait (for and of Victor), 2017 –
Victor was on Seven Dials. He was great about me taking a few shots. Thanks very much, Victor! Hope you like your picture.
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Since May 2012, I have been approaching strangers in the street and asking if I can take their photograph. Thankfully everybody here said yes.
Thanks to Alice, Alice and Caner, Ajay, Anais, Becky, Blackie, Christian, Clara, Dominic Andrew Davids, Fifi, Flower, Fuki, Han, Hayley, Imogen Smith, Inge, Jenkin, Joe, Kris, Leon Hart, Marcus, Nolan, Patti Smith, Paul Barrett, Paul Smith, Rebecca, Romano, Sara, Stephen Dunn, Stefano, Tim, Tomo and Luna, Tony, Tony, Victor, and Will McLean, and to everyone who has stopped for a portrait.
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If you are interested in learning a bit of background to any of the shots above, a quick search of TFIPM by the person’s name should bring up the original post. This post is dedicated to George Skeggs, my first street portraitee – without him there would have been no beginning…
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Ashley Lily Scarlett and I have a blog together. It’s a conversation in pictures and it’s called Between Scarlett and Guest.
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David Cook and I are reviewing each other’s record collections one disc at a time on a new blog called Zzzounds! David has just reviewed The Seer by Swans. Check it out!
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– Street Portrait (for and of Ruby), 2015 –
Ruby was crossing Neal Street, London, UK when I spotted him. And he was moving fast, so my weary old bones got to see some action. Once I’d caught up with him, Ruby was great about me taking a few shots (in front of the Nike store’s orange window, I think). This is the first of two and is my favourite. Thanks very much for stopping, Ruby. Hope you like your picture.
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Since May 2012, I have been asking strangers if I can take their photograph. I’m drawn to the stylish and the interesting. Thanks to Alice, Chris, Chris, Clive, David, Edith, Egon, Eva, Frances, Gian, Glug Glug, Jason, Joanie, Kelpie, Lee, Leon, Maloviere, Marcela, Maria, Max, Nixon, Robin, Rony, Ruby, Sarah, Sofia and Willow, and to everyone who has stopped for a portrait.
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If you are interested in learning a bit of background to any of the shots above, a quick search of TFIPM by the person’s name should bring up the original post. This post is dedicated to George Skeggs, my first street portraitee – without him there would have been no beginning…
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Ashley Lily Scarlett and I have started a new blog called Between Scarlett and Guest. It’s a dialogue in pictures. You can read/ eavesdrop on the conversation here.
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– Street Portrait (for and of Mickey), 2015 –
Mickey was taking a break from decorating (on The Strand, London), when I spotted him. He was great about me taking a few shots. This was the first and is my favourite. Thanks very much, Mickey! Hope you like your picture.
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Since May 2012, I have been asking strangers if I can take their photograph. I’m drawn to the stylish and the interesting – and all of the people here are one or the other or both. Thanks to Mickey, Paul, Andy, David Michael, Dinos, Pia, Rob, Marieangela, Phil, Stefano, Christina, Scrappy, Besrat, Meraz, Daisuke, Wendy, Gilbert, George, Cobain, Steve, Ellie, Spencer, Chris, Jason, Fabio, Ed, Oli and Giovanni, and to everyone who has stopped for a portrait.
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– Street Portrait (for and of Paul), 2014 –
Paul was on the phone when I spotted him, so I waited for several minutes, looking more and more conspicuous. By the time he’d finished his call, he must have wondered about me. But he was really nice about me taking a few shots – again, this was the first and is my favourite. Thanks very much, Paul! Hope you like your picture.
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If you are interested in learning a bit of background to any of the shots above, a quick search of TFIPM by the person’s name should bring up the original post. This post is dedicated to George Skeggs, my first street portraitee – without him there would have been no beginning…
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Ashley Lily Scarlett and I have started a new blog called Between Scarlett and Guest. It’s a dialogue in pictures. You can read/ eavesdrop on the conversation here.
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– Street Portrait (for and of Chris Garland), 2014 –
It’s been a long time since I last ran, I mean really ran after a potential portraitee. And for Chris I ran uphill (not a big one, but I’m out of shape). He was great about me taking a few shots and we had an interesting, sometimes passionate and despairing conversation about the parlous state of British popular culture, retro-ism, beards, Kate Bush, fashion, young artists, the fashion of the high street, and Ladbroke Grove. Thanks very much for stopping, Chris – it was a pleasure to meet you. Hope you like your pictures.
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– Street Portrait (for and of Chris Garland), 2014 –
Visit The Psychedelic Manifesto here, and listen to their music here. Chris’ clothing line, Pure Mind Clothing can be found here.
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If you are interested in self-portraits, I recommend you visit Strata of the Self. It’s beautiful.
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– Street Portrait (for and of Neva), 2014 –
Some streets are better than others for taking portraits. But they seem to go in phases. For the last three months of last year, Great Queen Street was useless; this year it has been the spot for me: three fifths of the portraits I’ve taken were taken there.
Neva was stood outside the Freemason’s Hall. I was fascinated by the things she had in her hair, combined with that great coat. She looked fantastic and was very nice about me taking a few shots. This was the second, and my favourite. Thanks very much, Neva! Hope you like your picture.
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If you are at all interested in self-portraits, I strongly recommend you visit Strata of the Self.
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The Future Is Papier Mâché 