KILL DEM
With the cost of living crisis, a UK finance catastrophe looming/happening, the Queen dying immediately after meeting our new PM, and a certain Mr Putin still threatening nuclear annihilation dominating this septembers news, its enough for anyone so I thought it best to take some time to take photos in a few quieter places in the world, away from the seemingly impending doom that awaits us. Trips to the coastal town of Lyme Regis, the cotswolds and a nature reserve ensued as the summer finally began to wind down and autumns cold started to creep in just in time for all these energy bill rises. I tried to slow things down even further with some 35mm film photography but someone (ok me) forgot to put film in my Olympus OM1. I went around snapping away to my heart’s content, with no film in the camera….. I couldn’t have made more of a film rookie mistake if I tried. So 35mm film debacle aside, let’s get into september.
starting off with a little introduction to a word I learnt this month that encapsulated how I have been feeling about street photography recently, and felt fits perfectly with some of the images I have taken over the past year since getting my hands on the Fujifilm X100V.
Sonder - The profound feeling of realizing that everyone, including strangers passing in the street, has a life as complex as one's own, which they are constantly living despite one's personal lack of awareness of it.
As I have become more confident in my street photography, the term ‘sonder’ really resonates with me, and the images I take more and more. I seem to look for and notice smaller, fleeting moments far more frequently whenever I am out, even without my camera. I seem to be more in tune with noticing and appreciating these little moments more as I practice, trying desperately to overcome any social anxiety to get a shot of it before that moment is gone forever, and i’m left kicking myself for not being bolder. The word Sonder encapsulates this idea for me as I notice these glimpses into others lives for a split second as I pass them by. The most satisfying examples for me of this were in the image below where the colour of the woman’s hair and shoes matched the colour of the flowers she was sat next to, or the image above of a woman in a black striped t-shirt walking past a shop made up of black vertical and horizontal lines. All moments where people are oblivious to how they are making an image, and telling a story if only for that one second now forever frozen in time.
Other examples of this idea of sonder can be seen in the image below which shows the juxtaposition of young and old. Both turned away from one another engrossed in their own worlds leaving negative space between them.
I also enjoyed capturing the image below where two people are using their phones at the same time on different levels from one another. I waited for the girl to walk past the open door of the beach hut in the middle of the frame, with the other couple almost directly above to get some symmetry within the frame. I like the idea that they were actually texting each other to find out where the other one is.
Catching people unaware is made so much easier with the X100V, with its silent shutter and small size makes getting these sorts of images a lot easier for me. I’m not like the photographer Bruce Gilden who used to throw himself in front of people with his flash to get as close as possible to people as they walked by.
Picking out objects in a scene is also something I enjoy trying to find and photograph, with some of the images below examples where I honed in on a specific thing such as a bathing suit hanging on a door or a coke can on a step.
As well as the street photography, I was able to give the drone a run out over the coast. I pinpointed the bay as the most interesting area to do some top down images.
Moving on from Lyme Regis, a trip to newports RSPB wetlands was my next destination with the Fujifilm XT-4 and Fujinon 100-400mm lens raring to go.
Despite the reach this lens gives me, I still found getting any usable close up images very hard to come by in this open wetland environment. I had the same issue at Ham Wall a few years ago which is frustrating considering the cost of the set-up needed to even get the images I got this time around. Still, I was able to get some environmental scenes which I like, as well as a few wildlife images I was reasonably happy with.
Rounding off the month with a couple of random images shot outside of my time in Lyme Regis and Wales which I was pleasantly surprised with. The first being an image that slipped through the net from last months post which I felt was worthy of a mention.
Following this was an image I took while out with my 100-400mm lens attempting to get a half decent shot of a kingfisher. When this didn’t happen I settled with this low key image of a dry leaf on water. I turned the image sideways because I loved they symmetry which I think works well like this.
An overcast day at the end of the month finished off september with a short trip to the cotswolds. The image below of one of the thatched roofed cottages was the only standout for me.
And finally this month we bid farewell to a woman who for anyone who knows me would know, was a big part of my early childhood and my families lives long before I arrived on the scene. I only have one photo I took personally to go with the countless memories I am lucky enough to have of my glimpse into that world all those years ago….
FIN
