Thinking ...

I wanted to spend time thinking about what I have done during this summer break,.in relation to the work I have produced, and the opportunity I have been given to exhibit my work in the Gallery.

I  knew that I needed to take a pro active role in something; I  find it very easy to sit in the background and let others take centre stage. This is the way I prefer to be. But I knew that if I wanted to meet interesting people, make new friends and contacts, I had to step outside my comfort zone.

It is an experience that I have thoroughly enjoyed and I have met some great people. I've relished being part of something. A community project was an ideal space for me to open up and be involved in a worthwhile project.

I have been studying some of the street scene photographs that I have produced. I'm not inclined towards portrait photography, but much prefer to shoot in a more candid style. I like capturing people going about their day to day lives, lost in thought. I've noticed how people walk, how they look, how they stand, how they interact. But one of the main things I've noticed, is that most people have very poor posture. Does this relate to a low self esteem? It is laziness? Habit? Too many hours working/sitting at a computer? The answer is that there are probably many reasons why posture in general, is poor.

Contextually I think these photos are an extension of my intention to walk into the world, the first steps if you like. As a photographer, or maybe just as a human being, I am fascinated by how people portray themselves, and how, when they believe that no one is watching, that that is the only time when they are completely themselves. As a photographer I  search for characters. Old people with character written all over their faces, their experience of life, their journeys through life, enriched by the lines on their faces. The face, the posture, the walks ... they all tell a story.

Other characteristics in people that I enjoy seeing in our city environment, are the quirky , the unusual and the bizarre. A photograph I didn't manage to capture while I invigilated at the Gallery, was a well proportioned, mature woman, walking down the street in her bathing costume, carrying her shopping in one arm and a coat in the other. There are so many unusual characters around the city, it would be wonderful to shoot portraits of them.

I think this work highlights that I do want to shoot portraits, at some point in the future. This feels like the beginning of a project, that I could perhaps develop.

It is not only the quirkiness of a person that attracts me, it is the true identity of a person. A photograph does give some clues to the person even if the pose is staged. But the true identity of a person,  to my mind,  can only be done when the sitter is completely unaware that a photograph is being taken.