Beyond the Familiar: Discovering New Compositions in Margate & Cliftonville

This last weekend was one of those classic ones where you hope for fog, head out to a location you had in mind for some foggy shots, only to find that you arrive and the fog actually ended up further west along the north Kent coast. Ah well. Once you’ve arrived, you might as well make the most of it. No point burning petrol for nothing.

So, Margate it was. I don’t tend to head here very often during the winter months, it’s more of a summer shooting destination for me during the day (I do like it in the evenings, but quite often I’m too tired for the hour plus round trip in the evening). As it turned out, whilst there was no fog, there were some pretty good conditions, with some nice light to work with. Of course it was cold, but my investment in fingerless gloves has really paid off, so no problem on that front.

This time I decided to talk a decent walk through to Cliftonville (I used to work there back in 2001-2) and whilst it has undoubtedly become somewhat more gentrified than when I worked there, there remains the old Cliftonville (it was one of the poorest parts of not just Kent, but the UK when I worked there). I did get into one dicey situation where someone somewhat aggressively shouted at me for taking photos (“you can’t take photos along this road before midday!!!”), but I just responded with an “oh, alright” and carried on. I don’t tend to get too many problems when I’m out taking photos, not in this country at least (I have had issues in Spain a couple of times). Generally I’ve found not being confrontational does the trick, and largely people leave me alone. Although, I should add the caveat that I’m a 6’2” man, so that probably gives me some licence to go about things without any trouble.

I tried to get some different compositions to the usual ones I get in Margate (it’s very easy to fallback on the old reliables), and found a couple of shots that were different to what I’d taken prior in the town. I feel at the moment, each time I go out I’m trying to push myself to try something new. If nothing else, you kinda have to one when you are wandering around the same small towns. I guess it’s one of the benefits of sticking to the same areas, you have to keep working at it. Finding new things. Otherwise you’d get bored and give up. Sometimes it is hard. Sometimes it takes a lot of effort not to either sack it off or just do the same shots, but it can be rewarding when you don’t.

Anyway, you be the judge of whether it was worth the effort…

A London Photo Walk: Borough Market, Tate Modern & More

Despite a feeling that perhaps this wasn’t going to be my best trip into the capital (an unpromising weather forecast plus the school holidays seemed to indicate that it was going to be hard work), I packed my camera bag and took myself off to London for the day. I didn’t go with much of a plan as such, I decided to just head wherever the mood took me. I sort of had a bit of sense that I wanted to go to Borough Market and Shoreditch, but other than that, I had no set walking route or list of places to go. Let’s see where I end up and what comes to me.

One thing I do tend to do on a photography trip is try to work out which lens I would likely benefit from in each area. My standard lens, the one I take most of my photos with, is the 33mm. I kinda know I’ll capture most scenes with that lens on my XT3. Alongside the 33mm I have the 18mm and the 50mm. The 18mm tends to be my go to when I am in a place that is crowded or there’s very little room. Maybe for architecture too. The 50mm I prefer for either the most open spaces, or where there is potential for more abstract or detail type images. The 18mm I actually haven’t used that much for quite some time. So I decided early on to switch to that at the first opportunity and try to work some scenes with it. I do struggle with wide angle street photography, and I think it’s something I really need to work on.

When working with primes in a large city, I also try to plan safe places for me to change the lens. Obviously in busy areas I don’t want to be fiddling around with expensive lenses, so I try to find spots I know will be quiet and I can ensure my own safety. Of course, things could be easier if I carried a zoom lens but…I don’t want to. On this occasion, St Dunstan in the East served as a good spot to swap over the 33 for the 18 and try my hand at some wider shots.

This was also a good spot to change lens as I decided to head to Borough Market, and I figured I’d really need an 18mm there. Unfortunately, whilst the 18mm was the right lens, it was far too busy for me to get much. I find the crowds and volume of people difficult to deal with when with my camera. I tend to prefer single figures in my scenes, as it makes the composition simpler. Whilst I admire the work of others that do capture moments in large crowds of people, it’s not something I’ve ever got to grips with. I find it too difficult to pick out the details, hunting around with my eyes and trying to take everything in, I don’t have the speed of thought to spot a detail, or a moment where different elements align, and then capture it.

So I left Borough Market without too much in the bag (although I had enjoyed the viral strawberry and chocolate combo at Turnips), and headed off to the South Bank and the Tate Modern. I’ll admit that my primary reason for heading to Tate Modern was a free toilet break. You can never understate how important it is to factor toilet breaks in your street photo walk. There were also some compositions inside that I wanted to explore too, particularly the concrete spiral staircase in the new (well, sort of new) extension. It was also a good opportunity in a safe space to switch out the 18mm for the 50mm and look for some different shots. I hung around for a while hoping to get someone on the staircase coming down, but I soon lacked the patience and looked for other opportunities in the area.

Having fired off a few shots, I headed into the exhibition space and checked out the Joel Meyerowitz display. I concede I wasn’t massively familiar with his work prior to my visit to the Tate Modern, but many of the photos in the exhibition really captured my attention. Inevitably I left the Tate with a copy of A Question of Color in my rucksack.

From there I headed up to the Barbican (not before realising that I had accidentally knocked the ISO to 12800…just glad I noticed that before firing off more than a dozen shots!! See if you can spot which of the images below was shot at that ISO…). By now the clouds had thickened, the rain began to fall and my legs were really starting to ache. By this time, I was really starting to lose the energy and consequently finding compositions worth capturing was pretty tricky. I took a rest at the Barbican, wandered around to see if there were any compositions worth my while, before heading off to Spitalfields and grabbing a burger at Honest Burger (which was definitely worth the trip). At this point though I think I’d had my fill. I was thinking of staying a bit later into the evening, but I think in truth I was running on empty at this point, so I decided to sack it off and head home.

Probably wasn’t my most successful London photo walk, but there were a few shots I was pleased with. More than anything else though, I think the fact I came home with only 288 photos on my SD card tells its own story. Sometimes things just don’t quite align and you don’t really feel it. This was probably one of those times, but it’s ok. If nothing else, it’s made me think more about shooting with the 18mm and try to make better use of it in future. I think there is potential for it to help broaden my street photography, so I’m going to try to force myself to use it more often. Let’s see whether I stick to that commitment…

Night Street Photography: Capturing Margate & Whitstable

I’ve not been out in the evenings quite as much this winter as I have done in previous years. I think it’s that feeling of getting home and just wanting to crash at the end of the week. With all the pressures of work and the emotional baggage of home life, sometimes it feels like the only thing I have energy for is laying on the bed and doom-scrolling on social media. Every now and then, though, self-awareness descends and self-care is prescribed. And so, there have been times when I’ve dragged myself out, not really feeling it, but knowing that the getting out will help with the feeling it.

When it comes to my set-up, I have three prime lenses to accompany my XT-3: the XF33mmF1.4 R LM WR, the XF 18mm f/1.4 R LM WR and the XF 50mm f/2 R WR (this being a fairly recent addition to my kit). I decided early on when I picked up the XT-3 that I was going to stick to prime lenses on the streets. I felt a zoom lens would make me too lazy and, well, you also can’t beat a 1.4 lens. Far and away my favourite lens is the 33mm. Whether it be for night shoots or during the day, it just seems to be the perfect focal length for me. I’ve been using the 50mm quite a lot lately (I put that down to new toy syndrome), and I have enjoyed using it, but the 33 just has the edge (I’ll probably write more about the 50mm in a future blog).

The past weekend I spent a bit of time in Margate and Whistable shooting, looking for low light shots, experimenting with reflections, and looking for abstract shots. The condensation window is, of course, my favourite, but I’m increasingly trying to look for other types of shot. That said, variety isn’t easy in a small town, so I make do with whatever I can find. We can’t all shoot every day on the streets of London, so sometimes you have to settle for making the best of the local streets. Although people may argue the streets of Whitstable aren’t quite as exciting as the streets of Soho, it doesn’t mean there aren’t shots to be had. You can find interesting compositions in any town or city at night. Sure London is vast with every street seemingly presenting an opportunity, but a bit of patience and you can find at least one composition that hits.

Quite often I go out and end up with around 100-200 photos on my SD card, but once I dig into them, there will be less than 4/5 that I’m pleased with. Sometimes I come back with nothing, sometimes with some I’m really pleased with. This last weekend was certainly no different. That said, I did manage to bag one I was really happy with…a shot through a window in Margate, with two figures sitting opposite each other at a table.

I think what I like most about this are the poses of the two individuals. One presumably looking down at a menu, one seemingly deep in thought. It seems to me there is some kind of story here, a feeling in a moment. What is the figure on the right thinking? Has something been said beforehand? Is there some tension? Who knows. The lighting in the background also really helps I think. The blue and the red seem quite a striking combination in the background.

That was definitely my favourite of the shots taken in the evening over the weekend. There were a few others that were ok, but I think this is the strongest of them all. I’ll post the rest below (both Whitstable and Margate), let me know what you think.

dark and moody walks in margate

Back in the day, when I used to go out for a bit of landscape photography, I used to love a moody, overcast and wet day, particularly at the coast. Then my D7200 died after water got into the electronics (RIP my much missed old friend) and landscape photography became something I did rather than something I do. I went all in on street photography and started to look more for light and shadows, or evening abstracts. After a while, cloudy and wet days just required a bit more effort than they used to.

And yet, there’s something about a dark, overcast day at the coast that draws me in. I think it’s the combination of big open foreboding sky and tiny, insignificant figures on the beach. The scale, the darkness, all seem to come together to make something appealing to my eyes. I think I’m just drawn to the mood. To the reduction of people to minor characters in nature’s drama.

This time of year the overcast moody skies combine with biting cold conditions and make for some interesting scenes on the streets. It takes a lot of effort to pack your camera bag and head out when it feels marginally above zero and the rain is falling down, but you cannot beat the atmosphere (so long as there is no wind, I can’t stomach cold, wet and windy photo shoots…the wind just saps away all the energy I muster in leaving the house, so I tend to give those days a miss).

The thing I always try to remember, especially this time of year with the winter we’ve had, is that it’s no use waiting for “perfect” conditions. Make the most of the conditions that are present. Sure, sometimes it really is worth staying in bed (god knows we all deserve some rest in these times…). But sometimes you can look out the window, see the drizzle and the overcast sky and just think what’s the point. But those can be the best days. The days where you go out with low expectations and just one shot makes it all worthwhile. And yet, you can go out in the height of summer, blue skies, fantastic light, convinced you’ll get 100 bangers, only to come home with nothing. I guess the lesson is, don’t waste time waiting for the perfect, embrace imperfection. It’s a lesson I’m still trying to learn…

Copies of my Margate zine (UK only) are still available (none of the images below feature in the zine as I took them all on Sunday 9th February!).

pottering around Ramsgate in the sun...

Ramsgate is a place I seldom explore. I’m always drawn to Margate when I choose to go out with my camera…partly because I used to work there so at least know the town, partly because, well, it’s Margate and it has that whole Margate vibe thing going on.

I’ve been a couple of times in the past few years, but always on overcast days and never on a day where the light was the kind of light you hope for. On this occasion, however, the forecast was a crisp, cold day with blue skies and sunshine. For once, the forecast didn’t disappoint.

Ramsgate doesn’t quite have the artsy appeal of Margate, but it also doesn’t have the feeling of over-extended gentrification. There are signs here and there, of course, but it quite to the extent of other places alone the east Kent coast, and certainly doesn’t appear to be signs of the sheer excess and over-reach that other parts of East Kent aspire to (hello Folkestone). In fact, it more closely resembles the kind of east Kent coastal town that I knew all too well from my youth.

Anyway, this particular visit had exceptional light flooding the side streets, casting bold shadows and bringing interesting reflections. On exploring it did beg the question why I don’t visit more often. Like Deal there are plenty of streets that run perpendicular to the promenade, resulting in glorious golden light illuminating shop fronts and passers-by. I should really make more of this, especially this time of year when the golden hour coincides with people milling around the streets. Maybe I should explore it more, it certainly makes a change from the Margate>Deal>Folkestone options I normally choose when conditions look promising.

Anyway, I took a few shots during my trip. Could do with a few more sunny days given how dull this winter has been…

changing my focus...

For a long time, getting the focus right on the subject was important to me. What was the point in taking a photograph unless the subject was pin sharp and crystal clear? Surely photography was always about every detail and every aspect of the subject being in focus? So I’d go out, armed with my camera, survey the scene, set my lens to f8, raise the shutter speed to 1/1000, then take the shot, confident I will get a nice sharp photo. Recently, that’s shifted…

Of course, I still take shots where the subject is in sharp focus, but I’ve gradually shifted away from that being my default, starting to look more at shapes, lights and forms, giving the viewer something to figure out. Not too much that it becomes almost impossible to discern what the subject is, but enough to make the viewer do a little bit of work. It is much more about a sense of the street rather than accurately portraying every detail, every element of the city.

In a way, I guess this is a natural progression. I tend to enjoy art that demands investment from those engaging with it. Whether it be films or books, I like something that challenges me, that gets me to do some work. I tend to find myself less interested in art that presents the obvious, the popcorn movie or the page turner. Every now and then I’ll indulge of course, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying something light. But it’s not what gets my juices flowing, what gets me interested, engaged, talking, thinking…

Sure, this kind of photography is very in vogue (and owes a lot to the popularity of Saul Leiter’s work), and can sometimes veer into cliche. However, I find it a valuable process in understanding the importance of form and light, and not just worrying about whether my subject is in focus. Learning different techniques and approaches are, in my view, an important step in developing as a photograpger. This approach isn’t an end point, it’s just part of the learning process. And it’s a part I am very much enjoying.

Here’s some shots taken around Shoreditch and Liverpool Street Station.