A little while between posts, but I've been busy working on variety of new projects. In contrast to my street photography where the focus is on people, I'm also drawn to the abstraction found on our urban walls. The marks, gestures, graffiti and urban decay combine to create a layered history of moments in time. I find this really intriguing as it helps to form a dialogue between city and people. I will be exploring this concept in more detail as I experiment with new work.
black and white
'Street Focus' - Melbourne street series
I've recently started a new photographic project, 'Street Focus'. I'm documenting people in this series, whether a part of the urban landscape or caught in a candid moment. In our daily lives it's so easy to fixate on what divides us—ethnicity, age, gender and class; instead of what unites us. I'm fascinated with the way we gather and act collectively on the street, on the tram, at work and having fun, it's all superbly similar.
I continually seek evidence that we do absolutely mirror each other despite our vast differences. Every day I am captivated to document the people and the places that surround me on the palpable streets of Melbourne, an incredibly diverse and dynamic place to live.
'Street Focus' Melbourne
My passion for street photography started about 5 years ago when I moved to London. I started out shooting on my iPhone for fun and was lucky enough to connect with the mobile photography community early in it’s rise to popularity. I built relationships with some excellent street photographers, such as founders of the Mobile Photo Network, Ollie Lang and Misho Baranovic. It was also around this time that Instagram launched and provided an excellent platform to share my images and learn from others.
There is a rawness and an excitement to shooting on the street that I find addictive. I suppose it’s because you’re concentrating on what’s right in front of you and really 'in the moment'. I photograph urban landscapes too, but I decided to get back out on the streets of the Melbourne CBD and shoot with a focus on the people of the city.
I wanted to get as close as possible to the subjects, which is of course very difficult. It’s quite hard to take a good photo of someone without them noticing. The iPhone provides a discreet and wide angle camera which makes it a good option for street photography.
These were shot on my DSLR at around 50mm, which is closest to what the viewer would see if they were actually there. I'm pretty happy with results and found it quite thrilling getting amongst the action and capturing the people surrounding me. 'Street Focus' will be an ongoing series documenting urban Melbourne. Stay tuned for more images soon and follow the series here on Instagram.
Flinders Street, Melbourne
This shot was captured on Flinders Street, during my daily commute home from work. The street crossing provides a good backdrop to capture the energy of Melbourne's CBD, combining interesting architecture with people in motion. Like this image, I shoot and edit a lot of my street images with my iPhone, because it's the camera that's always with me.
