Save yourself some typing time…

Many years ago, writer and full-time drinker Jeffrey Bernard, best known for his weekly column "Low Life" in The Spectator magazine, sometimes was in no fit state to complete his weekly missive. Vodka was usually to blame. Always in place of the column, the phrase “Jeffrey Bernard is unwell” was published. This has nothing whatsoever to do with this picture by the way!

Shed Theatre, South Bank. Copyright: Mike Kemp

Well this week I am struggling with RSI, so while I'm not that unwell, but I don’t want to type too much. Instead though, I will offer some advice, especially to those people who also suffer from this affliction.

If you work using a Mac, start using the dictation tool.

You can find it under System preferences, Keyboard, Dictation. Then check the box for Use Enhanced Dictation, and choose a shortcut. It takes a little while to download the file, and then you're good to go.

From then on, if you're writing a document or an email, you just hit the function key twice by choosing which shortcut you want to use, and the little dictation box pops up. It is quite brilliant.

So this week I'm just going to share one of my favourite pictures from my South Bank Project with you, and you can see plenty more by following this link…

http://www.southbankproject.com/

You’ll be able to tell very easily what I was getting at here. Red and red, then guy wearing red cycles into the frame and it's simply a matter of seeing this about to happen and timing your shutter. My timing here was good, but I was also very lucky with the character on the left smoking a cigarette. Thanks to him the picture was complete.

So I'll leave it there this week, hope you like the South Bank Project site. I cannot recommend the dictation tool enough, and wrote the whole of this blog post using it. So yes, it actually works! Mostly.

I should hopefully be back up to speed within a couple of weeks, so until then.

Have a great week!

Mike

Time to give something back…

On many occasions you will be out there when someone stops you after you’ve photographed them, asks what you’re up to and if you have a card. Sometimes they will ask you if you could send them a picture, but certainly not always. I think it’s a good thing to pay people back though, as a matter of course. You take so much from people as a photographer that I think this balance needs to be addressed.

Green man. Copyright: Mike Kemp

So, my advice is for you to offer to send a picture rather than waiting for them to ask.

Give them a card, and then it’s up to them to contact you for their photo. Oddly, most people don’t follow up, but at least you have tried. Others end up following you and become almost supporters, so it’s got to be good karma right?

Skip back to 1988, if your minds can or dare to go back that far…

I was producing a graphic design solution for a project while in my second year at art school. I’d chosen to work a packaging design around the subject of fly-fishing. I didn’t fish myself, but was fascinated by the flies that were tied by patient and skilled hands.

I was introduced to this warm-hearted gentleman called Jack, a fly fisherman who tied his own flies. Despite being pretty ill, he gave me some time, and I went to photograph him in his little home studio, making these beautiful creatures from wire and feathers. We got on well and he invited me on a fishing day at a local lake the following week. He was really struggling, but he was genuinely interested in what I was doing, and wanted to follow the process through for my project. Using the flies he had been tying he caught a couple of nice trout, and gave me one to take home, wrapped up in newspaper.

I completed the project including all the final packaging a few weeks later, made some prints for him which I had ready in an envelope. Then forgot to send them. When it came to graduation show time, I tried to contact Jack to invite him to the opening night, only to hear that he had died. Despite having the intention to, I hadn’t followed up and paid him back for his generosity of time and spirit, and also wondered if he had thought the same.

It’s haunted me ever since.

Not wanting to end this on too much of a downer, do use this story as impetus to be extra generous with the people you photograph. Mostly we work with no engagement, but often we do. So, next time you’re out there, offer your pictures up by way of thanks, and importantly, make sure to send them straight away.

Have a great week!

Mike

Set up to react fast…

As the Autumn fast approaches, and light will inevitably be less generous to us all, I thought it time to mention a camera setting as a great way to get your exposure right when reacting fast.

Most of the time, I work in Manual mode. You know what the light is doing, it’s relatively constant, and you set your camera accordingly, just focusing on what is in front of you. This is plenty to be thinking about, rather than grappling with the technical side of things, just when your attention is required to move, frame, focus and take a picture.

Red and blue. Copyright: Mike Kemp

On this particularly wet day in January (I know sorry to bring this up on such a beautiful day) I’d been wandering around near Aldgate and had been working on slower shutter speeds in the gloomy light, looking for stationary objects.

In the background though, I’m ready to leap into action.

What I always do, even I am working in manual, is to have my Aperture priority set up to correspond to a shutter speed of at least 1/250th. So, in this case, on my cheap and faithful 40mm lens, I have it set to wide open at f2.8, which when I set it was giving me a minimum of 1/250th.

Anyway, there I am, wet, cold and walking home. Set to Manual, and crossing the road, when i see a woman walking along the pavement and her trainers are exactly matching the two colours of the cycle lane. This is when the street photographer’s instinct kicks in. So as I take a couple of long running strides to frame the scene closer, I change from Manual to Aperture priority (you’ll do this without looking if you do it enough, trust me). Focus as best I can on where she is walking to, drop to a better height bending my knees and take two frames, trying to time her steps as best I can in a rush. It’s all done in a couple of seconds.

The result is f2.8 at 1/250th second, at ISO 400, and although slightly focussed behind the woman, it’s pretty close. If it has been 1/125th, it probably wouldn’t have hurt, but there would definitely be movement. I wasn’t certain at the time, what the shutter speed would be, but I had set it up to work out. The point is, that if you need to react fast, you’ll be there or thereabouts, so you can just shoot and see what the result is…

In changing light I flip from Manual to Aperture priority often, and in this case, you could argue that I should already have been set to Aperture priority… You’d have a damn good argument there. I’m certainly not perfect, especially when tired, but you should try this next time you are out there. 

Have your Aperture priority setting prepared, and you’ll be able to react with accuracy.

Have a great week!

Mike

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Drop your camera…

After two sessions at this year’s Notting Hill Carnival, working on my long-term project taking a sideways glance at the annual event, I’m struck by one technique in particular that I use again and again.

Making his move. Copyright: Mike Kemp

Dropping your camera, then shooting again.

At events like Carnival, people play to camera all the time. You’re trying to make candid pictures, but the very nature of having a lot of photographers around and people’s (by and large) good mood, they do have a tendency to stop and smile at you. This is not to say that a great deal of what you can shoot is properly candid, as the flip side of so many cameras, is that you end up being ignored as just another one. 

If you know what you are doing, and approach positively, people can tell.

In this example of a picture I took on Monday, I’d framed up an interesting group of guys with Trellick Tower as the backdrop. The light and cover gave a great contrast, a separation of the characters. I’d taken a couple of frames, but then they started posing and smiling at me. So, I took a frame, looked at them to say thanks, and dropped my camera. Looked away until I knew they had gone back to normal mode, then reframed.

The one guy you see had locked in on a girl, and completely ignoring me, he started to make this shape with his body and sidled over to her, going straight past me by about a metre. I got 3 frames through this process, of which this is the best, as he hunched his shoulders acting all coy and non-threatening. It’s a genuine moment, and one of the subtleties I am trying to find in moments at Carnival.

This by no means works every time, but a great proportion do. But be prepared, as sometimes you have to move fast. Dropping the camera then almost immediately back up as the moment the person relaxes back can be almost instantaneous, just as some other factor introduces itself to the frame.

You know the boring old picture of a pretty carnival dancer with a feather costume, smiling to camera? Well, in this second example, this is exactly what I am talking about. She smiles, I take a frame, I drop the camera, she relaxes, then immediately back up as this guy passes and a look is exchanged. Another guy behind also checking her out. It’s not a groundbreaking picture, but an example of what I am after.

Instant reactions. Copyright: Mike Kemp

It all happened in about a second from up, drop, back up and shooting the frame.

So, next time you’re out shooting a public even like this, give it a try. You have to combine the movement of the camera, looking the person in the eye, and away again, then back up, all as elements of equal importance. Let me know how you get on…!

Have a great week!

Mike

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Be prepared to wait…

In a big city like London, you never know what is going to appear around the corner next. Numerous times I’ve found that that if you wait for long enough, the exact thing that you want to make a picture work, actually appears. To greater or lesser degrees of success. More often than not, it’s just an OK picture, but other times, it’s way more successful.

Bond Street Elvis. Copyright: Mike Kemp

Sometimes that thing never comes along, so you have to judge how long you will give it, how much time you have… Whether you could come back again to the same situation and try again… Sometimes you can be lucky in quick time, and other times you end up swaying on your feet. But do be prepared to wait. 

For the right picture it’s certainly worth it.

In the frame this week, I spent my time waiting for the right thing to pass for about half an hour. During that time, I was testing various compositions and framing with people passing by. I’d suggest this as an excellent way to spend your time, and improve the frame so you are ready when Elvis walks around the corner, straight into your frame. I was using a fixed 28mm lens and trying to incorporate the full height of the printed model, and the nice light falling on the flowers, while retaining enough space for when the right figure arrived. Enjoy getting yourself into a position that makes the frame work best, that’s part of the joy of working with prime lenses.

And how long are you prepared to wait for…?

My record in one position is about 1 hour and 25 minutes, but there are a few places I kept going back to adding up to a lot more than this. And I certainly know of photographers who will keep trying for weeks for something very specific. And getting their desired picture to great effect.

You can decide how much time you’re prepared to wait for, and judge if it’s really worth it. You’ll get to know these limits yourself as you work and no doubt, just like me, as you walk away, you’ll look back just in case ‘the’ moment happens as you leave, half expecting the exact same model in the exact same dress to walk past… But don’t let it get to you; what you didn’t see needn’t exist. Some photographers say they keep their eyes down when they are changing rolls of film, as they’d rather not know what they are missing during their pit stop. 

So, next time you find a great situation, give it enough time, and for the right picture, Elvis may just walk into your frame.

Have a great week!

Mike

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You’re not doing anything wrong

Inevitably, there will come a time when you will encounter someone who isn’t happy about being photographed on the street. There’s no getting away from this, but you must not let that put you off. I certainly think it’s OK to feel a little rattled, and maybe give yourself a break or change location.

South Bank Great Dane. Copyright: Mike Kemp

In all honesty, I have only had 5 situations where people have had an issue with being photographed in 6 years of shooting. Two of those were entirely pleasant, just people who’d rather not be photographed. When they ask if you just took their picture, I am always honest, and always offer to delete the picture, and do so in front of them, with a genuine apology.

I mean, it’s fair enough isn’t it? Not wanting to be photographed, even if it’s entirely within the rights of the photographer…

I am constantly amazed at people on the street who allow us street photographers to get on with our work. I am gratefully to each and every person. And I have no problem if someone isn’t happy, even upset by it. You have no idea what is going on in their lives, so just take it on the chin, move on, delete, apologise, whatever feels right. Don’t argue about your rights to photograph what you like where you like, even though you are probably in the right. That ultimately does a disservice to the rest of us who work with a smile.

A few months back I watched a video of a ‘street photographer’ who actively advised people that if they had trouble with someone they were photographing, as he did in this actual video, that it’s ultimately for you to say: F**k you buddy. I can photograph what I want where I want etc. I was horrified that this was being shown as an example of how to deal with a situation.

This is not OK, and never will be. 

Irrespective of how upset a passer by is, and I don’t care if you are in the right. It’s never OK to behave like that.

So, yesterday I was working on one of my regular beats on a long-term project. I photographed a guy walking along with a cockatoo on his shoulder. He immediately reacted, shoving his hand into my camera saying: “No pictures! Ask permission first you arsehole!” and his friend “I’ll get my lawyer onto you!” It came as a heck of a surprise, and definitely rattled me slightly. They didn’t stop me though, just moved on shouting back. I smiled, held my hand up, and deleted the pictures. Then moved on to a different patch, not really feeling it where I was.

If this happens to you, the next time you go out, think of all the great experiences you’ve had out there. All the wonderful, generous people. Many of who may have difficult lives, yet who allow you with your smiling approach, to take the picture and move on.

Remember: You’re not doing anything wrong, if you’re working in a friendly way. But know when to pleasantly dispel a situation, not agitate it.

Have a great week!

Mike

PS: This week, the picture is from the same location I had trouble yesterday. On this occasion as I jumped in to photograph their dog urinating copiously, there was no problem. In fact the gentleman wrote to me two years later asking if I could send them the picture.

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Sometimes simple is best.

It’s interesting how people react to your pictures when you watch them flick through your website. Almost universally, this one get’s a positive reaction. I’m not entirely sure why, but I’ll hazard a guess…

Autumn leaves. Copyright: Mike Kemp

It’s a tender picture. Unlike a lot of of my photographs it is uncomplicated, having a simple message showing someone lost in their own little world within a quite graphic frame.

It’s simple, but effective.

I had been waiting around these leaves for about 20 minutes, trying to make something from the scene. All sorts of people were coming along, taking their own pictures, marvelling at the beauty of pattern and colour. I was wondering how I was going to make something clever, funny, whatever from it, when I decided to cut out all the waste from the scene, stand upon a nearby bench and shoot from higher up.

This allowed me to shoot down, cropping out all extraneous scene, while also keeping it relatively wide. Basically I was framing it up to make the pattern of the leaves work well, and to then see what would come along. It’s a technique you can use often in street photography. Where you frame up a scene (often because some element of the scene is interesting) and...

...wait for the right interaction.

So, I am enjoying making the scene itself just right. And have an exact position, which I don’t move from after a bit of testing.

A few minutes later this girl came along. And in a moment I made one frame as she crouched slightly. I moved slightly from my own framing to make her position sit better in the frame, but it still works. I like how she isn’t stepping on any leaves, toes pointed together. Also she was Japanese and that seemed to fit the scene of Acer leaves well.

So, when you’re out there next time. Don’t always attempt to redesign the wheel and try to make totally complicated frames. Try simplicity if you can. And be patient if the scene is strong on it’s own. You never know they may even gain a great response…

Have a great week!

Mike

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Looking ahead

I took this shot at the end of a walk after being trapped at my desk for a long period, working an online marketing course. I hadn’t been shooting a great deal and to say I felt rusty was an understatement.

Lipstick kiss. Copyright: Mike Kemp

I’d walked into the City in the rain, and grabbed a couple of frames along the way, but easy stuff really, more illustrative than anything. Then I thought I’d try something I never do, as a friend had said I should give it a go. I put my camera on Auto. A potentially good situation of a wealthy looking guy under an umbrella sucking on the last remnants of a cigar stub sticking out of his mouth approached.

The camera figured it all out of course… Got it totally wrong. It’s blurred at a 60th second. No the end of the world, it still had a good atmosphere, but I went straight back to Manual. I was feeling pretty useless at this point. 

Had I lost my mojo? How long would it take to get it back? 

I decided to take a different route home. But I had seen the guy with the cigar coming, and I had photographed him pretty close up. So it’s not all bad, right?

What I had been doing is a skill you can train yourself to do, but I don’t think it is something that you will be able to get immediately. I’m talking of the ability to look ahead and spot things which are out of the ordinary. Some bird-watchers say, to be able to spot their illusive feathered friends, they first follow the lines of a tree, and look out for anything which seems to break the natural shape.

Well, that is what you should be trying to do with street photography, to be open minded, scanning for something which is breaking the natural order of life, and therefore having the makings of a picture which may be interesting on multiple levels.

Looking ahead.

So, heading home, walking along Wentworth Street, which is where part of Petticoat Lane market is held, in the distance I saw a mark on a mans face that looked strange. I’m ready, 250th, f8 MANUAL. Just how I like it. From about 20 metres away I realise it’s a perfect lipstick mark. As they come closer, I lift my camera pretending to shoot a view of the street, then as they are right in front of my, I gently drop a little and take a frame so as to be more on their level.

I look at the back of the camera. He’s got the perfect lipstick mark, and she, clearly the deliverer of the kiss is beside him. He has a slightly pensive look on his face. I like it. Mojo restored in that brief moment.

So, if you’re out and about taking pictures, rather than focussing on what is right on top of you and photographing passers by, try looking ahead and scanning what may be coming, what’s over the road, looking for things that break the natural order.

Have a great week!

Mike

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Nearly...

Sometimes, you come across a situation which is like gold dust. A dead certain street photo all lined up and ready for you. A killer picture in the making.

But it isn’t that simple, I’m afraid. More importantly though, it is doable, but may require perseverance.

Bond Street hoarding. Copyright: Mike Kemp

I found this giant hoarding on Bond Street one day in October 2014. Behind it is one of the constant shop refits that go on along this exclusive thoroughfare. The question being; what is the picture to make from it? I could use the elements around it as juxtaposition, or, as I have done here, crop all of that stuff out (bollards / trees) and just turn it into a slightly surreal scene, whereupon than I need human interaction. I tried all the above.

The first time I went here, I got a picture of a wealthy mother and her child standing on the red and white wooden beam to the bottom of the frame. The kid was wearing clothes to the value of my entire wardrobe, and was highly irritating. Then I shot a workman eyeing up a woman as she passes and he’s lighting a cigarette. I like this one, a lot. Though it doesn’t blow my mind, it’s a definite keeper.

A day later I got a workman peering out of a window cut into the hoarding just to the right of this frame. Nice, but for me it’s a…

Nearly.

The following month, I made a frame of about a dozen workmen sitting on the wood beam, and that really worked well. All of them doing something or other while on their break. Smoking / texting / eating etc. I’d place myself in position for about an hour at a time, while watching out for traffic coming from the right, having to get out of the way and not get run over, dipping in and out. The workmen were curious to start with but could tell what I was doing and so relaxed and ignored me (I chatted to them later). Again, pretty good, but it’s a…

Nearly.

In 2015 one freezing day in February, I was back, with a brutal wind coming, as it seems to have a habit of doing, straight down Bond Street. Frozen to the bone, I came away with only ‘nearly’ frames.

In the spring of 2015 after a couple more attempts, the hoarding was taken down. I remember feeling disappointed the opportunity was gone, texted a friend and fellow street photographer who replied ‘there will be other opportunities’. This scene never became an obsession, I didn’t go there every day, but you know, perhaps I should have done until I got a real winning frame. It would have happened, eventually.

That was where my true disappointment lay, I hadn’t worked it enough. Though I’m over it now. I think…

So, when you are out there and you find what could be a gem, put in the time. 

Revisit if necessary, be realistic with yourself, asking “Is this really good enough?” or is it just people walking down the street. And if it’s a ‘nearly’. Don’t stop until you improve it until it’s a real winner. 

Have a great week!

Mike

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It's your duty to carry!

This weekend I was reminded of one of my 8 Essential Tips to Success in Street Photography. Which you can download for free using this oversized gold button at the bottom of this post.

So, this week, my ‘how I did it’ blog post couldn’t be more straight forward or a more important message.

Always carry your camera.

Ballet dancers in Wapping. Copyright: Mike Kemp

It’s something you will learn to do automatically, and feel almost uncomfortable without. I’ll get onto allowing yourself to take creative breaks another time, but for now, here’s why you should always have that trusty camera of yours with you at all times.

I'd decided to go to a shop in my neighbourhood, it’s only 5 minutes each way, but I put my little Fuji x-Pro1 around my neck before heading out.

A couple of hundred metres down the road I heard music, and it turned out this local Summer event was going on (I always seem to be the last to know about this stuff, so note to self: sign up to more local websites…) Anyway, it looked like the usual kind of thing. Kids playing with their families. Charity stalls and a bbq. Bored blokes standing around with pints.

Then I spotted the situation in this week’s picture, just a little off to the side. Now, it’s not the greatest picture of all time, but the point is it could have been. Nevertheless, it’s fun and certainly a bit of an odd situation. I like the picture, and didn’t miss the opportunity.

The lesson here is two fold. Missing an opportunity isn’t the greatest feeling, but importantly, you also want to learn to be at one with your camera. Comfortable with it’s ever presence around your neck, ready to shoot. As I have always said: You never know in a city, you can walk around the next corner and there’s a bloke dressed up as a human size beer glass, walking casually down the street.

It can happen and often does, so get yourself ready.

I know a lot of photographers, and only a few seem to have a camera at the ready. Many go out without one at all. But you're a street photographer. It's your duty to carry!

Have a great week!

Mike

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Shoot first, then ask permission...

In my weekly blog I will give you some inside information explaining how I shot some of my best pictures. I want these posts will help and inspire you to get out there working on your street photography!

Camouflaged woman. Copyright: Mike Kemp

I saw this young woman in Leicester Square standing in amazing afternoon light. She was relaxed, in a world her own, and blending in with her surroundings in more ways than one.

I approached without asking and took a shot. Then moving slightly closer to crop out the right hand side without changing focal length, a second (the first one in the sequence below). At this point she realised what I was doing, so I gave her a big smile and looked her right in the eye. She looks at me, then away, and smiles. That’s what I call permission. It’s official!

I take one step in to frame it how I want, just as she takes a drag of her cigarette. I’m trying to time it with no-one walking in that gap to the right, but the drag was too quick. Then two more frames as she exhales and then flicks her ash.

It’s all done in 25 seconds from first to last shot.

For me, the one where she’s taking a drag of the cigarette is the winner, as there’s something definite about her. Also it turned out that having someone in that gap to the right actually helped the final frame, as they blocked out the yellow Lichtenstein illustration which was distracting in the others.

After this type of situation, I always say something. So thanked her and explained why the situation was so irresistible, and what I do as a photographer. She follows me on Instagram and says 'Cheers mate'. The whole experience is friendly despite beginning without permission.

It was by smiling and being very direct about what I was doing which made the situation work out.

Later, editing my website with the brutal eye of a fellow street photographer, it survived to make it onto my street photography section.

So, if you’re out there and want to photograph someone in a similar situation, I'd just go ahead and shoot first, but it’s worth remembering that despite interacting, your subject can look as natural in the first frame, as in the last. You just need to put them at ease.

Have a great week!

Mike

Second shot (top left) and final shot (bottom right). Copyright: Mike Kemp

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Welcome to my weekly 'How I did it' blog!

In my new weekly blog I will give you some inside information explaining how I shot some of my best pictures. The plan is that these posts will help you and inspire you to get out there working on your street photography!

David Cameron pig pinata during demonstration outside Downing Street. Copyright: Mike Kemp

In this situation, the job was to tell the whole story in one frame. That it's a demonstration, the location, and the fact that anti Cameron sentiment was at the heart of this protest.

Compositionally the figure is framed centrally while giving space to show the protesters clearly without obscuring them, whilst also making sure the shape of placards was clear enough. The frame is timed to catch the face and the pig shape as it was swinging around in the wind, while being clearly framed within the confines of Downing Street, home of the Prime Minister.

Additionally I raised myself as high on tiptoes as I could go, with my camera as high up on my face as possible to gain an extra inch in height, to crop out people and other photographers who were below, whilst making sure I cropped them out from left and right too.

With cars and people walking by in a constant stream, I had to time a gap at precisely when the pinata was at the best angle. It was a busy day, and gaps were very few (you can see bottom right, there is the tail end of a car passing, but this doesn't make enough of an impact on the frame to ruin it.

So, we have timing, position, height, angle, location, and subject all coming together to make it work. Fortunately in this case it did work, and was seen by Newsweek Magazine, who ran the picture as a double page. A rare thing indeed, but it was because the picture did the job.

So, when you're out shooting, remember that many elements may need to come together for your picture to be a keeper!

Cheers, Mike.

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Fortunately in this case, the picture was spotted by Newsweek Magazine, and ran as a double page spread. That's a rare thing, but I'm sure it did so because it simply told the whole story.

Newsweek Magazine: Big Shots! News pictures of the week.

Street Photography Re-edit

Having just been through the process of a complete website reorganisation and re-edit, I have to say the end result is liberating.

In a recent conversation with a photographer friend, he referred to this process, of removing favourite pictures as "killing my babies". I understand this sentiment, but have enjoyed killing mine.

Those pictures once loved, now feel like they have been a burden, as the parameters of what is of good enough to make it, is raised, and losing 2/3 of my pictures in the process.

I feel like King Herod of Old London Town.

Now these pictures are left buried in the archive and who knows, some of them may have another use one day... Buried but not really dead.

A near miss on We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks

Last night I was watching Alex Gibney's documentary 'We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks, and although I had been negotiating with the producers of the movie to use my Julian Assange pictures, that had fallen through in the final cut. 

I sat through the 2 hour documentary hoping that one of them would still appear, and was slightly crestfallen at the end...

Funny how the mind will trick you sometimes…

Anyway here's the best picture from the set! Assange gets de-masked by the police and questioned at the Occupy London event on 15th October 2011