Captured #03: March 2024

I saw a talk at Edinburgh Photographic Society by Caroline Preece the other week. She talked about taking photos about things, not of things.

This really resonated.

Taking photos of things isn’t wrong. In fact it makes complete sense if you’re trying to convey the architecture of a place, or the abstract. If you’re doing street photography and taking photos of people however, then try and make the photos about them, not of them. Street photography is at its best when there’s a story to tell.

Since watching the talk I’ve been trying to keep this front-of-mind when out shooting. I don’t yet have a lot of show for it, but these things take time. Years, probably. The image below of the couple sat on the wall is one example I took recently. Is it just a snap of a couple, or does it say something about them? It’s admittedly not the best photo or story, but I do think it asks questions of the viewer which is along the right lines.

Taking photos of people to try and convey a story is something I’m going to try and do more, but it’s certainly not easy!

Projects

I’ve been thinking about trying to approach photography with specific projects in mind too. This is something I’m pretty terrible at. I typically go out shooting with no specific intention, wandering around aimlessly, shooting from the hip (figuratively, although sometimes literally). While I enjoy these unplanned walks (they’re good for the mind), and they’re often fruitful, they could occasionally be spiced up with a specific theme or project in mind.

In last month’s Captured, I talked about doing a bit of night photography. This has become something of a project for me, where I’m trying to capture Edinburgh at night as I see it (at least during the winter while the evenings have been dark). Edinburgh is a tourist hotspot and a World Heritage site, so I’m trying to capture another side of it. Away from the tourists, in the shadows, after dark.

Another example of a project might be street portraits, either generally or in a specific city or area. Or the seaside – see the link to the Dan Baker video below on that subject.

You don’t need to always have a project in mind (wandering aimlessly is underrated!), but if you’re stuck in a rut and need something to tickle your photographic mind, a project or two might be a good place to start.

Photos from March 2024

Here are some of my favourite photos I took during March. Completely random (as is my, er, “style”) but I’m pleased with quite a few I’ve taken lately. As ever, plenty more on the ‘gram 😊📷

Reading matter

I’ve hoovered up a few books from the local library this month and written about a couple of my favourites below.

(Note: the accompanying pictures are bad phone photos I took from the books, so they’re not a very good reproduction – I’ve just included them to give you a sense of the photography)

Forever Saul Leiter (Thames and Hudson)

Looking at Saul Leiter’s photos in this excellent book is a reminder of how pioneering he was. Even though many of these photos are over 70 (!) years old, you can clearly see his influence when scrolling through street photographers on Instagram today. Nothing short of wonderful.

Vivian Maier - Street Photographer

It’s astonishing to think that Vivian took well over 100,000 photographs and nobody had seen them, or even knew they existed, until she passed away. This book by John Maloof, the person who discovered her work, is a fabulous introduction to her work. Some real gems in there.

Pete Wands - Darkest Before The Dawn

Pete is a brilliant street photographer from Edinburgh, as you’ll see in his latest zine. There are some wonderful photos in there. I’ve seen many of them online, but getting to see them in all their print glory makes them even more impressive. I highly recommend you send a DM to Pete on Instagram to get a copy (while stocks last!).

Adopting the X-T5

I wrote a blog post about moving to a shiny new Fujifilm X-T5. TL;DR it’s awesome.

https://ollyheadey.com/blog/adopting-the-fujifilm-x-t5

Is there anything else you think I should blog about?

Viewing gallery

Some Instagram accounts, YouTube videos and films I’ve enjoyed this month.

• Finding Vivian Maier is a fascinating and absorbing film about how John Maloof came across a secret stash of 100,000 of Vivian’s photos in 2007. Available to rent on Amazon / iTunes / etc.
• I happened on Matty Mattix’s Instagram recently. Matthew is an artist/photographer based in Edinburgh and I just love his approach to taking photos and writing on them. Follow him on Insta @matty.mattix.
• The Street Photography of Dan Baker is the first of Mike Chudley’s “Picture Profile” interviews. It’s a couple of years old but well worth a watch. Dan is one of the UK’s most interesting street photographers I reckon.
• Cine: Japan – Street Photography from Tokyo, Kyoto to Osaka. This is a film by the marvellous Eren Sarigul which is mesmerising. Eren is one of my favourite street photographers and his video work is just as good as his stills. Inspiring stuff.
• What are Bay Area photographers shooting with? is a chaotic video by Paulie B from a recent trip to San Francisco. It’s peak hipster and couldn’t be more different from the Edinburgh street photography scene. I’ve rarely seen someone shooting film on the streets of Edinburgh, and certainly never seen a Leica.

A street photography photo walk, Edinburgh

Listen Up

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Ok, that’s a wrap!

Please let me know what you think, I do like to get feedback (positive or constructive!).

If you know someone who you think would like Captured, please let them know about it. If you’re up for sharing it on social media, that would be brilliant! ✨

See you next month 👋📷