street photography tips, london street photography, london photography
The lovely team of FOTO4ALL just released their May-June issue of their free photography magazine, featuring my interview with some of my pictures as well. Have a look, you won't be disappointed: the magazine is very inspiring, with incredible photography in it.
You can access all this great content here: http://www.foto4all.ro/
Here we go. In two weeks, we will have the opening reception for Urban Dreams, our new exhibition at the Morpho gallery in Chicago. And I can't wait for it to happen! The exhibition will feature the work of my two dear and so talented friends Mirela Momanu and Yves Vernin. Opening night will be Friday May 9th, starting at 6pm. The show will run from May 9th to June 4th.
Here's the information if you are planning to attend: Morpho Gallery, 5216 North Damen, 60625 Chicago, Illinois.
A little more about this exhibition:
Exhibition Presentation
Urban Dreams explores the mysterious and invisible relationship connecting people to their urban surroundings. Through the use of unusual perspectives, shadow play and reflections, the cities we’ve known forever take the substance of dreams - ethereal and mysterious, foreign and strange. As a group of artists, we are seeking to question the way we usually experience urban life. By transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary, by casting a new light on the most usual scenes, our intention is to unveil the unconscious emotions that connect us to our cities, and to ourselves.
About the Artists
Marie Laigneau, USA – Marie’s images portray a timeless and overshadowing city, made of silence and whispers. In her work, the constant opposition between light and darkness seems to overpower her subjects, creating tension and unbalance. Her lonely figures evolve in a foreign, yet familiar world, reminiscent of forgotten dreams and memories.
Yves Vernin, France – Yves’ images are stories of shadows and light. Yves expands on this theme by showing how the mundane can easily become extraordinary if one understands the true beauty of light. His images portray a city transformed by the joyful sun, where shadows create rhythmic worlds shattering our common perception of urbanity.
Mirela Momanu, Romania – Mirela’s images take us to a world of silence and introspection. Her lonely figures are fleeting silhouettes evolving into the darkness of highly geometrical settings. Mirela portrays one of the most mysterious aspects of cities, made of steel and concrete, of evasive light and repetitive patterns. Her subjects are faced with themselves, in the silence of their surroundings.
While telling another street photographer that, no, I had not been waiting 45 minutes to get that shot, he said to me: “Well, you must be damn lucky then.” I am not, I have to confess. I take thousands of pictures, I process maybe 5% of them. I fail often, I rarely succeed. I try again, I never stop trying.
But by now I have learned one important thing: success will come if you let things happen, not when you try to realize an idea that has already formed in your mind. Because, let’s be honest: if you know what you want, why can’t you stage it? What would be the fun of waiting hours – maybe days – before getting that perfect shot that you’ve imagined in detail? If you know what you want, if you go out with specific expectations, you’re putting yourself in a situation where you are bound to be disappointed. Then you’ll claim to the world that you are not lucky, when in fact, you’ve only made yourself unlucky by desiring something specific.
I am not beaten up if nothing happens in front of a nice background. I just move along, and I let the world surprise me somewhere else. I look everywhere, I am curious about many things. I am not particularly lucky – but I believe in miracles. The beauty of street photography, and candid photography, is our inability to predict how things might turn out. It is the unexpected, the unpredictable that creates a drug for many of us. But in order to make it work, you need to forget yourself, and get rid of your secret desires. You need to focus on the present, and the present only.
This is what we call mindfulness – the art of embracing the present as if no past, and no future, could get any hold on you, even for a moment only. So give it a try: let go of any pre-conceived idea of images and scenes. Don’t think, just shoot. Embrace the world as it shown to you, not as you would like it to be. And more often than not, you’ll be surprised to see how easy it is to be lucky.
APF was nice enough to interview me in their recent issue of their fantastic magazine. You can access the content of the interview here: Marie Laigneau APF Interview
http://streetphotographymagazine.com/article/interview-marie-laigneau/
A few additional thoughts on street photography available in this podcast :)
