London Street Photography - Photojournalism

Cities are superb for honing documentary photography skills. Street photography offers so many different opportunities to look for stories that are happening all of the time. In many ways is one of the most authentic styles of people photography.

In March, I took another trip to London with two other photographers (and friends) - film legend Graham Fry and superb food photographer Stuart Webster - for a full day of street shooting. Resisting the urge to take the Fuji X-Pro1 (a digital camera perfectly suited for photojournalism that I have been testing for real-world wedding use) I once again used my trusty and loved Leica M6 with 35mm lens. I've said this before, but 35mm is without a doubt my favourite focal length. For me it is perfect.

I also took my 1950s Soviet made Zorki-4 camera along for the ride. This metallic rangefinder is based on an old (very old) Leica design and is spectacularly manual to use. The 50mm lens I used on it is based on a Zeiss design and I believe uses Zeiss glass. Whilst not as silky smooth (or enjoyable) to use as the Leica, it was certainly good fun and produces....interesting images.

The traditional thought of landscape photography doesn't hold much appeal for me - at least not producing it. What I like is people. I do however enjoy shapes and light, so the architecture and geometry that surrounds us in cities, is something I really wanted to explore as well as the people side of things.

As always, I welcome comments and questions below the post if you have enjoyed viewing.

Thanks to Graham for organising and to both of you for a great day.

Technical Information

Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Ultron 35mm f/1.7
Films: Kodak Tri-X 400, Fuji Neopan 400
Processing Lab: The Whole Picture Online

Camera: Zorki-4 Rangefinder
Lens: Jupiter 3 50 1.5
Film: Kodak Tri-X 400
Processed by Graham Fry 

London Street Photography

We've always been close Photography and I, but like any relationship there have been ups and downs. Since I turned professional in 2009, photography has been my sole business. I feel incredibly lucky to earn my living from something I enjoy so much, but I realised last year that I'd stopped taking pictures for fun and it was in danger of becoming just "the job". I wanted to rekindle the spark and find the enjoyment that I first felt from making photographs.

My old flame - film.

Digital cameras are my tools. They can produce amazing photographs, stunning quality and the convenience is great. What I don't like about digital is the bulk and the necessary evil of processing to get the best final results. Given the amount of filing, sorting, backing up, editing, etc that goes into a typical professional shoot, it's something I don't relish when it comes to personal work. And so to get the spark back, I turned to film.

Film is fun. Film is a nightmare. Film is beautiful. Damn this film that I have just ruined by accidentally opening the camera. Curse myself for not having this film wound on properly and missing out on 40 great holiday photos*. Forgive me film you beautiful tetchy medium.

* this happened on holiday. I was not happy - wife even less so.

Apart from the potential to require less editing, it isn't particularly convenient and certainly not cheap. A good roll of 35mm will cost around £6. Add that again for processing and by the time you've eliminated all the duff shots the costs creep up. My hit rate has been pretty good recently but still, it can get expensive.

Today the postman delivered a few rolls back from the lab and it's the best I've felt about shooting film for a while. All were shot on my Leica M6 which is mechanical, completely manual and a joy to use. Small, unobtrusive, quiet - German engineering at it's finest. It's a real camera. I have some great personal shots from my recent trip to South Africa which I'll save for another day, but the purpose of this post is to share some images from a visit to London in which I managed a couple of hours of street photography in the fading afternoon light.

Meeting up with a couple of photographer friends we took in the sights of the South Bank before darkness got in the way of proceedings. This was over a month ago and I've only just got round to getting the films developed. With no idea what they would be like, I'm pleasantly surprised.

I love the challenges of street photography. You've got to be on your toes technically and artistically; occasionally subtle, occasionally brazen. The M6 is just perfect for this type of photography and whilst not all perfect, they are what I set out to achieve.

This is how they came back scanned from the lab. All I've done is a couple of small crops, a few straightens and a bit of sharpening for the web. I love the black and whites but it's the colours I'm most happy with - which is normally the other way round for me. The colour images have the look which I adore and it's simply not the same with digital.

So Photography and I are having fun again right now. Whether I keep using film, who knows. But the past few months - and this set in particular - has helped me find the spark again. Love you Film (for now).

Technical Information

Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Ultron 35mm f/1.7
Films: Kodak Portra 400, Kodak Tri-X 400
Processing Lab: The Whole Picture Online