The Story
Candid, Reportage, Journalistic, are all words that you will see repeated while looking at the works of other photographers. They are words used to describe a way of photographing a moment without having influence over its creation. Street photography, some what confusingly, doesn't necessitate the need of a street, but focuses on unmediated chance encounters and random incidents in the wold around us.
“It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera… they are made with the eye, heart and head.”
– Henri Cartier-Bresson
It is incorrect to say that a photograph taken in this way is unplanned. The perfect lighting & composure, can often be seen well before the perfect perfect moment is formed, and sometimes patience is needed for the prefect moment to present itself. Neither is it correct to say that their is no interaction between the photographer and subject, as it is often their random reaction to my presence that lifts an image off the page. But no direction is ever given, each image is a record of an event, an exact moment in time, never to be repeated again.
Most of the work below was done on an Leica MP 240 with a single 50mm lens, an incredibly compact & robust camera, but almost entirely manual. Each image needed to be thought about, the exposure, aperture and ISO all adjusted, before manually focusing and pressing the shutter. Yes there are easier ways to photograph, and it is not a process I would use for weddings, but it is a method that causes you to stop and think! It is a method that means you have to be close, to slow down and live in the moment and to appreciate the story as it unfolds
Jakarta & Gloodok
When I told my friends in Jakarta that I planned to explore the area known as Glodok, the news was met with incredulity and shock. For many Glodok was a no go area, somewhere unwelcoming, filled with slums and thieves & dangers around every corner. What I found in fact, was warmth and tranquillity I had found previously missing elsewhere in the megacity that is Jakarta.
Jakarta can trace is roots back to the 4th century CE, and as a Hindu settlement and port. Due to its strategic port location, the city was claimed by the Indianized kingdom of Tarumanegara, the Hindu Kingdom of Sunda, the Muslim Sultanate of Banten, as well as the Dutch, Japanese and finally Indonesian administrations. Although its name changed several times over the course of its history, under the Dutch it became known as Batavia, a name that is still used to this day to describe the old town region of the city.
Despite the rapid expansion and prosperous growth, the planning of the city had been well thought out, with a series of dutch style canals intersecting the city, with the main Tijgersgracht canal being lined by coconut trees. A sight which according to one contemporary observer compelled him to state that the Tijgersgracht be "most stately and most pleasant, both for the goodliness of its buildings, and the ornamentation of its streets"
Hammer and Sickle
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Land of the rising sun
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One night in Bangkok
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