Projects

Street photography is full of cliches, and honestly even saying that is a cliche. Trends pop up, and while they’re not bad in themselves, algorithms quickly turn a stream of fresh perspectives into a whirlpool we’re all drowning in.

Aside from the photos themselves, it’s the advice too that I often hear parroted around. Read Joel Meyerowitz or Matt Stuart once and you’ll hear their words echoed everywhere: Wear comfortable shoes; Positive mindset; It’s not the gear; 500th of a second; wipe front to back, No sunglasses/headphones, focus on projects … you know the drill.

Where am I going with this? Well I’m not here to repeat any of that, instead I’d like to take a moment to talk about why projects matter to me, a time-poor street photographer.

Balance

*A photo of me carefully balancing while shooting (cheers* *Josh*!)

Life is all about balance. About 18 months or so ago, a thought dawned on me that changed the way I approach street photography. My routine had been simple; head to London’s west end without a plan, loop the same streets, and see what I see. It is fun and a good way to disconnect, but realistically, with an demanding 5-days-a-week job and not wanting to completely ignore the mrs all weekend, I could realistically only shoot one day a week without compromising something important.

One day a week isn’t bad, I know it is still a privileged position and more than many people can manage. I often think how my parents generation didn’t really have time for “hobbies” as it was all about shift working and looking after 4 boys. So when retirement comes, stopping work isn’t an option. Well, I digress. Back to the point I was making. With many Street photographers taking the same approach I just described, the outlook started to feel limited. Street photography is a numbers game. To maximise your chances of a winning shot, you need to be out there as much as possible. The west end is a popular place to shoot and there are plenty of people out there more regularly than me. Doing anything unique in this scenario is tough.

So decided I needed to be more intentional. I kicked off a range of projects, and that is how one project, “events” was born (title TBD). Events are time bound and generally once per week. Perfect. Out went the endless west end loops, and in came event-based photography (you’ll probably spot the shift on my Instagram feed). This focused strategy paid off, especially when our family grew by one towards the end of last year. One big nappy family.

*Getting live critiques from a baby is harsh. Don’t bite the hand that feeds little one!*

Outside of events, I also started a local Islington project, something of a slow burn that I picked back up after drawing inspiration from Hackney Marshes by Freya Najade. Another is Arsenal (which overlaps with Islington, North London forever and all that…), and this project will become my main focus for the next year or so.

Arsenal

*How to watch a 3pm Sat kick off without any lag/buffering*

I’m in a fortunate position to fairly consistently get tickets to Arsenal these days, but to keep balance with everything else, Arsenal home games will become my weekly shooting day. I’d already begun this project, but now that it’s my primary focus, I wanted to take a step back and think carefully about what I wanted it to be.

Bringing you into my process, I have been exploring what’s already out there to see if I can contribute something unique to the space. There are several excellent photographers covering Arsenal already, and to get a sense of where/if I can I fit in, I’ve been exploring some existing Arsenal photography that I admire.

Lower North Bank

Maybe the first Arsenal photographer I came across (excluding the official Stuart “I f*cking love this club” Macfarlane) was Lower North Bank, thanks to their collabs with Arsenal on Instagram. I don’t know who is behind the account but the quality is really high. With a certain level of access, there is a great mix of player and fan shots. In a similar vein, I’ll also give a shout out to Kya Banasko, whose work I also enjoy.

Eighteen86

*“Poison Lasagne” if you know, you know*

Another account that I stumbled across is Eighteen86. Again, I’m not sure who is behind it, but they produce work I really enjoy. Maybe “curator” is the right word, as it is the fan zine, full of anecdotes, articles and interviews with some excellent photography submitted by others that I enjoy the most. In the latest issue of Poison Lasagna (issue 5), there is an interview with “Bill & Ann” accompanied by some fantastic photos taken by Harry Mitchell. I should also point out that Eighteen86 sells fan merchandise, and I can vouch for the fanzines and the socks, assuming you’re an Arsenal fan.

Larry Gorman

*This zine also features the words of Clive Palmer*

I discovered Larry Gorman when I saw a tweet for the launch of his Fan Zine for the 23/24 season. I popped over to the Woodbine pub and was surprised to find he was giving them out for free. These aren’t small zines either: an A4, landscape paperback, with what I can guess is over 60 pages. Having recently published my own zine, a much smaller in every dimension, I can appreciate the generosity. Since then, I’ve found Larry’s website and can see he is a very talented photographer. Definitely go check it out, it’s not about Arsenal or football. The zine acts as a documentary of the season, capturing roughly one shot per game, through Larry’s eyes.

So where does that leave me?

Certainly some great work linked above, but I think there is still a window for something a little different, through my surprisingly-improved-short-sighted, and now maybe varifocal-needing eyes. Let’s see how I go with this. As always, I’ll just go with the flow and see where I end up. You never know, maybe this project will lead me somewhere else, and I’ll just change lanes. Life, as they say, finds a way.

Bonus: It doesn’t really fit in this blog but I wanted to give a mention to my favourite Arsenal photo, taken by Hannah Starkey.

Project Ponderings

Why did the sheep cross the road?

Notting Hill Carnival 2025