8 minute read
The shape of the city
Tony Sellen
Award-winning photographer Tony Sellen is passionate about fine art, long exposures and London, the city he calls home. He loves to travel, capturing architecture, seascapes, landscapes and street images. Tony runs 1:2:1 workshops, licenses images and accepts commissions. To find out more visit www.londonfineartphotography.co.uk
shape The of the city
Buildings are designed for people, so including a human element in your pictures can help you to tell a story. Tony Sellen talks to Tracy Calder about his skilful black & white technique
When Tony Sellen walks into a building, his brain perceives a mix of lines, shapes, light and shadow. ‘Everything is a picture to me,’ he reveals. ‘When I walk into a hotel lobby, I notice the design and the thought process behind the seating arrangement.’ But it hasn’t always been that way. In fact, Tony only decided to take his photography seriously in 2014; before then it was more of an on/off hobby. ‘I would go months without touching the camera, but then I’d learn something new every time I did pick it up,’ he recalls. To hone his skills, he took up bird photography, experimenting with depth of field to get ‘a nice, blurry background’, before deciding to attend a workshop focusing on long exposures. ‘At first I didn’t really understand what long exposures were or how to use them, and I couldn’t get my head around the maths,’ he recalls, ‘but doing the workshop made me realise that you don’t really need to know that much!’
Find a style
Capturing wildlife remains a great passion for Tony and he believes that if he’d picked up a camera earlier (or lived ‘in the middle of nowhere’) he might have made it his focus. But living in London he felt his options were limited. ‘What was I going to shoot? An urban fox, a sparrow, some
KIT LIST
▲ Prime lenses
Prime lenses force you to work harder when it comes to composition, but the results are worth it. Tony will sometimes shoot with a 24-70mm zoom and return later with one of his favourite primes such as the Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 50mm ZF.2.
▲ Nikon D810
The Nikon D810 is Tony’s main camera. When you’re shooting in low-light conditions, you need a camera that handles noise well – the D810 has an ISO range of 64-12,800, which makes it ideal.
pigeons,’ he laughs. Once he’d accepted that his love for nature needed to be satisfied outside the city, he was free to concentrate on what was on his doorstep. ‘I realised I could get some nice long exposures of the Thames, and I started to enjoy photographing buildings too,’ he recalls. ‘The more I looked the more I noticed little details in the architecture.’ At this point Tony started to develop a personal style. ‘The creative process Above: Corkscrew Nikon D810, 18mm, 1/250sec at f/6.3, ISO 100
Above right: Only God Knows Nikon Df, 35mm, 1/60sec at f/6.3, ISO 800
▲ Nik Silver Efex
When it comes to black & white, using the desaturation tool to remove colour isn’t enough. Tony likes to use Nik Silver Efex due to its unique algorithms and advanced tools and controls.
began, and the compositions started to fall into place,’ he recalls. Looking at his geometric street compositions I can’t help wondering if he has a background in maths. ‘No,’ he laughs. ‘Although I do work as an engineer for London Underground, so who knows? I guess people are wired in different ways – some people notice details like lines and shapes, while others don’t. I think it’s something that’s always been in me and photography has just brought it out.’
Celebrate black & white
While there is a smattering of colour in Tony’s portfolio, you have to dig deep to find it. ‘It’s always black & white, unless it’s not,’ he laughs. ‘Having a style is important to me and I don’t think there’s any place for colour photography in the style that I’ve found.’ While Tony has nothing against colour – and he believes it will always be more popular on social media – he feels somewhat frustrated by the ongoing trend for highly saturated images. ‘People see the colour and nothing else,’ he suggests. ‘It annoys me because it’s often “fake” colour achieved by pushing the saturation up. It feels like the photographer is trying to trick the viewer into believing that’s what something really looked like.’ For Tony, black & white is ideal for emphasising the sleek lines, polished glass and reflective steel that he finds himself attracted to. ‘You get that nice silvery finish on some of them,’ he explains. Naturally, the architectural landscape of London is always changing, providing Tony with limitless material. Personally, I love the juxtaposition between old and new, but shooting a small Victorian pub next to a looming glass skyscraper is always going to be challenging. ‘I love old London,’ agrees Tony. ‘I wish there was more of it, but modern buildings are generally better suited to my style of photography.’
Pick a day
Prior to the pandemic, which Tony admits has made him ‘a bit lazy’, the photographer was almost exclusively shooting with prime lenses. ‘They’re much more challenging because you have to really think about composition, where you stand etc,’ he says, ‘but the results I get with some of my Zeiss primes makes it worthwhile – the contrast is amazing.’ As a compromise, Tony will sometimes head out with his Nikon D810 and 24-70mm lens and if he finds something he likes he will return later and reshoot with one of his primes. Looking at the level of precision in his work, I’m keen to know how much pre-shoot planning he does. ‘A lot of the time I just decide what day I want to go out, check the weather and then decide what I’m going to shoot,’ he explains. ‘If it’s a bright, blue-sky day I might take my infrared camera (a converted Sony A7R); if it’s a nice day with fast-moving clouds I might take my filters and shoot some long exposures; and if it’s an in-between day I might shoot some street stuff.’ Tony’s ‘pick the day and work with what you get’ approach is refreshing.
Tell a story
Looking at Tony’s geometric street work, I’m struck by the way he uses human figures to add a sense of scale, drama and occasionally humour. ‘Architecture is designed for people to use, so sometimes
it’s nice to include a human element,’ he says. Generally speaking, he’s not a big fan of the standard street photography that fills many social media feeds. ‘I just can’t relate to it,’ he admits, ‘Reflections in coffee shop windows, wet pavements etc – people say it tells a story, but does it?’ To make things more interesting, he concentrates on a building first and then considers whether or not a human presence adds anything to the story. ‘Most of the time the picture will work without the person, but sometimes they add something special,’ he explains. But waiting for the right person to come along can be frustrating. ‘Often you’re just looking and hoping that they won’t see you or pay you any attention,’ he says. ‘You have to be patient.’ The figures are so perfectly placed that I can’t help wondering if they’ve been directed. ‘No, no,’ says Tony. ‘I’m quite a shy person and I wouldn’t do that. They are all candid pictures. If you’re setting things up, asking someone to behave in a certain way, then it’s not street photography for me, it’s just a staged image.’ Re-Lamp Nikon D810, 105mm, 1/400sec at f/8, ISO 64
Tony’s top tips
Be courteous
Tony rarely gets stopped by security, but if he does he remains polite – if you get defensive and start telling people your rights, it rarely ends well. Sometimes they will say you need a permit, in which case simply ask where you can get one from! Pick a day
Don’t let the weather dictate when you go out – pick a day, check the conditions and then decide what to shoot. If it’s a bright, blue-sky day then consider infrared, if there are fast-moving clouds, then try experimenting with filters and long exposures. Work with what you get given. Accept human behaviour
Including people in the frame requires patience. If your camera is on a tripod, people will often avoid walking in front of the camera out of politeness! On the flip side, sometimes people will act up in front of the camera – it’s all part of the process.
Look around you
Tony enjoys photographing wildlife but living in London he finds his options are limited. Sometimes you’re better off concentrating on what’s directly around you – in this case, architecture. The more you look, the more you’ll start noticing details. Tell a story
Notice how people interact with the architecture around them and try to tell a story. Buildings are designed for people to use, so it can help to include a human element – doing so can provide a sense of scale.
