Capital Interest March 2016 by Royal Photographic Society

SHOES

RESPONSES TO THE MONDAY MUSE SET BY BRIAN GRIFFIN HON FRPS

CELEBRATING INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY:

ROSE TEANBY’S PHOTOGRAPHS OF WOMEN IN A MAN’S WORLD

CAPITAL INTEREST MARCH 2016 / VOLUME 2 / NUMBER 3 / WW.RPS.ORG

‘I use my camera to explore my own cultural identity as Black-British Nigerian’ Juliana Kasumu, Renaissance Photography Prize winner 2015, talks about her practice and projects

MARCH 2016

IN THIS ISSUE Pages 2&3

World Water Day, Breathing London competition, Burlesque Photography Workshop

Page 4

Shoes – A Monday Muse Special

Page 7

Stuart Smith’s Review: Saul Leiter at The Photographers’ Gallery

Page 8

The London interview: Juliana Kasumu

Page 14

Barry Hoffman LRPS took photos ‘on the buses’

Page 17

Rose Teanby’s images for International Women’s Day

Page 20

Ilya Fisher listened to Joel Meyerowitz Hon FRPS

Page 22

Dave’s Diary: Re-Doing the Overdone

Page 24

Useful Links

RPS LONDON NEWS

Tuesday, 22nd of March is World Water Day. Water is scarce but the average person uses 150 litres of water a day. Why not look around you to photograph water in all its appearances and uses this month? It could make for beautiful images such as the on the one left by Geoffrey Beer and it might just create some awareness with you: apparently our water usage could be cut by a third. Take care

Britta Giersche | Capital Interest Editor 2 2 IMAGE © GEOFFREY BEER

Competition

Breathing Londoners! Don’t forget our monthly competition! Just one picture per photographer to have been taken during the month of March may enter the competition. Pictures will be judged by award-winning wildlife and landscape photographer, Robert Canis, and the winning image will be published in Capital Interest. Visit our website for more details. IMAGE © JUDY HICKS LRPS

BURLESQUE PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP CAPITAL INTEREST writer and photographer Stuart Smith is sharing the secrets of Burlesque Photography. Covering: * Lighting * Set Dressing * Working with Performers Use rpsburlesque16 to book for just £109 instead of £169. Event is on 23 April 2016 at Murder Mile Studios, London. Visit the website for details. Photographs made at the workshop will also be featured in CAPITAL INTEREST.

IMAGE © STUART SMITH

CAPITAL INTEREST SPECIAL

ONES AND TWOS AND DINKY DOOS In February, Brian Griffin Hon FRPS, photographer of Joe Jackson’s shoes (below), became RPS London’s Monday Muse and challenged members to submit images of their favourite ones and twos and dinky doos for Brian to choose a winning picture. On the following pages are some of those that were posted on our forum and Facebook page and, of course, Keith Houghton’s winning image.

IMAGE ABOVE © BRIAN GRIFFIN HON FRPS

Congratulations to Keith Houghton LRPS for winning the RPS London’s Monday Muse Shoes competition!

Brian’s Comments: “Keith Houghton for me is the outstanding winner. Aesthetically well composed and technically proficient. For me two qualities that are essential in creating an interesting photograph. After that comes irony and enigma, two qualities that only the greatest photographs possess and territory that Keith, and the other photographers should aspire to enter.”

IMAGE ABOVE RIGHT © KEITH HOUGHTON LRPS IMAGE RIGHT © JOHN KELLY LRPS IMAGE BELOW © MO GREIG ARPS

THE REVIEW

By Stuart Smith

SAUL LEITER: RETROSPECTIVE EXHIBITION DETAILS

DATES: 22 Jan - 3 Apr 2016 VENUE ADDRESS: The Photographers’ Gallery, 16 - 18 Ramillies St, London W1F 7LW OPENING TIMES: Mon – Sat 10.00 – 18.00, Thu 10.00 – 20.00 during exhibitions, Sun 11.00 – 18.00 ENTRY PRICE: Free before 12 noon £2.50/£2 advance booking £3/£2.50 on door RIGHT: Snow, 1960 © Saul Leiter Courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York

There is a ghostly quality to the images of

This is not photography of the ‘decisive moment’

Saul Leiter. Images shot through glass and and Leiter liked the ‘confusion’ his work created. mist add to the ethereal painterly quality of his compositions.

Colour is used as a bold statement. Often in his images Leiter emphasises just one or two

The influence of Bresson in the candid nature colours in particular. It is as if the city is grey but of Leiter’s street photography is there but the

there are vibrant moments and these are worth

voice is his own. Although Leiter did work in

capturing for their own sake.

black and white, it is his colour work for which he has become most well known. The separation

The exhibition covers Leiter’s origins as a self-

of photographic subject from end viewer is taught artist, some of his sketches are included, reinforced by his opaque employment of snow, his work in black and white, through to his colour rain and windows, blurring edges and invoking

street photography and commercial fashion

fleeting moments.

work, for magazines like Harper’s Bazaar.

In addition to the use of natural filters, Leiter Through the exhibition a visitor can see the journey engages frames almost constantly in his work.

of the photographer and the cross influences of

We are voyeurs in these images. The framing his work, particularly in his commercial fashion through windows and the use of multiple and colour street photography. With Leiter’s reflections all force us to keep our distance from photography the everyday is made abstract the end subject. They are off-limits and always

and no explanation, other than image, itself is

retain an air of mystery.

offered. 7

LONDON INTERVIEW

IRUN KIKO â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the photograph for which Juliana Kasumu was awared the Renaissance Photography prize 2015

JULIANA KASUMU Just back from San Antonio Texas, where she took part in a group exhibition called ‘Perspectives From Within’, looking into contemporary themes within the country Nigerian photographers, the 23-year old Londoner and Renaissance Photography Prize winner 2015 talked to Capital Interest about her winning image, her photographic practice and upcoming project. Your winning photograph is entitled ‘Irun Kiko’, can you explain what that means? “Irun Kiko” is a Yorùbá word meaning“Hair Threading”, a hairstyle which originated within West Africa. The image is one of a larger project about the contemporary symbology of West African hairstyles, and how they now apply within contemporary society. I decided to use the topic of black hair to explore black identity as hair for me and many black people alike is an undeniable key element of identity and communication within our societies. It’s also a very personal project, as for me it has become a path to self discovery, and a way for me to use my camera to explore my own cultural identity as Black-British Nigerian. How did the project come about? During my last year at Birmingham University, I came across the book ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Reading the book was my first discovery of the Biafran War, a Nigerian civil war that took place between the years of 1967- 1970. I was completely shocked and disappointed in myself. I just felt as a first-generation British Nigerian I knew very little about my Nigerian heritage, or my Yorùbá culture.The book triggered a journey into my own personal history. Before that I had done fashion photography; I really felt that was what I wanted my focus to be. I had suddenly found that although my work looked good aesthetically it had no context. The focus of my dissertation was on hair statements within West Africa, so it felt only natural to then move on to this project. Focussing my research a little bit more, I then began photographing these traditional Nigerian hairstyles. I had found that these hairstyles were being used, on the catwalk for example, without people knowing about their historical significance. The project is really about creating cultural awareness and a representation of who I am. My work now is about my own voice and the stories I want to tell.

How does using black and white film influence your photographic practice? I shoot in medium format , so you only get 12 shots. That’s it. I really like the discipline that comes with that. You need to be aware of the framing, lighting, tonal range, – there is so much to consider and I feel it’s really shaped my photographic practice to where it is today. It’s very exciting, you don’t know what you are getting. It sounds like a cliché but that’s how it is. For ‘Irun Kiko’ I used a Fuji Neopan Acros because to me it had a Sixties vibe to it and for a developer I used Ilford DDX developer in order to get a really good tonal range, and ensure the blacks were as rich as possible. How do you set up a photo shoot? I usually take pictures of friends or people I see in the street. I just ask them whether they want to be photographed. Many say no due mostly to them feeling a little shy or insecure, but some say yes out of being so flattered that they were even asked. From there I go ahead and find a space, or rent a studio, whichever is more suitable and we go from there.

RIGHT Another image of Kasumu’s series of contemporary West African hair threading ALL IMAGES © BARRY HOFFMAN LRPS

What happens after the photo shoot? I do everything myself, the developing and printing etc. I develop the pictures as soon as possible because I’m too eager and I feel like I must know the result and that’s when I create the markings. I work in the dark, I use a bag. I very gently scrunch up the negatives or scratch them. I also use light leaks and leave dust marks. What I always need to be aware of though, is that at all times the markings are necessary. For example, it can sometimes be very careless to leave dust markings on some images, especially when it doesn’t add any significance to the image in any way. I have also had moments where I’ve taken it way too far and completely ruined the image! So being meticulous is of course is important. What significance do these markings have? Aesthetically, they add texture, that was their original purpose, but I found they add to the story. Now the markings on my images have gotten to a place where they are actually a defining identifier in my work, like a signature almost.

RIGHT Kasumu explores black hair as a key element of black identity

How do you know that a picture works? When I hang the negatives up to dry, I just know; it’s just a feeling. Sometimes it’s a feeling of relief actually, relief that I didn’t mess it up! And other times it’s the energy I feel when looking on at the image. I base a lot of my decisions on the feelings, vibes and energy that I get from people, places or even objects. So that’s an important factor too. What’s your experience of sharing such a personal project? At first, it was quite scary and it took me a long time to show my pictures to people. It was such a strong personal statement, I was worried that I might be judged. But then, once I did share them, I was glad. It felt like my honesty had paid off. What’s next? After I returned from my trip from San Antono, the Olaju Art Group that hosted the exhibition also invited me return in the summer for a three month residency which I’m very excited about. The focus will be about a story I came across about a law passed in Louisiana where Black Women were ordered to cover their hair in public. These rules were called ‘Tignon Laws’; it’ll be a nice continuation on from Irun Kiko.

BELOW Kasumu works with amateur models

RIGHT Ashly Tryp

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION Born to Nigerian parents in 1992, Juliana grew up in Deptford, South East London. At A-Level she decided to take up photography as a welcome break from her more academic subjects. Being taught film photography, she learnt to think about creativity and found that photography was her most rewarding subject. She went on to study Media and Communications at Birmingham University from where she graduated last year. She is the winner of the Renaissance Photography Prize for Best Single Image 2015.

ALL IMAGES ÂŠ JULIANA KASUMU

CAPITAL INTEREST EXPERIENCE

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ABOVE: St Pauls – that most iconic of London’s landmarks

SHEER LONDON-ESS Barry Hoffman LRPS spent the night on the buses, stepping back in time to the Ealing era of classic British film.

When they said how do you fancy spending Saturday Night waiting for a bus, I thought they were joking. But your intrepid blogger will lay his life down for the RPS – no sacrifice is too great and at around 10pm on a Saturday night in September I arrived outside the Royal Albert Hall to be greeted by two classic Routemaster buses (although I was swiftly corrected by one of the other photographers who told me one was a Routemaster and the other an RTM or something – I wasn’t really paying attention.) I was in awe of the sheer London-ness of it all. A TOUCH OF CAPTAIN MAINWARING I chatted to another RPS members (coincidence) and we set about taking some shots with the models who were dressed in period costume. The tourists managed to work their way around us and the organisers were very good at getting the models to stand perfectly still whilst we all grappled with the three legged monsters that are tripods, trying to get a good exposure. Early on I decided I was aiming for a “One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing” effect which meant mono rather than colour. I was very happy with the results – although there is a touch of Captain Mainwaring about them! “ALL ABOARD AND HOLD TIGHT PLEASE” By around 11pm we headed for Parliament Square to try the old photographer’s challenge of correctly exposing the clockface of Big Ben. After an hour or so cursing the London Traffic, (apparently the ford Focus wasn’t around in the 1940’s) it was “All Aboard and Hold Tight Please” for the trip to St Pauls Cathedral. This is where we spent a good hour and a half until around 2am when the lights are switched off. The models were engaging and the tourists were mostly interested and occasionally drunk and disruptive, but all good humoured and no-one was going to mess with 2 bus loads of photographers with tripods that could easily be turned into weapons so it all felt very safe.

BRIGHT AND CHEERY My favourite shot of the night was of St Pauls – that most iconic of London’s landmarks and the models were still bright and cheery with my final shot being a bit of a homage to the Ealing era of classic British film. At around 2.am the Group carried on to Tower Bridge, but it was past my bedtime and we bloggers need our beauty sleep so I left the group here and headed for my bed. The event was organized by Timeline Events. It was a well organized event – with the organisers in hi-vis jackets and a well thought out pre planned route. Several of the photographers had done the trip before and were after traffic free, tourist free shots. The evening began and ended at Brooklands Bus Museum in Surrey, although I joined and left in Central London. The cost was £69. I can highly recommend it. ABOVE: Barry’s correctly exposed clockface of Big Ben

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CAPITAL INTEREST TOPICAL

WOMEN IN A MAN’S WORLD RPS member Rose Teanby was commissioned to create 24 portraits of women in traditionally male careers. They will go on display on the 8th of March – International Women’s Day.

The exhibition was commissioned by the Nottingham Women’s Centre in conjunction with International Women’s Day. This year’s theme is Pledge For Parity. Rose started this project in 2014 wanting to see if there had been an improvement in the representation of women in certain careers and chose a benchmark of 25%. Rose says: ‘Many of the volunteers came from a representation of 5% or less, the flight engineer (I think) being the rarest of the lot.I approached large organisations and the self employed to get a good spread of professions ranging from plumber to Professor of physics, but ALL were taken with the challenge of summing up their job in a single image with no accompanying text. This was to enable those with no knowledge of English or of poor literacy to be able to understand the message - we all speak photograph! This has worked with most but not all as their profession needs an explanation but I’m reasonably happy with most. They are mostly smiling because of the eventual environment they will be displayed in. Some of those viewing the images will be women at a low point in their life needing a boost of confidence and the idea was to see other women who are happy in their male dominated work, strong and confident. We have made a lot of progress towards equality in recent years but still have a way to go. But when I asked Sarah my DHL pilot why she chose such a difficult career she said that, growing up near Heathrow, it never occurred to her to be anything other than a pilot!” My favourite quote was from the army cadet - I asked her if she wanted to join the army and, disappointingly she said no. She then stated that she wanted to be Prime Minister instead!’

LEFT PAGE MP in the shadow cabinet ABOVE DHL engineer, Derbyshire firefighters, Army cadet 18

CAPITAL INTEREST TOPICAL

ABOVE Heathrow Express driver – Heathrow Express have a very high rate of female employment in driving (40% compared to average of 4% normally)

“This has been an interesting project. My

challenge was to choose 24 different professions and create portraits which were instantly recognisable as the trades being represented. My intention was to have no reliance whatsoever on text within the image, it may sound easy but was incredibly challenging with certain professions.

WOMEN IN A MAN’S WORLD

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CAPITAL INTEREST REPORT

‘STREET PHOTOGRAPHY IS ABOUT MOVEMENT’ JOEL MEYEROWITZ HON FRPS Lucky Ilya Fisher attended a talk by the veteran photographer and learnt some amazing things about his passion – including his most unusual way of taking pictures whilst on the move. (Don’t try this at home, though.) I’ve just got back from seeing Joel Meyerowitz at The Royal Institution, a talk on 25th January organised by Beetles & Huxley to accompany their latest exhibition of his photographs. I’m not going to write this as a review, I’m not sure I really know how to do that. Rather I’m planning to take you through some of the things I found interesting. Apologies if I get my facts wrong, I’m writing about what I think I heard. The first interesting thing is that during the introduction, Giles of B & H told us that they ‘sold’ out within 1.5 minutes!! I was lucky to be working at my computer when the emails were sent out. ABOVE Meyerowitz talking in London in January

The evening was an absolute pleasure. I got an impression of a warm intelligent man, very human with a lovely sense of humour and who still carries his passion for photography. He gave us a journey through his 50 years of being a photographer. A very elegant woman came to sit in the front row just ahead of me. When Meyerowitz arrived he went up to her and kissed her. She laughed at all his jokes and at the end he bowed to us his audience, and then he bowed to her, his wife Maggie. Meyerowitz was one of the pioneers of colour when colour was considered vulgar and not artistic. He said he was initially an artist and studied History of Art. One day for his job he

was asked to accompany photographer Robert Frank. Seeing Frank moving around constantly, seeing that his work appeared to be all about movement not stillness, inspired Meyerowitz to take up photography. His first passion was street photography as I’m sure you know. He likened this to a part of himself that is a jazz musician and his next phase, photographing still landscapes at Cape Cod, as the part of him that is a classical musician. Next he showed us his road trip photos which he took while driving around Europe. Yes, he was driving and taking the photographs at the same time. His wife said he still does, it’s terrifying! Next he got interested in what he called Field Photographs. This appeared to be street photography mostly, trying to spread interesting elements out from the centre of the image and printing these huge, several metres high. Next interest was portraiture and currently he is working on still life in his studio in Italy where he lives. He showed us a few of these images, and they are absolutely beautiful. It seems to bring him back to his fine art roots.

DAVE’S DIARY

HISTORY Photographer of old; child of the darkroom; reborn to digital FAVOURITE GENRE Street; people; life around me PHILOSOPHY Always looking; snapper; grab the moment CAMERA Nikon D750 14-120mm; Olympus Stylus 1 A regular column about a photographer’s CAMERA CLUB South London Photographic Society life in London by Dave Harris LRPS LRPS April 2015

RE-DOING THE OVERDONE This month, Dave took part in his first competition of the year. The judge made some comments about his street photography which gave him food for thought. You’re sitting in the dark, waiting for your image to come up on the screen. It’s the first competition of the year, and the heart is pumping. Well, maybe not exactly pumping. But a tad faster than normal. The judge is good. Yes, it’s always an opinion. Of course. Subjective. No complaints. Up comes my image. “Now here is a bit of street photography. Camden Market, I’ll bet. A competent shot, but done to death. I’ve seen hundreds of pictures here. So repetitive. The monochrome treatment works well. 6! I’ve changed my mind. Complaints! In my head only. But I wonder how much I’ve been penalised by trying to repeat images that have already been “done to death”? Of course, street photography is always different. Always different people, moving differently, interacting differently. Different angles. Different light. In fact, unusually in photography, the light hardly matters. But at another level, it is all the same. Just people. Passing by. 22 22

ABOVE: A shot of Camden Market - one of Dave’s competition entries

You could say the same about Landscape photography. WHAT!!! Travesty. Well, yes, if that’s your thing. Not if it’s not. Just mountains, trees, rivers. Nice light, but anyone can capture it, if they’re there. And I’ve already covered (should be “covered”) bird photography in an early article. Click, click etc. 1200 shots taken at 10fps. Luck, not judgement. Now all this is controversial stuff. Letters of complaint to the editor. But every one of us thinks our images are good. Not all of the images, but occasionally we get a “good” one. We wouldn’t do it otherwise. Why would we persevere in an activity we’re not good at? (Yes, to get better, I know - but you have to see that you are getting better, and at least approaching “ok”, or you’d switch to baking.) So where does this take us? In my opinion, photography is for ourselves. As is all art. Monet didn’t really care what people said about his pictures - but that maybe because they all said they were great and paid him thousands! And talk about doing things over and over. 20 years painting water lilies! If you like it, it’s a good picture. Kind of obvious, I know. But we do get worked up when people (read judges) don’t think so. We shouldn’t. And as for repeating what others have already done, well go ahead and “repeat”. It’s your first time. So it’s new for you. A challenge for you. A good image for you. And what else can matter? PS. I’m off to Dungeness next week - wonder what the judge will think of those repeats! ALL IMAGES © DAVE HARRIS LRPS

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USEFUL LINKS

RPS LONDON GROUPS RPS LONDON BLEEDING LONDON BREATHING LONDON LONDON, CINE LONDON, NATURALLY LONDON, STREET LONDON, URBAN FIRST TUESDAY

Have you got a story to tell? Or pictures to show? Have you been on a trip, at a workshop or to a fair? Are you working on a project or preparing an exhibition? Have you met a photographer who your fellow RPS London members should know of or visited an exhibition they should see? We love to hear from you. Get in touch with Capital Interest to share your experience. CLICK HERE.

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