MEDIA
‘London Archived’ Leander Walters, a Year Twelve pupil in Wargrave House, recently displayed seventeen of his photographs in the foyer of the JWA building. This exhibition was called ‘London Archived’. Leander created the exhibition as part of his Skills Development Plan for Gold Arts Award. This qualification is open to young people aged 11 to 25, and once completed is worth sixteen points (the equivalent of half an A-Level) on the UCAS tariff. Each of the photographs was taken somewhere in London, with the locations varying from Covent Garden to Chinatown to Shoreditch. I found that all of the shots had a slightly dark, dangerous ambience to them, conveying a side of London that you wouldn’t find on a postcard. This was part of their appeal for me.
interested! So I went with him to walk around the exhibition on the 2nd of February (it was taken down on the 11th), and asked him a few questions. How did you get into photography and when?
‘The mixture of policemen and members of the public in this Jewish bakery in east London, Shoreditch reminds us that law enforcement aren’t just separate from us, they too go about their daily lives like you and I.’ When I found out that Leander was running this exhibition as a Maths, French and Geography A-Level pupil (and not doing photography), I was 8
I got into it about a year ago, when I was looking at old pictures my grandad had from family holidays. I started asking questions, and I became fascinated by the process of film. One day when I visited he gave me a point and shoot camera, which is what I shot my first roll on. And I just loved it. You have to focus a lot on the composition you make; every shot matters more. You want the roll to come out well, so you end up becoming more aware of your surroundings. And then I developed the skill by watching videos about film compositions from the 80s, reading the Kodak books, and just taking photos!
