What made you start getting involved into photography?
To be perfectly honest I’m not sure. I remember pictures I took on the family camera always being commented on by others. Then a few years ago I was going to Florence in Italy and I realised I was really excited about getting some good pictures. All I ever found myself wanting to take were night shots, however, and I remember being so frustrated that my handheld couldn't handle nighttime images. So I upgraded to a D-SLR. Then a few months later I moved to London in the middle of winter and was unemployed so I found myself waking up around 3 in the afternoon everyday and going out in the dark to take pictures. I lived (and still live) in the east so most of the area was quite industrial and urban. I just went for what felt natural to me and haven't looked back.
A majority of your gallery consists of nightshots in the city. What interests or fascinates you about this motive/setting?
I’m not one hundred per cent sure, but I know that I am not inspired whatsoever by daytime photography. I think the subject matter - the majority of the shots being urban and about modern - has something to do with my love of the concept of modernity and my interest in sociology. Perhaps it would be easier by explaining what it is I dislike about daytime photography. I like my pictures to be about something in particular, and the atmosphere, that’s why often the only thing in my images is the thing I want you to see, I want to isolate it and display it against the backdrop. This isn't always possible in daytime where light permeates from all sides. I also love the effect of artificial lights and have been inspired by films such as 'In the Mood For Love'. I suppose rather than make up the whole image for the viewer I am trying to give me a piece and let them use their imagination to fill in the rest of the gaps. I see a light against bricks and I'm automatically reaching for my camera. I don't like portrait photography, I would like to be good at it and only know a few photographers who I think can really pull it off. For me, however, most of it is to incidental, my photography is very much planned, I have found something I deem beautiful and I want to show it.
What kind of camera do you use the most often?
I use a Canon 1000D but don't ask me anything about it cause I am very much undereducated in this field. I use the lens that came in the box. My girlfriend got me an LC-A for Christmas which Im slowly trying to master, I'm intrigued by analogue but the learning curve is a lot longer before you know what works and what doesn't. I recently found the film I used didn't lend itself at all to night shots so I'm going to have to get used to using my eye in the daytime.
You wrote that Bow Alley is one of your favourite spots in London. Also, a fair amount of your pictures where taken in East London; so if you were to give a friend a tour through this part of town, which other places and corners would you show him/her?
I think if I was to bring any visitors on a tour of my photography sites they would bemoan their choice of tour guide. Most people don't come to London to see old tram depots and cement mixers being used in the Olympics and small streetlights down rough alleys in Bromley by Bow. I would show them Bow Alley however, its a gem in a otherwise quite rough and unloved area.
What did you enjoy (or dislike) about exhibiting your work?
I liked having the pictures on a wall for people to see, but I hated losing my anonymity with it on the opening night and the onus being on me. I like to slip in sometimes, nobody knowing that the work is mine.
Is there an artist whose work you liked, but never really understood why you liked it?
Yes, I really like Bernd and Hiller Becher, their work is very simple but they pull it off beautifully. I also like Gregory Crewdson which surprises me because it’s so staged.
Do you have any current projects you're working on?
To be perfectly honest with every spring I find myself rarely picking up the camera. I do a lot of work in the winter when its dark but I become quite demotivated when the days get longer. Then I dive headfirst into it again seamlessly when the winter approaches. It’s an obstacle I’m trying to get over, and I’m trying to diversify the kind of pictures I take.
What is your favourite thing to eat after a night out?
Don't eat, its a rule. Don't eat till well into the next day!
Do you like collaborating or do you prefer working on your own?
I like working on my own, I have a few friends quite into photography but our styles are very different. Unfortunately.
Something different to this site, a little bit, not? Be sure to take a look at his flickr!
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