The Overlooked: A Street Photography Challenge

INSIGHT

The act of photographing anything gives that thing importance. What a gift. A padlock on a fence, dust on a window or a discarded chair is normally just background noise. But frame it with enough care and suddenly it becomes the main subject. Nothing about the object has changed. We have simply stopped overlooking it.

QUESTION

What have you walked past a hundred times without ever really seeing?

CHALLENGE

Slow down and allow something ordinary to catch your attention. Don’t question why. Get closer and remove as much as possible from the frame until nothing competes with it. Remove everything but the atmosphere. Make one overlooked thing feel impossible to ignore.

Don’t forget to reply to this email with your image and some words describing how you got on.

the CONTACT SHEET

YOUR INSIGHTS

In last weeks newsletter I asked you to choose one seemingly ordinary place or location and stay there for twenty minutes. Notice, be vigilant, aware … See. Then create one frame where a scene or happening that might be considered ordinary is revealed to be anything but.

Tim Clark | @timclarkih

What did you attempt?

I definitely knew the Anish Kapoor exhibition would be good for an Albi challenge. ( most galleries are) Some of his work is liminal..

What challenged you?

Thinking there was too much choice.

What did you discover?

Once I had slowed down, I realised only a few positions in the gallery really worked.

Iris Loder | @irisloder

I honestly think the biggest challenge for me is staying in one spot for 20 minutes. I get so restless. I’ve walked past this spot many times as it’s near the train station. I actually never realised there was a casino there. I saw the frame from a few angles, but naturally ended up standing straight in front of it. I liked the light too, as it gave me the bleached-out effect I wanted.

At first, I thought I would just take a photo of the scene. But my desire to have the right person in the scene made waiting 20 minutes less painful. For the photo I put the focus on the person in the street, rather than just the street. The idea is that both get attention but kind of compliment each other if that makes sense? It was my favorite photo in the 20 minutes.

Iso Steve | isosteve100

This challenge was quite difficult for me to say the least. I was at an exhibition of photographs taken in the 60's of the City. There was a row of empty chairs and a blank screen.

I waited.

Then the Grey Power ( senior people) arrived and sat down. The screen came to life with images of the 60’s.

Old Streets.

Old faces.

Old Shops

For some of them sitting down, I imagine, this isn’t history.

It’s memories.

These aren’t my streets.

I’m not from this city and look at the photographs in a different way.

For them, the photographs are part of their past.

For me, they’re simply photographs of the past I’ve never known.

My lasting thought.

The same photograph can mean something completely different depending on who is looking at it.

Or as a couple of young lads from Liverpool may say

There are places I'll remember
All my life, though some have changed.
Some forever, not for better;
Some have gone and some remain.

All these places had their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall.
Some are dead and some are living,
In my life I've loved them all.

David Walker | davewalker.photo

Waiting at my local bus stop is about as ordinary location as it gets for me. I was scouting some interesting characters when i spotted this guy out the corner of my eye. He owns the local shop and I’ve photographed him before. He always pulls a smile :)

Mark Seal | @theblackandwhiteseal

So I’d spotted the fridge freezer on the pavement the week before, but hadn’t had the chance to get out shooting, But I passed it numerous times in the week and knew I had to make the time to attempt to get something from the scene.

The challenge this week was finding time…so after the weeks supermarket shop on Sunday afternoon, iI drove past and it was still there… right, it’s only 20mins let’s go.

So I pulled in, got my phone out and set up the shot, then waited to see what would unfold in the time.

Various folk past by, but without much engagement. Finally this couple came past and looked straight down the lens … done.

I discovered that the time is always there, it’s just the will to make use of it that is sometimes lacking!