What draws me to photography? There are a number of things, and I am sure that it has changed over the years.

When I first started taking photos, I wanted to photograph the show jumping shows I went to. At university, I still took photos of show jumping, I shifted focus a little to street and photojournalistic photography. I also started to develop my own black and white film. I continued my street and photojournalistic photography when I came to London. Within a few years, I shifted to architecture photography as I became tired of either being told off or people playing to the camera.

Over the last year or so, I have been trying to figure out where my photography is going. While I am on the journey, what I am really tapping into my photography is the narrative. So, what do I mean by this?

The exhibition I was in during November 2013, much of the feedback that I received was people seeing their own stories and narratives within the photos I was exhibiting. I found it fascinating what people saw in the images – often things I hadn’t seen myself, or personal stories they had.

The images I showed were architectural, and so it wasn’t perhaps the most obvious subject matter to have narratives. What I found was that it invoked either people knowing the areas I took the images in and it provoked some memories or feelings of the area or it reminded people of other places they knew. The narratives were place based.

Seeing the narrative, and allowing the viewer to read their own narrative, has become more important in my photography.

I sometimes come across stories of areas, graffiti, etc after the fact. One good example is the graffiti image I took in Islington. It was a man standing by a utility box on the street. A number of months later, while reading the metro at Waverley train station in Edinburgh, I found out that the image was of the cleaner who removed some graffiti (Graffiti artist paints image of cleaner removing artwork). I appreciated the story behind the image, but for me, my narrative of the image was an office worker pausing while heading back to the office during his lunch hour. 

Art can be many things. Sometimes it can make a political or social point, as with the Hahn/Cock sculpture in Trafalgar Square in central London. The sculpture is by German artist Katharina Fritsch. The giant blue cock is pointing out the predominantly male statues in Trafalgar Square. However, I think it’s not just Trafalgar Square that has this issue.

What art has the potential to do is to become a social commentary on the world around us. While my photography may not be as making such a blatant point Fritsch’s cock, in its own, sometimes subtle way, it’s a commentary of the world I see around me.

Whether it’s architecture, landscape or street photography, it’s a snapshot of what I see and is very much rooted in where I am, who and what I see and when. I have found that I have started merging the architecture and street photography a little as I have started including people in some of the photography. For many years, I shied away from taking photos of people as I had grown tired of being told off for taking a photo of someone.

However, I am starting to find ways to include people. People can often give context, but including people also mean that the architectural shots are less austere or harsh. It doesn’t mean I have started including people in all of my photos – it depends on the photo. It just means I don’t shy away from it.

The social and political statements I am making in my photos are perhaps more subtle as they reveal everyday life. The feedback I really found useful and insightful from the exhibition I was in last November was when non-photographers who visited the exhibition were able to find their own stories and narratives in my photography and were relating to my images in their own way. Speaking with them allowed me to see my photographs in a different light and gave the new insight.

I am perhaps starting to see my photography as a narrative – the narrative of the world I see around me. 

I find that I have been very reflective the last year or so with my photography. Often at this time of year, people tend to be quite reflective and perhaps use this time to make resolutions for the coming year (whether or not they fulfil these resolutions is another matter).

While I have been very busy over the last year trying to figure out where my photography was going, I felt that I haven’t quite figured where I was going. However, I am enjoying the journey and what I am seeing. I have found that I enjoy taking photos of the life that unfolds in front of me, wherever it takes me. This has taken me to Northumberland, Glasgow, Durham and different parts of London.

I had a good conversation today about getting older. I find society gets so bound up, and scared, of getting older. For me, it’s not about getting older, but gaining a maturity, without loosing your youthfulness. It made me realise that, although I exploring where my photography is going, I am finding that it’s maturing; it’s becoming more reflective.

When I am talking about maturing, I’m not talking about losing a sense of humour or a sense of fun. It’s about gaining a deeper sense of the world around me. It’s about being more reflective about the world I see around me, and reflect the world around me to itself.

While I may not have a sense of where my photography is going, I do see it developing and maturing. It’s not standing still or becoming stagnant. It’s been a wonderful journey so far, and am curious to see where it takes me. And I’m enjoying the journey along the way.  

Slowing down can mean very different things to different people. Seventeen photographers from the London Independent Photography Central Group have put on an exhibition around the theme of slowing down, and the results show diverse and eclectic.

The subject matter ranges from spirituality, street and city life, the wilds of Cumbria, people, decay and the Thames. All of the artwork reflects the diversity of the group and how each of us has approached the theme.

Choosing images for an exhibition can be difficult, and I have struggled with choosing photos around slowing down. For me, it touches on spirituality, contemplation, the everyday, and trying to have spaces within the urban environment I live in to allow myself to slow down.

One quote from William Penn I came across close to the opening of the exhibition helped me greatly –

"True silence ... is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment."

This quote touches on what I had struggled with when choosing my photos to submit. It reminded me that the separation between my spirituality, my environment and the everyday is really non-existent. The images I did finally choose to submit (with the kind support and guidance of the other members of the group) were perhaps not ones I had expected to include. However, they do reflect this.

While on the surface street scenes may seem secular, my images allow the viewer to see the more contemplative side of cities, and humanity; to show them that cities have the ability of to slow down, and contemplate. While religious or spiritual buildings allow humanity to focus its spirituality, humanity’s spirituality isn’t restricted to these buildings.

We can find true silence anywhere – we just need to be open to it.

Exhibition Details: 

Slowing Down runs until the 1st December at the Mile End Art Pavilion, London, UK

Details: http://artpavilion.info/Slowing-Down-LIP-Exhibition

As large parts of the UK were battered today by strong winds and rain, I enjoyed the calm and fairly sunny weather in London over the weekend. Living near Crystal Palace Park, I enjoy walking through the park at different times of the year.

At this time of the year, I enjoy the autumnal face the park has to offer. While the colours are more muted to what I have enjoyed in Canada, they are pretty nonetheless. The rustic colours still remind me of a fading autumn which melts into winter.

Living in the UK, I have become accustomed to more unpredictable weather. While I enjoyed autumn’s colours over the weekend, the rain and wind pounded parts of the country Sunday night and Monday. It reminds me to enjoy and savour the moments of calm before the storm, and even the storm itself.

Whatever the weather provides, I often enjoy photographing my surroundings. Rain and wind can make it more difficult to take photos, but the weather can have such an impact on the mood and feel of a photo.

My view is as long as it’s not raining, I’ll keep taking photos. You don’t always need to have a nice sunny day that’s cloud free. A grainy, textured black and white image can be just as strong as an image with a nice blue sky. 

Whilst buying photographic supplies, I was asked by the man serving me – “So, where do you come from?” He continued: “I’ve been asking people as I have been serving today as I’m curious to find out where people come from.”

As a Canadian living in London, it’s not an uncommon question – indeed, London is a very cosmopolitan city with many people being drawn to the city from elsewhere, either from different parts of the UK or abroad. The man serving me was born in Whitechapel in East London – a proper Cockney, he said – then lived in Twickenham, south London. However, he even acknowledged his accent wasn’t particularly cockney or posh Twickenham.

Where we come from can be a very multi-layered question. On one level, it is asking where we physically come from. On another, it can be about our identity and culture, which is often bound to where we physically come from as well as a shared experience. Yet another level is our emotional and spiritual arena.

I often find the question hard to answer as I come from Canada and have a shared experience and culture with other Canadians. However, I also have a shared experience and culture in London. Where I come from can also be from where I left in the morning to where I end up or the destination of my journey – like arriving at the photography to buy some supplies.

As a photographer, this is also a very interesting question as I am taking photos of life passing me by and the moments I see. Being a photographer is, in a way, capturing where I am which then quickly turns into where I was coming from. So, the question of where I come from is also a question of where I have been.

While photography can be seen as capturing the moment and perhaps focused and reflecting on what has been by the images we capture, there is also an element of where I am going. The past does influence where I am going and what I am seeing, but without having a sense or an eye on at least the present, it is very easy to get stuck and not see the nuances and changes in life.

As an artist, my photography has changed and progressed over the years. I would worry if it didn’t. With reflection and contemplation on what I have taken and listening to where I am going, my art changes and possibly matures. So the question of where I come from transforms into where I am going to – and I take photos along the way. Both questions are inseparable, really. 

Rambling through Kent the last couple of weekends, I really appreciated the rustic autumnal scenery. The colours in south-eastern England tend to be much more muted than what I grew up with in Canada.

However, being in the Garden of England, I really enjoyed the bountiful fruits and vegetables we came across – the blackberries, apples, fields of corn as well as sharing the fields with cattle (although, a bull or two made us a bit nervous!).  

Living in a city, much of what I buy is at the supermarket. However, I enjoyed the few apples and berries we got along the walks – and the taste of them was infinitely better than the store bought.  

The walks I did had many historical buildings along the way – both stately homes and castles as well as historic churches. Being October, the churches were celebrating harvest festival and they were filled with some of the local produce. While the UK doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving as Canada and US do, harvest festival is the closest thing to it.  

It is also apt that Canadian Thanksgiving is the 14th October, so I felt that I was celebrating in a way while walking in Kent with my friends and enjoying an apple or two and the blackberries on offer. The beautiful scenery added to the atmosphere. It reminded me to not take for granted what we have and what nature has to offer. 

Walking city streets, graffiti is part of the urban landscape. It’s sometimes hard to miss. As a predominantly urban photographer, my focus is often focused on the buildings and urban environment around me. However, I have become increasingly interested in photographing graffiti.

Why? What draws me to graffiti? Some find it the scourge of modern urban life. I don’t find this is the case. I have been historic palaces – like Dover Castle or even Eltham Palace – where there has been graffiti. Although this graffiti are often carvings on the walls rather than using a spray can.

Graffiti can be quite elaborate and creative, but it can also be rather dull and ugly. The built environment often lends itself rather well as a canvas for graffiti. The architecture of cities tells one story, but I don’t find it’s the full story of human experience. Graffiti challenges societal norms. It’s often seen as a nuisance by local government, and is often painted over – only to be replaced by new graffiti.

While graffiti can be an alternative conversation, I find there is a human need to say ‘I was here’. Whether this reflects the transient nature of life, and particularly of larger cities or a human desire for some semblance of permanence is open for debate. I would imagine it’s a bit of both.

What graffiti can reflect is a human voice and experience that is otherwise often shut out of mainstream society. It can be subversive. However, it can also become ‘trendy’ as it’s often seen as alternative and challenging the norm.

Whatever graffiti represents, it’s not likely to go away anytime soon, and I’m sure I’ll be photographing it for a while. 

My photography has been changing for much of this year. Sometimes it doesn’t seem to be all that different from the photos I have been taking.  Other times, it can be more reflective. My photography has allowed me to see things differently, and this is still the case.

I haven’t always found it easy to articulate where my photography is going, and in a way, I am enjoying the journey. It has made me more reflective, and perhaps see things around me even more deeply.

Being mindful has played an important role in this process. Although I haven’t blogged in a while, I have been taking photos, and lots of them. Trying to make sense of them isn’t always easy. Perhaps they are still too fresh. What I am enjoying, though, is seeing the results, and the places my photography is taking me. Perhaps I will never entirely make sense of my photography, apart from reflecting life unto itself.

Becoming more mindful has shown things to me that I perhaps would have missed previously. This doesn’t mean I see everything, or would want to photography everything. What it means is I am pausing more and letting life unravel in front me. Increasingly, I am not seeking perfection or the perfect image. What I am wanting to capture is a world that is around me – in it’s busy-ness as well as it’s quiet(er) moments.

The image above is of Old Street Station. The straight lines and the curves play against each other. I could have left the pedestrians out of the image, but the image would have been a bit soulless without them. I may have missed the image if I hadn’t turned around, paused, had a look and put the camera to my eye. 

A week ago, I published my first book with photos I took on my iPhone since August 2012. I hadn’t expected that my first book would be images from my iPhone as I have a few ideas of other books I thought I would publish. So, why images from my iPhone?

I hadn’t expected to take that many images on my iPhone. However, I over the last number of months, I was proved wrong. The images were capturing passing moments before they slipped through my fingers – that’s why the book is called In Passing.

The number of self publishing companies has grown exponentially over the last few years, which makes publishing your own book more accessible. However, it wasn’t easy to choose the photos to include in book. Being able to look at your own work objectively is nearly impossible – which is probably why I have struggled to publish a book previously. I did find that this book seemed to organise itself. Once I had the title, then the photos fell into place.

Would I publish another book? Definitely! When will this happen? I have not idea! I am sure that I will still struggle to figure out the theme of the book and what images to include. However, I won’t let this deter me. Publishing my first book was well worth it!