That's Life. Street photography in India.

That's Life is a collective of street photographers who capture life on the streets of India in fresh and unusual ways that tell interesting and sometimes humorous stories. That's Life was set up not only to showcase the work of these photographers but to promote this real and honest genre of photography.

Street photography is an emerging art form in India. While extremely personal and subjective, it is probably the hardest to do. It is an unadulterated documentation of life … history if you will.

If nothing else, the images in "That's Life"  will prove that there is so much happening around us at all times, so many fleeting but special moments which often pass by unnoticed. Hopefully "That's Life" will open your eyes and your mind to the amazing possibilities unfolding on the streets of India every day.

©Arindam Thokder

Hi Kaushal, tell us few words  about your new street photography collective, "That's life". How this idea came alive?

Hi Andreas. I have been shooting on the streets of India for a few years, but it took a long time for my work to get noticed. Gaining confidence from some prominent international street photographers like David Gibson and Richard Bram, and with a nudge from my friend and fellow street photographer Eric Kim, I decided to try and form a collective. There are a lot of talented street photographers in India who continue to shoot in a bubble and often go unnoticed. As a collective we can wield more power and gain more exposure.

  ©Kaushal Parikh

What is your purpose as collective, I mean what do you think you could achieve better  as collective than as individual photographers.

India is a diverse country and the streets are very unique and different from the West.  In fact the streets within India are very different when you go from the larger cities to the small towns.  As a collective we hope to showcase work from across India in different personal styles and expressions that will add interest to the fascinating scenes that unfold in the streets on a daily basis.  With a group of like-minded people, all passionate about street photography, I am sure we will be able to promote the amazing work created in the streets of this diverse country.

©Prantik Mazumder

You started this group only four and now you are seven. What is your plan for the future?

We currently have 7 very talented photographers, all with a very personal style and mostly from different professional backgrounds.  I think there are only two full time photographers. 
To start with we hope to reach at least 10 members in the next few months.  The search for talent is on but we want to keep membership very selective to maintain a certain standard of what we think is good street photography. 
The future has many possibilities and some of the ideas that I don’t mind talking about presently include participating in international photography festivals like the LSFP, having That’s Life exhibitions, and conducting workshops etc. to increase the awareness of street photography.

©Suyog Gaidhani

Is there any prerequisite  in a style of  a photographer to be member in your group or is it enough to be a good street photographer shooting in India. I mean do you after a specific style,  aesthetics  or in the opposite you ask for  different styles in your group?

I think the most important thing is to be a good street photographer.  As far as style goes there is no fixed aesthetic we are looking for.  In fact the more diverse our members, both geographically and aesthetically, the better.  And what is cool is that if we have two or three members from the same city but with different styles it will give viewers different viewpoints of the same city that can be very interesting.

 ©Prashant Godbole

When most of the people think of India they think of a place with strong juxtapositions and very crowded. Do you want as group to make this image stronger or show something else?

When shooting in India it is very hard to avoid juxtapositions and crowds, but at the same time if someone can show a different side to the streets of this country we will welcome that point of view.  In fact the existing portfolios already showcase a mix of busy images, quiet images, images that emphasize light and shadow, juxtapositions, humour, b&w and colour.  We don’t want to force any particular style.  The only thing we are adamant about is good and meaningful imagery.

 ©Mark Carey

Why a street photographer must come and shoot in India's streets? What makes India different than the rest of the world in your opinion.

If by the rest of the world you mean cities like NY, Paris, London which are the home for street photography, then India is a world apart in so many ways.  The streets are crowded and not very clean.  There is excessive poverty on the streets.  These things make it very challenging to create an aesthetically pleasing image but also offer the possibility of creating work that is fresh.  Having said that photographing on the streets of India is far less stressful because the people are a lot warmer and more open to being photographed.  In all my years shooting on the streets I can barely remember a few instances where I was asked not to make an image.  Of course the key is to maintain a respect for your subjects and not exploit underprivileged people in unbecoming circumstances.  A sincere outlook and a smile on the streets of India go a long way.

 ©Amit Chakravarty

I have seen many pictures from India from dozens photographers. How easy or difficult is to be unique as a photographer in such a scenery as India is.

To be unique in India is probably as difficult as being unique in Cuba, Turkey, the UK or any other extensively photographed country in the world.  That is where you can separate the good photographers from the street snappers.  The good ones can isolate a scene in a crowd and capture it in a way that is reflective of their personal expression.  People see things differently so the challenge lies in translating your view of the world onto film.  If done accurately then it will most likely be unique.

©Arindam Thokder

Is there anything else you'd like to add about your group ?

I would just like to thank you, Andreas, for giving us this platform to talk about our collective.  That’s Life will hopefully become the default site that anyone will visit when they want to view street photography created on the streets of India.
Visit us at www.thatslife.in.
Cheers!

Thank you very much, I wish you all the best and I'm looking forward seeing even more interesting things from India and your collective.

Andreas Paradise. An Interview

No my friends, I'm not taking my self an interview :-) This blog as my readers know is not actually about my photography but about my thoughts and my interests in photography. So, Alex Coghe has given me the opportunity to express some of my thoughts in photography.

His blog is specialized in street photography so my answers was given in that in mind but photography has values which exist in every kind of photography.

I will copy just the two first questions about what is street photography for me and what the photography of Andreas Paradise is looking for and I will sugest you not only to read the rest of the interview but to search the rest of the blog "in35mm" for interesting infos in street photography and some more interesting interviews from other photographers

Hello Andreas, we start this interview with a classic question: street photography for you is...

Hi Alex, street photography is for me a way not only to see but also to feel the fellow people, the world, the everyday reality, the small details which engulf us in public places but which I couldn't see before starting to shoot in the streets or before starting to enjoy the good sp of other photographers. Street photography is a way to discover an invisible world, a parallel odd world which coexist with the boring one we all know.

And the photography of Andreas Paradise what is looking for?

I could say that my photography is looking for my truth. My truth of how the world is or could be. But of course this truth is a big lie after all. But don't forget that photos say true things with lies.

The rest of the Interview is here http://in35mm.blogspot.com/2012/01/beyond-obvious-interview-with-andreas.html

Blake Andrews. An Interview

Blake Andrews is a great photographer member of In-Public. He lives with his wife and their three sons in Eugene, Oregon. You can find more of his photos in his site www.blakeandrewsphoto.com You can also find more of his thoughts in his great blog blakeandrews.blogspot.com

Please tell us something about yourself. When and how did you start photography? How did you first get started in street photography?

I took a photography class in 1993 and that kindled my interest. From that point I took photos on my own and gradually became more and more enamored. I was living in a city at the time, exploring with a camera, so most of what I shot early on might fall under the "street photography" label. But I didn't consciously set out to shoot that style. I didn't even know what street photography was until I'd been shooting for several years. And even now "street photography" is not a perfect description for what I do.

Which contemporary or emerging photographers impress you?

I've been asked this question a few times so I'l try to pick people I haven't yet mentioned. Matt Eich. Garry Trinh. Thomas Michael Alleman. Jon Lowenstein. Masao Yamamoto. Jason Fulford. Gordon Stettinius. Ron Jude. Michael Ackerman. Vanessa Winship. Simon Kosoff. Caleb Charland. Ed Panar.

Which of the old Masters inspired you the most?

Same logic. Some of these folks are still quite active, so the word "old" doesn't quite apply, but they are all masters: Tony Ray-Jones. Sylvia Plachy. Ed Ruscha. Philip Perkis. Saul Leiter. Paul McDough. Barbara Crane. Louis Faurer. Helen Levitt. Henry Wessel. Charles Traub. Nicholas Nixon. Tom Wood. Mitch Epstein.

What is your favorite project till now and why?

I don't really work in projects but if I'm thinking in that way, I suppose my family photos make a nice body of work. It's probably the only work that I've done that I'm assured will have lasting meaning for someone in the future: my kids. They grow and change so quickly that the photos become historic in a hurry, and I kind of like that.

There are a lot of differing opinions when it comes to defining “street photography.” How would you define it? What is your opinion about street photography without life (not necessarily human). Documentary vs street photography. How close or how far apart do you think they are?

I was asked this question recently by someone else (http://jophilippe.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/interview-with-blake-andrews/) and I think my answer then still applies:
"I would define street photography as making unplanned photos in an unpredictable environment. That’s not exactly the same as documentary photography, which basically includes any photograph attempting to depict the world in a direct and real way."
An unpredictable environment can be one with life or without. Usually life adds to the uncertainty, but it's very possible to find chance moments without life.

How do you define “beauty” when it comes to photography?

That's a loaded question because I think beauty is extremely subjective. For me it's often tied to imperfection. I'm not so interested in perfect scenes in the style of Ansel Adams or Edward Weston. I think photos with flaws are more beautiful, because that's what the world looks like. It isn't perfect. It's got buck teeth. People who've had braces having boring teeth.
On one of Dylan's early records there's a song which starts, gets messed up, and then breaks down into him laughing. I think it's great that they left that in the recording, because if it was being recorded today I think that may have been smoothed over or erased in the name of "beauty". I like photos which operate by the same principle. Some of Winogrand's slanting shots feel like that. You're not supposed to hold the camera that way, which makes them appealing for me. After you look at a few of them you forget about the slant. I think this explains also the appeal for me of Holga and Diana work, although much of that work fetishizes the imperfect. But when it's done well it can be really nice.

Do you feel sometimes that your blogging activity maybe competes with your photography? I mean your blog is so successful that when people think of Blake Andrews do they first think of him as a blogger or as photographer?

It depends which audience you're talking about. In the online world I'm probably better known as a blogger because that's where I've put my online energy. I don't post many photos online but I keep the blog fairly active. So if you ask someone in Asia or Europe, or someone who only knowns me online, that's probably who I am to them.
But in the real world I'm known primarily as a photographer. My photographer friends don't pay much attention to my blog. I share photos with them and shoot with them and they know me as someone behind a camera, not necessarily a computer. And that's what I consider myself first and foremost, a shooter.

What is your relation with social networks like Facebook or Flickr, do we live in picture overdose times?

I enjoy Facebook but for me it doesn't have much practical application. It's just a fun amusement to check in on occasionally. It's been interesting to follow FPN on Facebook, not necessarily because the posts always lead to interesting discussions but because they're sort of a temperature check. They show what's on people's minds.
I don't post photos on Flickr so I can't comment on that aspect of it. I drop in occasionally on Flickr chat forums like HCSP. Sometimes they can be interesting.

Do you think that social networks can help a photographer by making him popular - well known - or is there a danger of making him after the "likes" of public and not really express himself.

I think it's very valuable to find colleagues who can give feedback and whose opinion you trust. Whether you find this online or in the real world doesn't matter, but I think that sort of feedback is vital, because otherwise photography can be quite isolating. For myself I rely mostly on real-world feedback. I have 4 or 5 friends who I meet with regularly to share work. I value their comments, and I think they value mine.
I think one potential pitfall of online feedback is that it's hard to know how to value it. If a photo gets 10 "likes" from strangers, that doesn't tell you very much. But one "like" from a trusted friend can be very informative. So if you can cultivate trusted colleagues online, that's valuable.
But in the end, feedback is feedback. The only judge that really matters is yourself. It sounds like a cliche but it's true.

Street photography has become wildly popular, What do you think the future is? What is the role of groups like inPublic or HCSP?

I'm not sure I agree with the premise. Everyone says street photography is popular but I think that depends where you look. Walk down the street and ask the first person you run into to name any street photographer. Or any photographer period. Street photography is an incredibly small niche in the grand scheme of things. Even in the photography world, which I think is what your question refers to, street photography is a minor footnote. Most fine art photography doesn't treat it seriously.
I think where it is popular, especially among beginners, is on the internet, simply because street is the most accessible form of photography, and the internet is the most accessible forum. All you need is a camera and walking shoes, and at the end of the day, a computer to post images. On the one hand this is great. It's never been easier to share work, and perhaps it's easier for street photographers to find and develop their voice now. I think street photography more than most other photographic forms has boomed online. But I think there's a risk of mistaking all of that online energy for real-world impact. At the end of the day, how many world class street photographers are there now compared to 30 years ago? My guess is roughly the same number.
A good example of online energy is the Street Photography Now book, which I think attempted to encapsulate the contemporary street photography zeitgeist. It did that to an extent, but I think what it did even better is give written form to the online street photo scene. To me the book seemed built around the internet, and sort of confirmed my view that the online world dominates street photography.
As for the future, I'm not sure. Things are changing quickly, but I suspect that in 30 years there will probably be roughly the same number of world class street photographers around as there are now.

Street Photography Now project was a great success last year. This year the community continues the project by self organizing. You are one of this year's instructors. What is your advice to the community?

Even though I submitted an instruction, I am rather dubious about learning via instruction. I've never had training in photography or taught it. I'm a great believer in practical experience. So my advice would be to treat these instructions as a fun activity but not with the expectation that they'll lead to anything. The path that leads forward is daily practice. Thousands of hours.

 

 Form, content, candid moment, the transformation of reality, all of these should be balanced in a good street photo, but what do you enjoy the most in good street photography?

I like photos which make you ask yourself, "How did they see that?" Those are the ones I enjoy most. Most photographs are fairly simple to decode. It's the ones which aren't which I find entertaining.

Living in a smaller town (Eugene, Oregon) like you have done in last few years, how has that influenced your work?

I've slowed my shooting since moving to Eugene. In some ways this has been a good thing. Living in a larger city I was a bit out of control. Although I learned quite a bit by constantly photographing, it was unmanageable. I never could've started my blog in Portland, for example. There just wasn't time. So the move to a community where shooting isn't a continual temptation has been a relief in some ways. Now I time my outings for certain places or certain events. The parade on Saturday or the tailgate scene or whatever. When I want a dose of urban life I go to Portland or plan strictly photographic outings to distant cities. I still have my camera with me between those times but the shooting isn't as constant. As I alluded to in my definition above, street photography can happen anywhere. It's "making unplanned photos in an unpredictable environment."

I know you are a film supporter. As they say there is no point in changing a winning team. When do you expect that digital will offer you something more than convenience (as you mention in another interview).

I'm not necessarily a film supporter. I shoot film but I'm happy for others to choose whatever format works for them. It's a personal decision. At this point I don't envision switching to digital, at least not for black and white. If I run out of things to say with b/w I might switch to color, at which point I'd look hard at digital. But for now I'm glad to do what I do. I've never taken a b/w film image and thought, "Darn, I wish I'd shot that in color digital." Instead it's been the other way. In those rare times I've been without my film camera I've regretted it.



Blake thank you very much for this interesting interview.

Klavdij Sluban. East to East

Klavdij Sluban is a French photographer of Slovenian origin based in Paris. He was born in 1963 and now in age of 48, he continues the development of his rigorous and coherent body of work. Sluban learnt the subtleties of black & white printing under the guidance of Georges Fèvre. Although he held a Masters' degree in Anglo-American literature, little by little, he gave up teaching to commit wholly to photography.

Never inspired by immediate and sensational current affairs, Sluban's numerous photography trips are permeated with literary references ­ for example, Beckett, Milton. The Black Sea, the Caribbean, the Balkans, and Russia can be read as many successive steps of an in-depth study of a patient proximity to the encountered real. His deep blacks and backlit silhouettes convey to his photographic style uprightness and accuracy free of didacticism or exoticism. In 1997, his work Balkans Transits, which he published with François Maspero, was awarded the RFI (International French Radio) prize.

In 1995, Klavdij Sluban created a photography workshop for teenagers in the Juvenile Detention Centre in Fleury-Mérogis (South of Paris, the biggest jail in Europe). The Adolescents were taught a creative approach, development and printing in photography. Their work is regularly shown inside the jail. Photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson attended several times a year from the beginning of the project, as did photographers William Klein and Marc Riboud who also attended to encourage the participating adolescents.

Τhis commitment was pursued in the disciplinary camps and prisons of Eastern Europe - Ukraine, Georgia, Moldavia, and Latvia ­ and in the disciplinary centres of Moscow and St Petersburg. By offering us pictures of those places he is familiar with and of their inhabitants to whom he is a true partner, Sluban unveils the problems of closed spaces and constrained horizons. And by doing so, he brings to both our consciousness and senses the fractures of a confinement enhanced by the internalization of perceptions.

Klavdij Sluban is a traveller for whom high seasons and travel commerce mean little. From countries generally considered unvisitable, too poor, too sad and grey, he brings back a harvest of pictures, always in black and white. The basis of his photography is time and people - people he would not dream of staring at. For Sluban is no paparazzo of reality, he is a photographer on a human scale, aware of the shifting frontiers of a profession which allows so many different interpretations, including the most idiotic ones.

His new book "East to East" brings together photographs that he has made during extensive travels in the East, frequently following the route of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Sluban's use of deep blacks and backlit silhouettes embues his work with a highly individual photographic style. These powerful images are remarkably moody and atmospheric and permeated with a strange melancholy and an overwhelming sense of isolation. This is deeply memorable work.

This explains the way he constantly calls his work into question, often remaining silent for long periods as if he suddenly doubts his strength at the threshold of his own eye. This inner silence, which is at the origin of all his pictures, is in fact his most precious asset. He brings before our gaze those who, in Haiti, in Cuba or in the republics around the Black Sea, stubbornly exist far from our well-worn clichés of social success.

But it would be useless to see these pictures as appeals for witnesses. In the East as in the West, Sluban works alone, a free spirit, with no commitments other than those he imposes on himself, and expecting nothing in return.

His tools are a good pair of shoes, a black box, and his Leica. In his pocket, a book and his faithful compass.

From the interview with Brigitte Ollier (in "Klavdij Sluban, Transverses", published by Editions Paris Audioviuel/MEP).

A simple question : What's the Black Sea like ?
Really black! It's the poor relation of the Méditerranean, which is luxuriant, flamboyant, bluer than blue. In autumn and winter there's an atmosphere of desolation which probably continues in the warm seasons. In winter the greys are really striking, everything is interiorized, everyone hibernates within his own thoughts. Everything is the opposite of demonstrative, but it's not empty. Intensity is never where you'd expect to find it.

The Black Sea borders seven countries, from Turkey to Bulgaria. Did one of them have a particular impact on you ? 
No, I have no preference. Of course I have a soft spot for the self-proclaimed republic of Gagauzia, in Moldavia. And I'm also fond of the self-proclaimed independent republic of Transdniestria, even if it's not such a nice place to live.

Is it hard to come back to Paris after this kind of trip ? 
I only allow myself to drift during a trip because I know I'll be coming back home afterwards. I'm aware of the limits of this, but I need to work within such a frame.; otherwise I'd probably never accomplish anything. Even for my trips to prisons, I proceed in the same way: I stay three weeks inside.

Three weeks for the trip - how long does it take you to prepare ? 
I usually know a long time in advance that I'll be leaving. It starts with an attraction for a country, and in this waiting period I often meet someone who has already been there. The way I perceive things comes from what I read, written texts that help me feel things from the inside. When I get to the country, I feel ready in my own way. Leaving itself is one of the worst forms of torture ever invented. I fight against it, but when I'm on a trip, I'm so completely involved that I sometimes realise almost by accident that I've got to go back home. When this happens I'm like a diver coming up to the surface in stages. Then I'm quite happy to come home and I stay in Paris long enough for the next trip to take shape

When you get back do you grab your contact prints to check the "results"? Or do you calmly wait for the next stage ? 
I'm not impatient, I wait. On the other hand I love getting back from Moldavia for example and looking at the year-old contact sheets from Haiti. This way of distancing myself from experience is essential for making the right choices, and it can only happen with time. As there are failures, my trips in preparation allow me to make more incisive choices. There are boxes for the first selection, boxes for the second and boxes for the third - like divisions in football. And it's been known for third-selection pictures to get promoted to first division! All this goes on at night, when I'm alone; I arrange the pictures into groups, always working towards an ideal.

All photographs ©Klavdij Sluban

You can visit his website for more info and photos  http://www.sluban.com/

David Gibson. An Interview

Please tell us something about yourself.  When and how did you start photographing? How did you first get started in street photography?

I came to photography relatively late having worked as a shipping clerk and then in social work for a number of years. I had a ‘proper’ camera when I was about 17 but it was more than ten years before an interest in photography became an obsession. My introduction was ‘humanistic photography’ which was mostly the photographers within Magnum such as David Hurn, Marc Riboud, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Elliott Erwitt.  The term ‘street photography’ never really gripped me until much later.

Describe the favorite street photograph you’ve taken. When and where did you take the photo, and why is it special to you?

It’s difficult to choose one absolute favourite photograph but I have to acknowledge ‘Audition’ that was taken as recently as 2008, Having probably learnt the craft of street photography over 20 years I know that the basic elements of luck and practice came together in that image.

I always feel that great street photographs are unearthed or discovered because they are always there. You just have to be ready and on that day - Feb 9^th 2008 - just off Shaftsbury Avenue in London I got lucky. Yes, I remember the day because that kind of day does not happen very often. There is a sense of excitement and relief when you ‘get it’.

Street Photography - color or b/w photography? What do you prefer and why? How digital time has influenced your photography?

Always a hard question, an unfair question even because why not both? At the moment I’m still hooked on colour, it seems right to pursue but I love both. I have more books with black and white photographs in them so that might be a clue to my true heart. But there must always be change and a challenge with photography. Digital as with many photographers pushed me towards colour but it surely comes down to whatever inspires you at the time. One point with digital is that so far I have never converted colour to monochrome. I always feel that is somehow ‘wrong’ but that might well change. I know a lot of photographers do that and I’m intrigued by the results

4. You are member of in-public (actually Nick Turpin invited you first of all the rest of the group), can you tell us something about this group?

It’s billed as ‘the home of street photography’ so in a sense it’s a home for all of it’s members. We feel comfortable there. We’ve been going more than 10 years and who knows what will happen but we do have a responsibility to street photography.

And we came into existence as the Internet truly began to enter people’s lives and therefore we’ve reached out to many photographers around the world. That’s what really matters. Nick Turpin and Matt Stuart deserve huge credit for that.

You are featured in the Street Photography Now book. What does that term street Photography  mean to you? How would you define it?

As mentioned previously I do feel a little uneasy about the term. I resist it a little feeling that I’m just a photographer who mostly takes photographs on the street. That’s a contradiction of course and maybe quite futile because it’s good to be known for any type of photography. It’s good to get recognition.

I would define street photography as any photography taken outside your front door, it is not set up and it depicts ordinary people going about their everyday lives. The essential point is that like the very word ‘street’ it has a little bit of attitude, it is real, a little dark, edgy and sometimes funny. It is real.

Street photography has become wildly popular with many exhibitions and documentaries springing up. You were a very active member of the Format festival as a member of in-public, What do you think is the future of street photography?

My description of street photography is hopefully it’s future. Street photography is real and people therefore respond to it. Trends in photography seem to go in cycles but street photography has always been there from the invention of photography itself. The future of street photography looks good, how can such a practice not be?  And the Internet is the future and street photography will inevitably thrive in that arena.

How often are you out on the streets shooting? Do you always have a camera with you and are you photographing on the streets anyway or are you only working with a clear concept or target in mind?  What is your favorite time of the day photographing in the streets?

I am much more selective about when I take street photographs now and I certainly don’t do it all the time. I wait for inspiration but realise that I often have to meet that inspiration half way.  The hardest part of street photography is in my head but I do have a camera with me on most days. Not having a camera with me is a risk.

I tend to avoid bright sunlight – so if I do have a favourite time of day it would probably be late afternoon.

Which contemporary or emerging photographers impress you? Which of the old Masters inspired you the most?

I’m not completely ‘up to date’ and perhaps it’s like music where you feel comfortable – or get stuck – with what you like. It requires effort to be aware of everything but I have become more aware of Alex Webb recently and Pinkhasov is an amazing and distinctive photographer. Blake Andrews of in-public is a fine photographer. His Picture of the Month (for April 2011) on the in-public site is a truly great photograph.

There are some very good Greek photographers of course. Nikos Econompoulos for example but none of these names can really be considered emerging but maybe they are less high profile.

It’s always good to return to the ‘old masters’ and Cartier-Bresson still resonates. I remember feeling the significance of his passing a few years ago but he’s now gone – and he hated colour. We have to move on. That’s the theory anyway but perhaps genius or class is timeless.

How do you define “beauty” when it comes to photography?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder as someone said about women I think…so much the same can be said about photography. Elegance is also beauty. Beauty is everywhere and is something that we should seek out. I much prefer subtle beauty in photography rather than ugliness.

NickTurpin said describing your meeting back in 2000 that your work was witty and carefully observed with an edge of melancholy to many of your images of older people. How do you describe your work now?

An early subject matter was indeed the elderly that certainly had an air of nostalgia or melancholy about it. I think that I have moved away from that now but maybe there are traces of that ‘melancholy’ still there in my photography. I used to photograph a lot of children too when I first started so my subjects have shifted…and become more ‘colourful’ quite literally.

Looking at your photos a viewer can easily observe juxtapositions between subject and background. There are also the use of words and symbols.

Yes, definitely. I’ve always ‘used’ juxtapositions and sometimes they can be very effective. I love words too, always had a fascination for the graphic word and especially where it can act as a ‘subtitle’ in a street photograph.

In late March you led a street photography workshop in Athens. What is your experience from the workshop as well as from shooting on the streets of Athens?

Leading street photography workshops has been a major discovery for me because I never imagined that I would one day ‘teach’ in any way. It has become a source of inspiration and especially so when it is in a foreign city because it is a wonderful way to connect with people.  Athens was particularly satisfying because of the amazing enthusiasm amongst the photographic community there. That in itself was an eye opener and could well lead to more workshop opportunities in other places. The essential experience for me in doing these workshops is the sense of discovery and enthusiasm of the participants. In reality I learn more from them because it reinvigorates my own photography. Inspiration can often work both ways.

All photographs ©David Gibson

I know you planning some new workshops in the near future (London 28th-30th May) There is a lot of people just starting with Street Photography, can you recommend them something for better start?

Be inspired; seek out inspiration from the legacy of all the great street photographers that have gone before – and get connected with other photographers.  We are incredibly fortunate to live in the world of the Internet but don’t forget the pleasure of photographs on the page of a book. You can judge a photographer by their library of photographic books.

It’s essentially a question of soaking up the work of the best photographers and thereby knowing what is possible with your own photography. If you carry a certain standard in your head, then with luck and a lot of wandering…sometimes the magic can happen. I always return to the phrase about street photography that it is mostly about looking for the luck.

Thank you very much for this fantastic interview. It was my pleasure participating in Athens workshop as well wandering with you on the streets of Athens. I think is a privilege for me considering of you as my friend. Thanks David.