Photography by Jacob Sam-La Rose
Ahh. Warmer days. Brick Lane, last summer. Sunglasses and shorts in the background. And I can only imagine what the man in the foreground was talking about, or pointing to…
Outtakes: End of the roll.
Denrele, Exmouth Market.
On another front, I pulled my Pentax ME out at a gathering with friends over Christmas. One of the guys caught sight of it, said: Film? Yes. Why? (with an incredulous expression). At the time, I just couldn’t articulate a response. Because I like it. That was the best I could come up with.
I promised no more carnival photos - I’m sneaking this one in under the radar. I was opposite Ladbroke Grove when this guy came up to me, a little merry. Friendly guy, all handshakes and smiles, putting his hand on my head (that’s a whole other issue, but other than that, he was cool). Then he saw the Yashica and started fawning over it in slightly broken European English. Vintage camera, yeah? It’s really old, yeah? Take my picture, yeah? I pressed the button a couple of times, he called his girlfriend over, she grudgingly obliged, I had to change the roll, shot a couple more, and that was that. This one looks a bit moody…
“Why do you take pictures of buildings?”
Spent most of yesterday at a wedding (and no, I’m not a wedding photographer). My sister ribbed me for taking pictures of buildings. In other words, pictures of abstract things, pictures that don’t always have people in them, pictures that don’t always seem to have any discernible documentary purpose. I’m my sister’s kooky youngest brother, the artsy one who writes poetry, and teaches kids (but isn’t a teacher) and takes pictures and doesn’t yet own a house (or two) and isn’t yet married with kids and doesn’t seem rooted in the real world. I didn’t have the head for constructing an answer about learning my craft as a photographer (though I’m not a “professional” photographer); about proportion, lighting, atmosphere/mood. And I think my “artsy little brother” reflex kicked in, just a little - trained by many years of defending my interest in words and books and poetry. But it got me thinking in the way the best critique can.
When I think back to her question, jokes aside, I’m hearing her say: what are you doing with that camera? What’s the value of those pictures you’re taking? And there’s nothing wrong with asking that. It’s a question I need to keep asking myself all the time, whether I’m behind a lens or a pen, in order to keep myself moving forward, to keep pushing whatever it is that I do.
Back to Brick Lane. I got 5 rolls of B&W (Ilford 400) back from processing yesterday, and it looks like I need to “think different” when my camera’s not loaded with colour.
In other news, I’ve finally fixed my Powerbook G4, and it looks like I’ll be picking up a new iMac during the week. I’ll be taking the weekend out for family business, then there’s a whole heap of catching up to do…
I’ve been forbidden from posting any more Carnival photos - saving the rest for a future exhibition. So back to Brick Lane for a bit…
That’s enough of the skate photos for now. Back to the regular city streets…
