PHOTO 24 2022
I touched on the fact that I attended photo 24 in my post about the Leica Q2m, this is a post to show the few pictures I made during the event this year.
I never make a plan of what to shoot at this event, I guess I like to play it by ear, or maybe I’m just too lazy, but what I think it really is, is that I don’t want to spend the time totally on my own, especially through the night, don’t get me wrong, I normally only work on my own as I can go anywhere I want with no restrictions, but at this event I like to hang around with like minded people and shoot the breeze. But next year I’m going to make a commitment to formulate a plan and I’ll stick to it as much as I can even if it means I’m on my own for most of the 24 hours, that is if I get selected.
As you know I mostly make pictures of people, people just going about their everyday life, if I can catch some great interactions that’s great, but it’s not essential. I look for the light in most things, but even if there isn’t any great light I still make pictures, a great face, the way someone is dressed, an individual style or just the way someone is leaning on a wall, there is a beauty in all these things, and none of it is choreographed, it just happens, and if I’m lucky I’ll be there to make a picture, I guess I’m just looking for the beauty in the ordinary.
So without a plan, I hung around with old friends and some new ones with the idea of just making street pictures when the opportunity arose.
This time around I definitely didn’t make as many pictures as I would have liked, Although as I said above, P24 gives me the chance to hang around with some like minded photographers, I think next time I may well do my own thing and go to places where I think there will be potential for some good street photography, dare I say it, I will make a plan/list of places. I’m quite disappointed that I never made more low light pictures, so I think places like Soho and the southbank will be on my list for the next one.
I went on an organised trip on an old route master bus, it was good but wasn’t really the sort of photography I make, too many people shooting the same thing, so not much chance of an picture that no one else has, I would say if you’re on your own and have no one to hang around with through the night it could be a good option.
The top image is a posed shot, which I don’t really do and the bottom two are candid shots.
These three pictures and the one at the top of this post are the only night shots with people that I made, there’s defiantly going to be more next time.
My advice is to either just stick to the competitions that run through the day and just make pictures for those, have your own 24 hour project and do that, or if there are places you want to see and photograph then have a list and a direction to move in that saves you time and stops you going back on yourself ie: plan a walking route or tube route. That’s what I’ll be doing if I get myself on the next one.
I like everyday life, people doing what they do, here are some of my street photos from the day.
