Editorial Feature - Street Photography

Social distancing, lockdown, quarantine, isolation are part of a terminology we hear and use daily due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Street Photography usually thrives in an opposite world made of crowds, busy streets, human interaction and what not. After several weeks of isolations a strong feeling of claustrophobia starts pervading our thoughts, while we long to walk and mingle again outdoors. We know we are missing the human contact with one another. We miss our interactions, walking, laughing, eating, drinking and having fun together. OFFSPRING PHOTO MEET & NORTHERN NARRATIVES present you a collection of entries that bring us back to the streets.

Stephen, through your piercing photographs we see a familiar London, with streets full of people and human interactions. Strong black and white images capture volatile yet strong emotions of passers-by kissing, hugging, gazing... Can you tell us more about this series and about your photographic process?

I am always looking for strong emotional content to capture when taking pictures, it is my number one priority. My influences range from Garry Winogrand and William Klein (to name two) as well as the work of Anders Peterson and Bruce Gilden. I find that their energising pictures have a powerful impact and jump off the page!  

I usually spend around three to four hours on the streets taking pictures (in one session).I like very busy streets to take pictures in, as it is easier to be invisible and hide in the crowd. I also like street junctions to work in as they provide an influx of people that are constantly changing, making it easier to spot subjects. 
When I start shooting I am firstly looking for a face that interests me, then I assess if the subject is alone, with a partner or in a group of people, and then I quickly decide if I think there is an interesting picture by seeing how they interact with one another. For instance, If it is a couple I have spotted they may be cuddling or having an argument and I will try and capture this from the best viewpoint to tell the story by capturing an intimate moment on the very public streets. If it is an individual it could just be something about as expression they have or the way they are walking or simply wrapped up in their thoughts. 

When I take these pictures things happen very quickly and I am relying on my instincts to capture fleeting moments, an emotionally charged instant that will not happen again and cannot be recreated. 
I work very close to my subjects and try to create a feeling that I am not an onlooker, but personally involved in the story.

These days the same streets tell a very different tale. Do you think we’ll come back to see a transformed, traumatised London when the emergency will end?

Sadly due to Covid-19 these special moments on the streets are simply not happening. I think it will be a long time until I am once again out photographing people rubbing-shoulders, laughing, kissing and hugging friends in public. 

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Steve, it seems that the streets are an immense playground for you. A good healthy mixture of enjoyment and surprise fill your colourful frames. Can you tell us what this series is about and if you are shooting anything at all during the lockdown?

The streets as an immense playground is something I clearly identify with. Based in the North West and situated between Liverpool and Manchester provides me with the opportunity to regularly visit two vibrant cities on a regular basis. Both cities are socially and culturally exciting offering ample opportunity to blend in and capture " the decisive moment ".  Other places included in this project include London, Verona and Venice Beach.I have a common theme of capturing people interacting with their environment which often form colourful backdrops and an integral part of the composition. The main image was shot on the edge of Portobello market, London and on a very hot June day. The man, a drummer was taking a break ( he was completely fine ) but was soon surrounded by concerned onlookers who fortunately were all looking at the prone figure.. I immediately knew this was an amazing opportunity and quickly immersed myself in the scene whilst trying to avoid the waste bin. All the information and experience gained on street workshops flashed before my eyes and I was fortunate enough to fire off half a dozen shots from slightly different angles. Many thanks to Matt Stuart and Stephen McLaren for those workshops organised by The Guardian. Subsequent workshops with Gus Powell, Melanie Einzig and Christophe Agou were so invaluable shooting on the streets of  New York. I would say that my influences are Tony Ray Jones, Gary Winnogrand and William Eggleston.

 The yellow and red images were shot in Manchester and Liverpool respectively, one a random happening, the other a deliberate stake out involving perseverance and patience. The middle two images were shot in London and on the left included The Chapman brothers 'Art in the City " project, again involving a stake out waiting patiently for a second man to walk into the frame. The final two images were taken in Verona, typically a busy street scene with workmen going about their job surrounded by passers by. The second in Venice beach , such a colourful, vibrant, kaleidoscope of movement and beautiful people its almost impossible not to take a good picture.

What is the first thing you will do photographically when the emergency is over?

Although this project proved quite varied and challenging, I have set myself a bigger challenge in shooting the A- Z of street photography in England hoping to capture the essence and character of each city/town. This much larger project has been curtailed by the present situation but I an confident it will be completed next year and hopefully make it to print. Currently I am taking pictures on my daily one hour cycling exercise to nearby locations to document the varied farming activities taking place more farm than street.

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Ilya, your photographs are pretty much on the opposite spectrum of social distancing. Can you share with us what the series is about and if this is part of an ongoing project?

This pictures are indeed on the opposite spectrum of social distancing, yes. But you know, in the time when they were taken the social distancing was the last thing I could think about. I was interested here in pure visual pleasure, in something that catches my attention naturally, in some new kind of visual impression. Are they a part of ongoing project? Who knows. It's a game for me, and I like this game, and the instrument itself is important part of this game. All the pictures in this series were made using an iPhone, and I like the way  the instrument influences the visual qualities of a picture.  It's not only the square frame, but also colours and the way it makes a picture more flat than a camera with bigger sensor. All this in the whole makes a picture more abstract, and I like it. This pictures were made without any purpose, so I call them Shtuchki - it means "little unimportant pieces" in Russian, but with a touch of elegance.

How do you think the current pandemic will affect the way we relate to each other?

To be honest, I don't know. But I hope we will learn some collective lesson from it as the global community. This pandemic could be seen as a manifestation of the collective Shadow, or some dark side of our collective unconscious which suddenly reveal itself. What is happening now is very disturbing, it looks destructive, and it can be destructive, but it also looks as something which is called Nigredo in alchemy. But one needs to go through this phase from time to time for the reason of renewal. So maybe it's our collective Nigredo and we have to go through it and found ourselves purified and renewed. It works this way with an individual psyche, so it may work as well with Anima Mundi.

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Ciro, your striking photographs of Quartiere Sanita’ in Naples belong to the tradition of black and white social documentary. We purposely selected the ones that appear to be shot on the immediate doorstep of dwellings because they could someone relate to the current times where we have to limit our outings and because they eloquently tell about that in-between space negotiating between public and private. Could you please tell us more about the community you seem to have spent a good deal of time with?

In the middle of Naples there exists a world of its own: the Sanità district. Situated in the heart of the southern Italian metropolis, it is one of Europe’s most densely populated places. I have known about Sanità for a long time because of challenging socio-economical complexity such as unemployment, school drop-outs and more… I was attracted to the idea of understanding the dynamics of such a neighbourhood. Sanità district is located in the heart of the city, yet totally excluded from the city’s network because of historical processes and bad politics. Soon after I started going around the alleys and getting to know the inhabitants in 2015, it became clear to me that the place is full of amazing people and energy. There are many different and precious stories, full of dignity. The district welcomes a broad variety of ethnicities. This diversity represent an invaluable resource and it is surprising to find a strong sense of belonging to the neighbourhood community.  There is not only marginality, but also an extraordinary vitality. This is where the authentic nature of human beings is found in everyday life. This nature is expressed with intensity in their relationships, in those lived and those lost. This is why my project became a work about love and loneliness, basic human conditions that are also metaphors for the reality of this district.

Italy seems to have just passed the worst moment of this pandemic which caused tens of thousand of deaths, mostly in the northern regions. Do you think local communities will come out from this emergency empowered from a renewed sense of solidarity?

At this moment it is really difficult to be able to make any kind of forecast. What is certain is that this virus, in addition to the enormous pain for the victims, has triggered all the injustices that our socio-economic system has created, revealing its total failure. The economic system and consumerism have continuously created huge disparities and at the same time put an end to our social diversity. Certainly the local communities, specially the ones most affected by poverty and social challenges, at the moment are the ones that suffer the most because of the emergency. I believe and hope that these communities could be the best resource to be reborn after this period, because they can teach us the pleasure of essential things, the authenticity of relationships, the importance of diversity.They represent one of the last resistances to a total homologation.

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