Street photography

B340 – Happy Friday

March 10, 2018March 10, 2018 joshfspearLeave a comment

Yesterday after work it was all abit go go, I had to get from the studio back to my flat and pack ready for a weekend in Norfolk. I did manage to sit on my sofa if a bit while I’ll took my shoes off but was then back up and out the door heading for Liverpool Street station.
But now we have made it here and really enjoying our Saturday sat surrounded by baby twins and a girlfriend who can’t leave them alone.

My idea of the photos today was to just have some fun with my iPhone and camera on the way up to Norfolk, however the photos you see below are only from my iPhone as I want to show you my other camera photos later on this week. And I know I’ve said it before but I love the iPhone camera, it is so handy for just capturing moments on the fly. And yes the Samsung camera is amazing but for me the iPhone just does the job perfectly, I suppose in a way it’s like comparing a canon to a Nikon camera.

In other news, I think the plan for today is just to relax and chill out before heading out later to Cromer and going to my favourite pub, the Welly. I’m even taking a day off from using my Laptop normally I would set up in a corner of the room somewhere and edit / write these posts on my laptop but today I’m just doing this from my phone and not thinking about life too much. My plan each day is always to write at least 300 words and I’m not even sure if this is 300 words but to be honest I’m not even going to check. I think it’s best if you just enjoy my photos and briefly read this.

Anyway, hope everyone is having a good weekend. And enjoy these photos.

– arriving in Norwich last night, happy Friday –

– the train on the way up, you know it’s been a busy week when your enjoying a 2 hour train journey –

– I wonder where he got his ballon from? –

B318 – TAKING PHOTOS WITHOUT WALKING ANYWHERE?

February 16, 2018February 15, 2018 joshfspearLeave a comment

After the shoot today my plan involved rushing back to east london to try and catch a demo of the New fujifilm camera, it looks pretty sick and I think I may be in love but on my arrival to Wex Photo in Whitechapel I was met with the news that I was 30 minutes late and as a result missed the demo and the camera. Coming away from the shop feeling like a had completely failed on my post shoot mission I decided that instead of heading straight home, that I should now try and finish on a high and take some cool photos.\

The only problem with that was for the fact that since 5am I had been on my feet and running around carrying peli cases and tripods, so I needed a plan which involved taking cool photos and not really moving a whole lot. Thats when my idea came to me, theres so many cool artists around brick lane, that spend hours and hundreds of pounds painting the walls and adding some colour to this city, its almost becoming an accepted part of modern day society. if you have a nice clean wall, then someone going to put some art on it free of charge. there comes my mini plan for today. Why don’t I find a really cool wall and just photograph people walking past it and see if they even acknowledge it?

Apart from the guy that swore at me and polity told me todo one, it was pretty successful I think. after coming home and looking at the photos, I really like the choice of wall but I’m not sure what I think about the people being out of focus. I would love to say that was a choice but it really wasn’t, I wanted them to be in focus. so maybe I need to re-think my strategy a bit. I think the idea is there, I just need to now concentrate on the delivery now, I will be back and Im now thinking of this idea a lot more. Im not going to say anymore because I dont want someone to steel my idea, but if you do give it a try please send me some of your photos so i can see if you do it better than me.

Heres my favourite photos from today.

B318-1 — – this is what the wall looked like when no one was standing in front of it –

B318-1-2 — – probably my favourite photo from today, hes in my picture and maybe I made it into his –

B318-1-4 — – they look like they’ve seen something happening up ahead –

B284 – NOTTING HILL

January 13, 2018 joshfspearLeave a comment

I’ve had these photos for a while and been wanting to post them but just waiting for a time where they might be useful and today is a good a day as any to post them I think. It was about ten days before Christmas and I had decided that I was going to go and photograph Notting Hill once everyone had left and it was just about to shut down. To be honest I’m not a fan of these types of places when they are busy, it just seems like carnage. Places like Notting Hill are so much better late at night or really early in the morning.

They are even better when its like this before Christmas because all the lights are still up and turned on, so you get these really cool spots of different lights and that adds a colour to the road, which makes photos 10 x better. Looking back on this, I really wish that I had woken up at like 4am one day and gone over and take photos just as Notting hill was waking up. Maybe Next year.

Moving forward to today, right now I’m sat on a train heading over to my parent’s house of my dads 60^th birthday. I’m looking forward to seeing the family and eating as much food as I possible can. Obviously I’ve brought my camera with me so get ready for those corny family photos that Ill probably upload tomorrow. Its always good getting back to the countryside from London, get that fresh air in me lungs.

My plan for next week is to find a really cool part of London that might not be that well known and take some photos, maybe a market place or something, so if you know of anywhere that might be what im looking for let me know. I’m thinking along the lines of like a traditional market, with a fish mongers and a toy stand, that kind of place.

Here’s my photos from last month! I hope you like them.

B284-1 — – I think that guy should buy a jacket –

B284-1-3 — – I take it they get asked that question a lot –

B284-1-2 — – thats the kind of like i’m talking about –

B210 – THE FINISH LINE IS IN SIGHT!

October 31, 2017October 31, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

Today I feel slightly better. I still haven’t really eaten which is becoming a bit of an issue. but im not going to carry on moaning, I’m just going to get on with it, ill eat something for dinner tonight and then ill be back to my normal ways. I’m just going to stop eating American junk food; my problem is I love chips (fries) and those little treats. From now on only organic and fresh stuff.

One thing that I want to talk about is the light this time of year; it’s probably the best time of year for light. Clear sky’s and a low sun and you get these cool shadows during golden hour in the afternoon for in Boston golden two hours. I’ve literally just grabbed the 85mm lens and took a walk around a car park, seeing what shots I could get. The sun was in the perfect place, that and the fact the leaves have started to die fall off the trees, which makes for some really photogenic views.

I like about the 85mm prime, it’s a 1.2 f-stop, which means that its really good in low light and also captures loads of colours. A great lens for portrait photography but I would love to see what its like for street photography, my favourite kind of photography. I know when shooting street photography people like to use like a 20mm or just a wider lens than an 85mm, but I would love to see what its like shooting tighter around the streets. Maybe when I get back to London Ill give it ago. My problem is I have a long list of camera gear I need, but I just can’t make my mind up what I need to buy next. Im saving up for my next big purchase but I cant stick to something and just aim for that, I suppose I just need to save some more money and then walk into a camera shop and just pick something there and then, that’s probably the best thing I can do.

Here are my photos from today, we are currently in the middle of the storm when it comes to shooting and finding those few minutes to grab some photos is getting harder and harder so sorry if the next few days aren’t that great. If anyone knows how I can get just one extra hour of sunlight each day please let me know and I promise I will use the whole 60 minutes! I NEED MORE TIME!

B210 (1 of 1)-2 — – this was just me in a car park –

B210 (1 of 1)-3 — – taking some snaps and playing with one of my new favourite lenses –

B210 (1 of 1) — – that house down there was in full halloween mood –

B169 – UNKNOWN COOL AMERICA – THE JUNK YARD TRIP – PT.3

September 19, 2017September 19, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

about a mile down the road from the hotel we are staying in, is this cool scrap / mechanics / junk yard that has a few hidden gems. From the freeway that runs parallel to the yard, you can see this 1970’s all white cadillac and as today was a prep day, basically getting ready for our up and coming shoots. I thought I would get in a bit of time to explore this yard.

On the way over I thought I would try something a bit different and shoot these in Black and White not edit them later in lightroom and turn them black and white. but completely shoot black and white. my thought process was that because theres a complete mixture of items from eras and parts from around the world that have all ended up in the same place, the only way I would be able to get across the feeling abandoness *not sure if thats a word, but ill go with it*. was by shooting Black and white.

Its 99% worked, these photos have a feel of loneless and despair, everything you see in this junk yard once had a home, it was once used for a purpose and now its left out in the elements to rust away until its up-cycled and found a new home. Hopefully. places like this yard are full of stories, like the van below which to me looks like it has a bullet hole in the windscreen and the front completely caved in. what the hell happened to that truck? as someone who likes the over the top story line, I like to think it was involved in some kind of gangsta stuff involving two bonnie and Clyde characters who instead of robbing a bank accidentally ended up in my library because bonnie was drunk that day and didn’t scoop the place out first. which meant the police got involved and took a pop at Cylde the get away driver. so now their choice of get away van is sat rusting away in the junk yard in Chicago instead of Mexico.

I can almost guarantee thats no where near what actually happened, but thats the kind of crap my brain likes to conjure up when Im taking these photos.

heres my photos from todays mini shoot. thanks to Frank and Al for letting me explore their Junk Yard!

B169 (1 of 1) — – the caddy is something I want back home –

B169 (1 of 1)-8 — – black and white just adds to the photos –

B169 (1 of 1)-11 — – this tool was probably once pretty useful to someone –

B165 – The Cool Side of Unknown America – photography project

September 15, 2017September 15, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

So today was has been my best day so far, I had 146 views. so thank you to everyone who checked my post out. which is putting me on target of getting 12,000 overall views for the whole year I’m doing this photo challange, which is probably annoying a lot of you with my posts each’ day. its the end of a long long shoot day in pretty hot temperatures here is St.louis missouri, and for once im pretty happy to be in the best western hotel room. anit nothing wrong with some cheap bed sheets and thin walls.

its days like this were I really cant think of any to write and the urge to fall asleep is taking over. the last 45 mintues has been spent editing photos ive quickly taken through out the day, i really cant complain becuase im pretty happy with them. my plan before I came out to america was to just take nice photos each day. but that plan has kind of changed, as im here working and meeting people that you wouldn’t meet everyday, I think my plan now is to show life in america away from the tourist routes, like New York, LA, Nashville and Florida. I want to try and get across what everyday america looks like, from the cool little houses, to the massive stretches of roads. All of that is important, it gives an under the cover look at america. for a country with so much personality and with the constant cool factor, it think I should concentrate on showing the cool side to unknown america. maybe thats what I will call this project within a porject. “THE COOL SIDE OF UNKNOWN AMERICA”. great brainstorming session guys, youve really helped me to nail this one. for the rest of my time in american, Im going to try and show you the cool side to this great and crazy country.

If this fails in 5 days time, im sorry. but heres my first snaps from this project inside a project. I think for day one of cool unknown america, I should show where people live and the roads they use. this is never going to be political photos, just cool pictures from inside the bigger picture of america. I dont even know what im going to write about for the daily posts, but im sure we will figure it out. if you have anything you think I should include, please let me know.

165 (1 of 1) — – the view from my room, this morning there was “loads of fog” they should see biggin hill in January! –

B165 (1 of 1) — – over here the car is king and more importantly the pick up truck is in charge, everyone uses the pick up truck –

165 (1 of 1)-2 — – the most american house I ever did see, it ever had a swinging chair on the porch –

B143 – BACK TO THE STREETS

August 23, 2017August 22, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

Today I just wanted to go out and take photos of people, I havent done that for a long time and it was something I was determined todo. After finishing work at like 6ish, I headed to sainsburys grabbed a red bull and hit the street just to take some photos and chill out, it was one of those days where you are hoping for something good to happen, like the time I saw a man sun bathing on Shoreditch highstreet.

it was just one of those days where you have to wait and wait and wait for that photo opportunity, lucky enough a guy walks past holding and an umbrella and I think I managed to pull the shot off, you might also be able to see the guy furthest on the right giving him some weird look.

Street photography is something I really want to get better at, I really enjoy walking around and just taking photos of people, who are posing or doing anything. they’ve just switched off and going from A to B. Alot of it comes down to right place, right time, so I think Ive just got to carry on taking as many photos as possible and one day I might take that amazing photo! not sure about my writing skills though, i think thats a lost cause.

Anyway heres my snaps enjoy.

B143-1 — – not sure what he needs the umbrella for, but be probably had a good reason –

B143-1-2 — – she is in full toga part mood –

B138 – Would you?

August 18, 2017August 18, 2017 joshfspear1 Comment

A Few days I talked about colour street photography and how I though it was pretty hard, and that I wanted to give it a try. well last night I finished work and the sun was literally in the right place, so I headed out to brick lane and just walked around and took a few snaps before it got to dark.

I love brick lane you can walk down it and see so many weird things, but when you actually stop and look around you see 10 x the amount of weird things. Like a guy sitting down to eat food in a restaurant with face paint on but thats want adds to the atmosphere and make the place so perfect to photograph.

I think with street photography its about being in the right place at the right time, and with brick lane its literally always the right place and the right time. theres always some thing going on there thats photogenic, you’ve just got to find it.

On a different note, a few people have told me that I should get prints made of some of my best photos, would anyone else be interested in buying some? what do you all think? is any one out there interested?

B138-1-4 — – this guy knows how to eat dinner –

B138-1 — – my attempt at street photography in colour –

B138-1-5 — – she was walking around like she owned the street, she got style – I think people say the correct term is Vogueing –

B098 – Dusty Springfield’s £16.5m House!

July 9, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

Im writing this while listen to the legend that is Dusty Springfeild. I was over in Holland park the other day, when I came across one of those blue signs that said Dusty Springfeild, she live in London, I might sound stupid but I ever knew that, I also thought it would of been LA.

Her house is actually really cool but in an understated way, if you drove past it, theres nothing special and compared to all the other houses in that area, like the mansions that Guy Ritchie and the Beckenhams own, its not really that big but still has a pretty nice price tag of £16.5 million for the 7,200 square meter house, with a 35ft swimming pool and a gym.

When you actually stop and look its got a funky 60’s vibe, from the number on the door to the door its self and the windows all of it has that art deco feel. I suppose Ive got to up my photo game a lot before ill be able to afford this place!

Heres some other pictures aswell include a child falling off a scooter and…

B098-1-10 — – the home of dusty springfeild –

B098-1-8 — – some tourists asked me for directions, just as the boy fell over so I missed the actual stack, i was literally on a tripod and everything it would have been perfect –

B098-1-9 — – who ever has a pink door and drives a purple porsche you are a legend and these people think so too –

B095 – Street Photography for the next 5 days

July 6, 2017July 6, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

for the next 5 days Im going to concentrate on taking photos of people around London, its something that I’ve wanted todo for a long time and something I want to get better at. Street photography is big in London and probably to most popular type of photography around here, so I think its time I give it a proper try. At the moment, Im a big fan of black and white street photos I think they just add something else to the photo, so for now I’m probably going to concentrate on that, but well see where it ends up.

Heres some photos I took yesterday on my lunch break and after work having pizza in the park. have a look at ’em and tell me what you think.

B095-1-2 — – business on top, fitness on the bottom (running in a shirt) –

B095-1-3 — – just going to meet my mates –