An evening with Bruce ...
Going in close... I wasn't really going to be hit...honestly.
....Gilden. A few weeks ago I was lucky to see a talk by the Magnum celebrated street photographer Bruce Gilden. Not only was the event inspirational, it was held in the lovely new Library of Birmingham, through their photographic enterprise GRAIN and cost the unbelievable amount of £3! His work focuses on the people he finds ‘interesting’; many are on the margins of ’normal’ society, and his work is often considered shocking for the in your face confrontational style. Ironically, for a man who has traded blows on the tough streets of New York, taken candid images of real Russian and Japanese gangsters and witnessed voodoo rituals in Haiti, the people that scared him most were the ones he met on the West Bromwich high street!
Did he or did he not play football for West Bromwich Albion in the late 70s? The Secret Footballer by Me and I Photography
What struck me most about his talk was not his desire of the dangerous or the exploitation of the certain members of society, but to talk to people and listen to their stories. In doing so, his images are challenging, thought provoking and at times, down right hilarious.
Walking past a city centre building site presented me with a marvellous portrait opportunity.
Permission was granted before this shot was taken.
There are a growing number of online photographic and sociologic projects such a people of new york and the people of soho , capturing real people and their stories. Now, I can only dream that my efforts one day get close to Mr. Gilden’s work, but I’ll continue to talk to people and hopefully take a good image or two...
The lit advertising board was a great impromptu lighting set up.
In the food Market by the Festival Hall, South Bank, I looked like any other tourist with a camera.
For some reason it's aways easy to get a portrait by the National Portrait Gallery...
His eyes seemed to look straight in to my non religious soul.
Till next time...
Matt Peers