205dpi Issue Aug’14
Bethany White Illustrator www.facebook.com/BethanyWhiteIllustration
This issue Aug’14
Who are we? We are photographers. Journalistic ones. We document, record and capture anything we find interesting, beautiful or captivating. Sometimes our stories may seem strange or unusual, but we are the eye behind it all; and that’s what this magazine is all about. From cakes to paralympics, graffiti to kickboxing, our editorial documentary style takes us around Cornwall, the UK and the rest of the world. Follow us and our collective of photographers as we capture our adventures, our remarkable stories and our everyday lives.
What’ve we been doing? Recruiting new work! The team has been scouting through photography blogs and websites to find some of the freshest talent on the market. Are you a photographer who wants to show their images to the world? Get in touch! - team@205dpi.com
p.s. keep updated: 4.
6 Feature Story
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1. Oliver
2. Walter
An insight into the working process’ of London Street Photography star Nicholas Goodden.
Documented the fascinating routine of Scottish professional boxer Frankie Monkhouse.
Expresses what it is he loves to capture on the culture-filled beaches of Italy.
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with Nicholas
3. Peter
O’Sullivan
Describes the fascinating story of renowned Cambodian architect Vann Molyvann.
Hillyer-Riley
4. Tristan Potter
Reports from ‘Pegasus’, as it sails from Falmouth to London, for one of the biggest boating events.
Valentini
38 5. Xuesong Liao
Explains his very personal styled street photography, and discusses the meaning behind the images.
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Real talk with Nicholas Goodden
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Feature - Real Talk with Nicholas Goodden
“I just try to show the beauty and quirks of Londoners when lost in their thoughts, unaware of me.” This month we have a real unique talent in the Street Photography world. Nicholas Goodden is a London based photographer whose work ranges from interiors to street portraits. Nico is also founder of ‘Street Photography London’ - an established collective of workers in his area. In this interview, Nicholas explains his organic narrative and approach to all aspects of his work.
Hey Nico! What is it about photographing the streets that initially attracts you? And what makes you keep going back? Not sure to be honest. I am mainly an urban photographer. So I photograph every single thing that makes London what it is. After shooting urban landscapes, graffiti and other bits for years, photographing its people became a natural progression.
Feature - Real Talk with Nicholas Goodden
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The majority of your work is based around London. Would/have you explored street photography anywhere else? I like to stick to London. Of course I won’t stop myself shooting elsewhere if I have the opportunity, but that’s for me and won’t be shared. London is my niche; I don’t want to confuse people. Are there any particular views or locations in London that you always know will hold a goldmine of photo opportunities? Absolutely. I recently moved near Camden, which is convenient, as I know I’ll always find gems. East London is good too. Oxford Street although the people aren’t as exciting, there’s so many of them that you can actually turn invisible. You have a clear difference between your commercial and non-commercial work. What do you find to be the best way to promote both sections of work, given their differences? Twitter works for both equally as well. For the commercial side I find also that word of mouth and networking really bring a lot of interest in my work. I just try to be a nice guy, easy to work with, who’s flexible in every possible way, even when it comes to client budget. I’d rather work cheap for someone great, whose idea I relate to, instead of being paid by some rude arsehole to shoot some boring event. On the non-commercial side, it’s great because I can remain independent. I do what I want and that way my work is never compromised. If I sell prints it’s great, if I don’t well... Having a website is key and one
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Feature - Real Talk with Nicholas Goodden
Feature - Real Talk with Nicholas Goodden
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that people find using Google. Have you ever had problems or conflict from photographing the public? Not really. Well once a woman had a go at me thinking I was a peadophile shooting kids when I was just doing my usual street work. Because of course nowadays any man with a camera is automatically a paedo. You’ll see from my photos actually that I never shoot and never publish photos of kids. I don’t find them very interesting anyway... People need to realise that if street
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photographers didn’t do what they do, we’d have no photographic record. We all love to look at photos of life say...a century ago. Well I hope in a century people will look at my photos and be glad I documented London in my time. Can you tell us a little about ‘Street Photography London’? It’s a collective I set-up of like-minded, talented street photographers, all London based. I look at it as a way to promote everyone’s work, promote street photography as a whole and I blog lots about the subject, including regular interviews with top street
Feature - Real Talk with Nicholas Goodden
photographers but also less famous ones. Not being famous doesn’t mean your work isn’t good, it just means somehow people aren’t aware of it. You have a clear personal twist on street photography. What do you recommend to people who wish to develop their own recognisable street style? I’m not sure about that. I guess my “The Great Londoners” series does have a consistency. I have shot the entire series making sure none of the people pause or are aware of me photographing them. Plus I shoot in manual focus at extremely shallow depth of field (f0.95).
Not easy to get a sharp shot of moving targets with such razor thin depth of field. I just try to show the beauty and quirks of Londoners when lost in their thoughts, unaware of me. The show starts in November for the opening of the new Hoxton Hotel in Holborn and is sponsored by Olympus. Thanks Nico. Words: Lois Golding
Feature - Real Talk with Nicholas Goodden
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Monkhouse Oliver Hillyer-Riley followed Scottish professional boxer Frankie Monkhouse, and documented his training process.
The documentary series ‘Monkhouse’ looks into the life of Frankie Monkhouse; a professional boxer originally from Greenock Scotland, who currently fights out of Landsbury ABC in East London. The photographic series runs alongside a short film I based on Frankie. Having grown up with sport being such a big role in my life I like to incorporate this into my photography. I was introduced to Frankie through a friend and was told he had come a long way in the sport considering a difficult background. I wanted to capture not only his story and determination leading up to his 5th professional fight but the grit and passion that surrounds boxing. Most of my documentaries are sports based, looking into different subcultures - from banger racing to bodybuilding. I like to be educated from those I photograph and spending months working on a story I try to establish a friendship with the subject. This allows me access into their lives, photographing those personal moments that you can’t get otherwise.
16. Oliver Hillyer-Riley
BEACH Walter Valentini explains his love for photographing on the beaches of Italy.
For a lot of people, summer means going to the beach. When you’re at the beach, everything is lighter – both inside and outside of people and in their surroundings. As a photographer, light is the most important asset. When I photograph people on the beach, I like to do it from behind; as the person looks out to sea and gets lost in their thoughts. People are in their natural environments, almost in an organic state here, with no worries or problems. It’s important to be careful when photographing this, as breaking the fragile beauty of the situation takes only a second. But if a person’s natural light and beauty is captured in this moment correctly, there’s nothing else like it.
22. Walter Valentini
“Actually, I’m not all that interested in the subject of photography. Once the picture is in the box, I’m not all that interested in what happens next. Hunters, after all, aren’t cooks.”
- Henri Cartier-Bresson
Concrete Jungle
Pol Pot studied electronics and radio technology in Paris, France between 1949 and 1953. Inspired by communist teachings of the day he went on to destroy Cambodia on a grand scale in the 70’s as head of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime. He specialised in breaking things. At the same time during Pol Pot’s reign (1947-1956), a man named Vann Molyvann studied Architecture at the School of Fine Arts in Paris on a Le Corbusier course. He specialised in making things.
Whilst Pol Pot was building mechanisms for destruction, Vann Molyvan was building wonderful structures influenced by Le Corbusier and modernism with a pure Khmer twist. After establishing a name for himself, he was taken in by King Sihanouk and appointed State Architect in 1956. From then until the Lon Nol coup in 1970 he built many of Cambodia’s finest buildings. Molyvann used his knowledge of traditional Khmer village life mixed with modernism to form his unique vision – later to be known as New
30. Peter O’Sullivan
Khmer Architecture. The minimisation of direct sunlight, the use of ventilation to maximise air flow and the classic Cambodian expertise in flood protection were all Molyvann signatures, just as they are integrated features of any traditional Cambodian hut. One such building is the Institute of Foreign Language in Phnom Penh. The building takes influence from Khmer village life such as using the classic farmers palm leaf hat as inspiration for the Biblioteque or the insect like structures that are the lecture rooms. Then there are
the ‘naga’ like details on the roof of block D - reminiscent of the motifs abundant on Angkor Wat and almost all Khmer temples.
a huge muscular concrete structure that when inside is rather delicately ventilated, leaving a wonderfully open and cool feel when seated indoors.
Now in his 80’s Mollyvan resides in Phnom Penh and is in poor health but he has left an enduring legacy for both Cambodians and the world.
Finished in the early 70’s, the building was not used during the Khmer Rouge era but has since been in active practice.
In Pol Pots Khmer Rouge era the stadium was used as a muster point for citizens of Phnom Penh who were forced into the countryside to be slaughtered in their droves. It was also used as an execution place for the Lon Nol government members.
Pot Pot is dead but unfortunately his legacy is just as enduring.
Undoubtedly, Vann’s largest structure is the National Sports Complex or Olympic Stadium built in 1963. Again utilising all of Van Molyvan’s tricks it has many water features, some of which actually pierce the building to end up inside - reminiscent of the canals used in the countryside. It’s
More recently, some of the Molyvann classics have been destroyed as Phnom Penh starts to develop, although with no direction.
Peter O’Sullivan
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Onboard Pegasus Tristan Potter sails on The Island Trust’s Tall Ship ‘Pegasus’ and documents the experience.
36. Tristan Potter
Falmouth to Royal Greenwich Tall Ships Regatta 2014 was something on my list of things to photograph this year as they were coming to my local harbor. The event called over 100,000 people to the small town of Falmouth, with Tall Ships being one of the biggest events in the boater’s calendar. For me, it initially seemed like a fairly textbook event – grab a 600mm lens and get as close to Pendennis Point as possible. However, two days before, I discovered I would be sailing the race aboard the Island Trusts Vessel, Pegasus. Pegasus was launched in 2008 and is the youngest vessel in the Island Trusts fleet. Pegasus was based on the designs of the famous Bristol Channel Pilot Cutters. She is both elegant and fast and comes with all the modern comforts you could expect. I was tasked with documenting the journey from Falmouth to the Isle of White where the race ended - and then to be carried onto London with them, capturing the journey as we went. Now admittedly its been a long time since I had been on a boat and sea sickness was a bit of a worry for me but packing my pills
and gear I felt fairly confident in my ability to do this. Needless to say less than a day into the race and I felt awful resulting in the inevitable hanging of head over the side, but it eventually passed so I could focus on the job at hand. The crew reassured me as some of them were also sick – even though they’re regulars on the boat! Onboard there are 12 of us all together including the captain. Most of the crew are under 25 and are here with the help and support of the Island Trust. The experience onboard has been incredible so far and we have only just reached the Thames - I am currently writing this while the crew rest after their overnight sail to here. Later this afternoon we will be heading into central London to take part in the Royal Greenwich Regatta, which will complete our journey and my time here aboard Pegasus. This has literally been one of the best experiences of my life, I have seen things I may never get a chance to see again and I’ve been able to share that time with this amazing group of people. www.theislandtrust.org.uk
Tristan Potter
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Street People Xuesong Liao displays his impecable eye for street photography, and explains how he captures the street spirit.
40. Xuesong Liao
People on the street are my favourite subject. I always bring my camera with me when I go out, just out of habit. You never know what’s going to happen, who you will meet. That keeps me excited every time I am out. One project I’ve been doing for quite a while now is finding the really stand out person, the one that you can spot from miles away. – wether it’s because they have interesting looks, expressions or they dress unique. I come from fine art background and used to draw lots of portraits. I have this habit to observe people’s faces because I think they’re all fascinating. So I think taking a portrait comes naturally to me, although I still think portraits are the most difficult subject to capture correctly. When I am on the street, I feel my eyes are just like a surveillance camera, looking around everywhere. Not just looking in front of me, but also constantly turning back. I feel I am like sniper walking on the street, except I am not carrying gun but camera instead. Normally my style is candid, I prefer people to look natural, the way they look when they are most themselves, then catching that ‘moment’. Sometime I do ask people for a close up portrait shot too, most people don’t mind at all. The world would be boring without individuals, and I love to capture each and everyone. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from, the only thing that matters is that moment being captured. People in the frame will tell the stories, show the essence of their being and these photos will invite its audience to recognize the identity of the subject and who they are.
“Photography is an instantaneous operation, both sensory and intellectual – an expression of the world in visual terms, and also a perpetual quest and interrogation. It is at one and the same time the recognition of a fact in a fraction of a second and the rigorous arrangement of the forms visually perceived which give to that fact expression and significance.” - Henri Cartier-Bresson
“The world would be boring without individuals, and I love to capture each and everyone�
This issue’s stars 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Oliver Hillyer-Riley
‘Monkhouse’ 07697 00019 info@oliverhillyerriley.co.uk www.oliverhillyerriley.co.uk
Walter Valentini
‘Beach’ (+39) 333 9293425 www.flickr.com/waltervalentini
Peter O’Sullivan ‘Concrete Jungle’ 01841 540450 peter@naga.co.uk www.naga.co.uk
Tristan Potter
‘Onboard Pegasus’ hello@tristanpotter.com www.tristanpotter.com
Xuesong Liao ‘Street People’
07530 334998 lxs74@yahoo.com
www.flickr.com/snowpine
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With thanks to.. Lois Golding
Editor-in-chief www.loisgolding.carbonmade.com
Production team Tom Sandberg
Manager www.tomsandbergphotography.wordpress.com
Sophie Sear, Ella Nicholas-French,
Harvey Williams-Fairley & Nathan Still Assistants
Matt Cox
Logo designer & sign writing god Instagram - mattcox904
Nicholas Goodden
Special feature interview & photographer www.nicholasgooddenphotography.co.uk
Heather Golding Toby Ellis
Proofing, support & assistance.
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Bethany White Illustrator www.facebook.com/BethanyWhiteIllustration
To contact for requests, questions or more information: team@205dpi.com All images and text published in 205dpi are the sole propertry of the featured authors and the subject copyright. 2014 Š 205dpi