VAG MONOGRAPH 2019

VISUAL ART MONOGRAPH 2019

Les Forrester ARPS

EDITOR: Ray Higginbottom ARPS (ray@rahigginbottom.freeserve.co.uk)

DESIGNER: Paul Mitchell FRPS (paul@pmd-design.co.uk)

Visual Art Group Monographs are produced by the Royal Photographic Society Visual Art Group and are provided as part of the annual subscription of the Group.

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VISUAL ART MONOGRAPH 2019 Les Forrester ARPS

Let’s begin with a little about me, plus what drew me into photography. Firstly I’ve tried to break this article down into a few bite size chunks so hopefully this will help you get to know a little about my photography and me. Being quite a private person I don’t tend to shout too much about my work so don’t expect revelations and world changing statements, I’m just a guy with a camera who likes photography.

Harrogate in North Yorkshire is where it all began as a young lad kicking a football about with his mates, having two piles of clothes as goal posts, oh and when we played at night it was the dimly lit streetlights that acted as floodlights. Nothing else in the world really mattered except pretending I scored the winning goal in the Cup Final at Wembley, well we can all dream. School was a necessity not something I excelled at, leaving at the age of 16 with no qualifications didn’t seem to matter back then. Fast forward 35 years and I’d created a very

Be Yourself, Yorkshire

successful working life so the lack of qualifications didn’t hold me back but all good things come to an end.

Walking away one day and to an easier working life is where I found photography. With more leisure time I pursued my interest in photography but this photography malarkey wasn’t going to be easy.

Having purchased a Canon 10D and a couple of lenses (how many times have we bought the wrong lens), I hadn’t a clue as to what to shoot or how to process an image but a bit of

Yorkshire grit and rolling one’s sleeves up to learn was called for. I didn’t kick a football about on those back streets late into the night when I was a lad with holes in my pants and shoes without learning the art of how to succeed and win.

Developing as a photographer and finding your vision or style.

People occasionally say to me “I knew it was one of yours as soon as I saw it” and things like “it’s got your style written all over it” and these sayings always amaze me because I don’t know what my style is. I just photograph and process images the way I see them so is that a style or is it my vision, do you find a style or does it find you. I’ve never understood that one, for me it is all about the vision.

Berlin Library 1

What I can say is I’ve developed as a photographer over the years, well hopefully. In the early days I shot lots of subjects and it’s only a few years ago that I understood what I really liked and what excited me. This was mainly architecture along with some scape work that has matured into Fine Art long exposure photography, this satisfies my creative side. At times the two subjects, architecture and Fine Art tend to combine with vision and creativity.

Having finally discovered what I liked to photograph, I am now more content with my photography. Architecture is not mainstream but that doesn’t worry me, I enjoy it and that’s all that matters. The Fine Art work is really just an escape for my creative side, I have no constraints or expectations in this field and you’d be surprised how many end up in the recycle bin. It’s fun, a hobby and shouldn’t be taken too seriously.

Did architecture and Fine Art photography choose me or did I choose it, what draws us to a particular subject?

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Where did the love of photographing architecture come from? Sorry I don’t know. I think I’ve always liked symmetry and modern architecture and today you can get that wherever you look in major cities. That can be in the UK or further afield, it’s just something I am attracted to.

The subject of Fine Art in scapes is easier to explain. I got bored with normal landscape and seascape photography, oh and getting up early to drive two hours or more for sunrise only to be disappointed. I wanted to be more creative. I’m not really a creative person but that creative side surprisingly became more evident later in life as I returned to education to complete a Bachelor of Arts degree in photography (leaving

U-Bahn Station, Munich

Financial District, Singapore

OPPOSITE: Four floors of blue, Hamburg

school with no qualifications meant it was judgment time). During this time and particularly the first two years I had a tutor that helped me see outside the box, to be adventurous with thoughts and ideas, and it was this period that helped me find my creative side. It opened new doors and added new experiences within both my black and white long exposure images and also in my architecture images and this is I believe where my vision came to the forefront, I’ll always be grateful to Dave for the vision he gave me.

Influences or, a modern term, influencers in my photography, people, books and anything else that may make me tick.

I’m not sure how to answer what influences my work. I look at other photographers’ work, not just those that produce architectural and minimal Fine Art long exposure work but also those with different subjects. Currently I’m very much into street photography, in particular those that create with light, shapes and colour. This also coincides with another favourite, cityscapes at dawn and dusk; the composition and colours they produce during processing are so appealing. If you browse these subjects on Instagram you’ll find lots of great examples of these two subjects and just because you don’t shoot these subjects doesn’t mean you can’t learn from them. I’m not saying I would copy their work but that’s where new ideas come from that I may later adapt within certain images of my own.

Curls and Swirls, Hamburg

Dominoes, Berlin

Looking Up, Berlin

Opposite: Courtside Views, Hong Kong

Books, I am not a great reader or collector of books so more of my books are photography based, and from time to time if someone’s work catches my eye I will make a purchase. The books I purchase are not always related to what I shoot, it’s a little diverse with subjects like street photography, food, travel and equine that my collection is made up by. I have a few landscape photography books but strangely no architecture books, again I use these for ideas and inspiration.

Ideas, projects and future aims with my photography. Is standing still and being content with your past work ever an option? No there’s always the next image or project to create, hopefully better than the last one and so the circle continues. In my architectural work there are always new cities to visit, new buildings completed. A few months in advance of stepping on to a plane to another country the research begins, as this is key to maximising opportunities for the next project.

Ideas and future aims. I’d possibly like the idea of an exhibition so some thought may go into that but it’s expensive and you really need some sponsorship, so that idea will stay on the back burner a while longer. At present I am continuing with my talks and presentations to various camera clubs and societies.

Another idea and aspiration is to undertake some workshops. I’ve had a lot of expressions of interest but the problem is time, fitting them in to an already busy schedule. Hopefully these will come to fruition towards the end of 2020 but like the travel, it needs lots of research and planning for them to be successful.

Future aims with my architecture photography is to widen the scope, add different elements into it, the same can probably be said about the Fine Art side of my photography but I’ll keep the actual ideas under wraps for now.

Quickly going back to projects before I wrap all this up, I have one big idea I’d love to do as a project. I know it would take the best part of a year to do and it would give scope for a very different exhibition and I’d probably consider it for an exhibition and a FRPS application but I’m not going to say what it is about, you’ll just have to wait and see.

Lastly I hope you enjoy the images and thank you.

I like to travel therefore European cities influence my architecture work and researching is a huge part of what influences me to visit a particular city.

Classic Venice No. 1

Classic Venice No. 2

Staircases, Paul-Löbe-Haus, Berlin

The Docks, Hamburg

PREVIOUS SPREAD: Tranquility, Lisbon

Sci-Fi Metro, Lisbon

Shell-Haus, Berlin

The Library, Stuttgart

The Olympic Stadium U-Bahn, Berlin

Wash Day, Hong Kong

Three at the Back, Yorkshire

Two of a Kind, Ireland

Three Trees, Lisbon

Office Life, Hamburg

Roker Lighthouse

Sprinkenhof, Hamburg - Looking up

OPPOSITE: Interior Xiqu Centre, Hong Kong

The Old Naval College, London

Bottom Left to Top Right, The Wirral

Radioactive Nine, Redcar

Les Forrester is an architectural, fine art and monochrome photographer whose journey into photography started late in life as did gaining a First Class BA Hons Degree in Photography. Les holds other various photographic awards including an ARPS and was recently invited to become a member of the prestigious London Salon of Photography. His photography has won many competitions and awards around the world.

Born in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, Les now lives in the glorious Yorkshire Dales. This is a rich source of inspiration for his photography as he walks the various trails in the surrounding countryside with his wife Lorraine and, of course, taking refreshments at local hostelries along the way.

Looking to the future, Les is already planning a variety of photography trips to UK and European destinations to capture new architecture and fine art images.

www.lesforrester.com

https://rps.org/groups/visual-art/