SPNC - Street Photography Now Community / Discuss

Peter Kool    says:

This is an interview of one of the Street Photography Now Community photographers.
Each fortnight the last person to be interviewed chooses the next interviewee.
This is the second one and I have chosen for Lesley A Ercolano.

Introduction by the interviewer:

Lesley’s photographs have a warm brightness in different meanings of the word. They are cheery, sometimes mysterious and always made with great feeling for composition.
Making a fascinating photo with a little rain, an umbrella and some long hairs, demonstrates a fine sense of perception for beauty in the streets.
What more can one ask from a photographer, except for the following interview of course.

1. Tell us where you are based. What are your favourite locations for shooting? Are there any specific cultural or geographical advantages or difficulties to your area and how do you respond to them?

Hello fellow SPNC members! First of all a big thank you to lovely Peter for choosing me as
the second interviewee. I am very flattered and honoured.

So a little introduction. My name is Lesley I am 29 years old, Scottish/Italian based in Edinburgh. I can’t say that I have favourite locations here in Edinburgh. I live and work in the city centre so this is where I mainly take my photos but at weekends with more free time I tend to venture further out of town and weather permitting Portobello beach is one of the places I like to go to hunt for some nice shadows. People here in Edinburgh are often very reserved/private and I respect that. Perhaps this is not a difficulty but it certainly influences what I decide to shoot. The advantages of living in such a fantastic city like Edinburgh are the mix of old and new. History, mystery and a little madness come together to create some magic which is what I love the most. If I have to mention a disadvantage it would have to be the weather!!! Not enough light, too much rain
.
2 . What got you started with street photography? Who are the photographers that influence and inspire you? What motivates you to keep going?

After graduating I started working as an imaging technician at the Scottish National Archives. This entails sitting on my bum all day long Monday to Friday taking pictures of various records. So you can quite imagine this can get at times very monotonous and boring. Taking pictures of the inanimate and being stuck in a dark room all day long made me take to the streets. I felt I was missing out on the everyday life, so I was eager to capture the living and what they got up to whenever possible. Then I discovered Flickr and the SPN Project, I was truly hooked.

Lee Friedlander, William Eggleston, Robert Frank, Stephen Shore, Paul Russell, Bruno Quinquet, Siegfried Hansen and Matt Stuart to mention a few. I look at any type of photography and inspiration can be found in everything.

What keeps me going? First of all the sheer fun I get out of it but most all the excitement of getting a good photograph.



3 . What do you look for when making a good street photograph? What are you hoping to reveal through your pictures?

Certainly some magic and humour. I am a bit of dreamer and I love to have a good laugh. I think this comes across in my photographs. I like to play with what is around me, with my camera and my subjects create something that will take your imagination on a journey. Out of the ordinary in the ordinary is what will bring me to press.
I love shots of backs, for some reason I am very much attracted to the visual delight of not seeing someone’s face but still have the ability to communicate strong human emotion.

I do not hope to reveal anything specific, but certainly I love to bring a smile.



4. Would you say you have a specific and consistent style of street photography? What are your thoughts on personal style - does it matter? Or contrarily do you prefer not to limit yourself to a specific style?

I certainly do not have a consistent style when actually shooting but with some good editing away from Flickr I am sure I can put together a consistent body of work (if that makes any sense).

It depends, style does matter if you are putting a body of work together for something specific... but as I said this will come down to good editing. For example, for me Flickr is just a way to have some fun so I really do not care about style when uploading my pictures there.
When I am out shooting style does not cross my mind at all (at least...I do not think it does!!!). I do not want to be limited. There are so many factors that influence a photograph, especially when out on the streets. My mood also changes whatever I photograph varies depending on how I feel and I would like my pictures to follow my feelings and enjoy myself with no restrictions.

On that note, I must say though that it is a pleasure to view a body of work that has a consistent style and I do believe this to be very important.



5. What SP projects or aims are you working on? Are there any types of SP you find more challenging and are perhaps looking to improve?

Nop, no SP projects going on. As far as the second question goes, I do not want SP to be a chore so what is challenging to the point of being uncomfortable is not what I am interested in so I do not go venturing. SP is a pleasure and I am very much happy with what I achieve.

6. Share the advice you think is key to taking good street photos. If you were providing an instruction to the group which reflects your own work and would benefit others what would it be?

Oh Gosh, this is difficult. As far as advice goes, best to not listen to what I have to say. Follow your guts, enjoy what you do and never give up

“Smile and the world will smile back at you”



7. Tell us about your preferred method(s) of shooting on the street. Do you wander aimlessly, do you sit patiently on location, do you hunt characters? How long are you prepared to camp a location or follow an individual to get the shot? Do you hip shoot, telephoto, or get in people's faces? How much time do you spend taking photos on the street?

I wander, I sit patiently, I rarely follow. I do not hip shoot nor use telephoto.

I am a bit of freak when it comes to composition, it ought to be spot on!! I am unable to take one shot and walk away, although I have done it with good results I do not gain much pleasure nor enjoyment in doing so. If given the chance (this depends on the situation presented) I will work on a shot as much as I possibly can. This until I am happy with the composition or someone notices me or the magic of the moment vanishes.
I usually know immediately when a picture has something to offer or not. I know when to stay put and work on it or just walk away.




8. Go on then, I know you're dying to, tell us about your photographic equipment. But not just a list please, tell us why your equipment helps you. What cameras do you use; digital vs. film; SLR vs rangefinder - pick your favourite gear subject.

Its digital for me. I use a 5D mark II. I wish I had something smaller, I often wonder what I could achieve with a smaller camera and how would this influence my street photography. I do love the 5D and although it is often a challenge carrying it around I am very familiar with it and feel comfortable using it . This is what counts.

I also use a Yashica 44- 120 but I keep it for special occasions of good weather and never get round to processing the very expensive film afterwards, so isn’t that just a bloody waste of time (?)

9. Do you do any other forms of photography besides street? Are there any lessons to be learnt from this?

Some studio, portraiture/fashion stuff but it is work in progress there is not enough hours in the day to do the things I want to do. Lessons to be learnt? Yeah, some brands of makeup are no good under some types light. Haha.

10. What's your way of preventing and/or dealing with confrontation. Tell us about an incident that happened to you?

I have not had much trouble. I got called everything at the end of a football match once for taking pictures of some of the fans, but hey that is another story and I will not get into it now.
On the streets I have had it easy, no confrontation nor incidents of any sort.

11. Besides SPNC, what other resources do you use in the pursuit of street photography? Do you have any other favourite Flickr groups, or blogs that you read, or other ways you display your photos?

I certainly love In-Public www.in-public.com/

The blogs I love the most are of Charalampos Kydonakis dirtyharrry.blogspot.com/p/about.html (it has to be one of the best around) and Blake Andrews one blakeandrews.blogspot.com/

Street Reverb Magazine streetreverbmagazine.com/ is excellent.

Flickr wise HCSP www.flickr.com/groups/onthestreet/ and Fotografi di Strada www.flickr.com/groups/fds/ are my favourite groups. My local library is the best source of them all.
Nothing will beat a trip to the library...books, books, books!

I do not have a website, I am such a lazy bugger when it comes to self promoting my work. I keep on putting it off: tomorrow I say, next weekend I say and years go by! I envy those people that are organised who have websites, blogs and are able to enter every competition under the sun. I wish I’d get myself in gear to do the same. But hey who cares right? I enjoy myself and that is all it matters.

12. And finally, show us one of your favourite shots and tell us a bit about how you got it.

There are few but this would have to be one of my most recent favourites.



It was one of those wet nights, it was pouring. It was Halloween, lots and lots of strange characters around. A big group of people formed to watch some performers this is when I came across this young man. He had the longest dreadlocks I had ever seen, big drops of water formed on his black umbrella his brown hair stood out in front of his black jacket. I took a few shots of him, people kept passing in front of the camera and the rain was merciless. I could not see very well through the viewfinder my camera was so wet that everything was steaming up and water from my soaked hair kept dripping into my eyes.
What I love the most about this shot is the fact it was taken on Halloween, the streets were filled with people in costumes and although my dreadlock man was one of the few not in costume I was still able to transform him in my own magical creature, floating magically in the wet darkness.

Thank you for this opportunity and I wish you all to have a wonderful time during the holidays. A Merry Christmas (if you do Christmas) and all the best for 2012


Besides the previous photo's in the interview, here are some more of my favourites from Lesley's stream:














Posted at 3:04PM, 24 December 2011 PDT (permalink)