Today we feature David Lewis, one of our photographers. We spoke to David, who is based in North London, about his work:
What kicked off your interest in photography?
My parents gave me my first camera, when I was around eight years old. My father had both a still and a 9.5mm cine camera but I was closer to my mother, a successful botanical artist. Her inspiration and encouragement helped me develop an early interest in photography.
I still have my first album of small, monochrome images, each carefully attached to the page with corner mounts and with handwritten descriptions underneath each picture. One of the earliest images is of my mother on a family holiday at the seaside. I cannot recall the camera’s make but it was very basic and had a little metal viewfinder on top of the camera body above the lens. The unfortunate result in this case was that my mother, or rather the resulting image, was decapitated. It was a good picture from the neck downwards, so I kept it!
Photography was magic. I did not fully understand how it worked as a child but soon became fascinated by it. I understand more now but that sense of magic, the excitement, still remains.
What inspires your work?
I’ve covered a wide range of subject-matter over the years but the subjects that inspire me most now are the contemporary urban landscape, its people and their environment. I also like semi-abstract images, concentrating on shape, pattern and colour.
Like many ‘street’ photographers, my photography has been influenced by the work and philosophy of Cartier-Bresson, in particular by his concept of the ‘decisive moment’. But there are other influences too in photography and the other visual arts. My attraction to the Surrealist ‘shock aesthetic’, for example, helps to explain my choice of subject and approach to it when out on the backstreets, along with my liking for bold, bright colours.
What inspires me most, however, is not any particular approach or philosophy. It’s that photography, whilst a serious art form, is such fun. I love taking pictures, looking at pictures, talking about pictures. I think that sense of fun and humour is an important feature of my own style.
What do you hope to achieve in the future with your photography?
I’ve just been offered space for another solo exhibition, my sixth, this October at the North London café-gallery where I held last year’s solo. I’ll be working towards it over the coming months and already have a theme in mind. Seeing your work in its own public exhibition space gives a great sense of accomplishment.
I also hope to exhibit again at East London’s annual Photofair, perhaps selling some work as I did at last year’s Photofair. I’m in the lucky position of not having to make a living from my photography, so sales for me are a bonus rather than the main reason for taking photographs. However, it’s very satisfying when people, particularly strangers, like your work sufficiently to part with their hard-earned cash.
More generally, I’m trying now to take a more project-based approach to my photography and this is increasingly reflected in my website. It means looking for subjects that develop individual ideas or contribute to ongoing projects through a series of images, rather than just snap away at anything that catches my attention.
With the advent of digital photography in particular, almost everyone now has a good camera and takes good pictures. Producing images that show greater imagination and thought, as well as technical skill, has become much more of a challenge for the ‘serious’ photographer. For me it means trying to make interesting and appealing images from more unusual subjects, not just the obviously picturesque.
It also means getting out on my own. Photography is a great interest socially but nearly all of my best pictures have been taken when my only companion is the camera.
I’m a relatively recent convert to digital photography, finally going fully ‘digital’ around two years ago. I don’t regret it but technically it’s a steep learning-curve for someone who’s always felt much more comfortable with the art than the science of photography. So in the future I hope to climb further up the curve!
Finally, do you consider yourself a ‘contemporary’ photographer?
It’s not an easy one to answer with a straight ‘yes’ or no’. Broadly I’ve always felt out of kilter with fashion, never fully at ease with contemporary society.
In any art form, I think you need to be aware of current fashions but also to have the courage to ignore or challenge them if you want to develop your own style. I find some work that falls broadly under the contemporary banner as rather uninspiring and pretentious, showing limited imagination and technical skill.
But my overall approach to photography these days and my choice of subject-matter is probably as contemporary as it will ever be. It’s significant too that last year I gained my Associateship distinction (ARPS) with a portfolio of work that I submitted to the Royal Photographic Society’s Contemporary Panel. I doubt that portfolio, based on a project in East London’s Brick Lane area, would have succeeded in any of the RPS’s more traditional Associateship categories.
More of David’s work can be seen on his website at http://www.david-lewis.fotopic.net/
