The London Street Photography Symposium (August 20-21, 2016)

Brick Lane Market, 1966, Tony Ray Jones © National Media Museum, Bradford / SSPL
Brick Lane Market, 1966, © Tony Ray Jones

If you want to learn from the top thinkers and influencers in the field of street photography, don’t miss out on The London Street Photography Symposium (August 20-21, 2016). Tickets are now available to purchase >>.

Read more to learn more, and see my interview with organizer Jason Reed:

Description

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The inaugural London Street Photography Symposium: A gathering of photographers and a sharing of experience.

This event promises to bring together photographers for a weekend of talks, reviews and most importantly, to share their experience and discuss their diverse views.

Speakers

Photo by Matt Stuart
© Matt Stuart

Speakers include Nick Turpin, Matt Stuart, Stephen Leslie, Johan Jehlbo and others from the Full Frontal collective. There will also be a presentation by representatives of The Hoxton Mini Press on publishing in today’s photographic climate.

Also taking place on the Sunday will be a panel- led discussion. The panel will include Nick Turpin, Charlie Kirk, Dougie Wallace, Jason Reed and Johan Jehlbo.

Schedule

Photo (c) by Johnan Jehlbo
© Johnan Jehlbo

Guests are also encouraged to bring examples of portfolios and/or projects. The wealth of experience present cries out for mutual critique of existing and ongoing projects:

Saturday

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The Saturday ‘meet up and get to know you better’ venue is the Hat and Tun pub in Hatton Wall EC1 – a traditional pub not 20 minutes walk from Covent Garden and central London.

We have the exclusive use of the Tun for the whole day so plenty of time to eat drink and be merry.

Sunday

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Sunday’s more cerebral theme will be at the Proud Archivist in De Beauvoir Town N1. A superb venue for talks and some refreshments on the Regents Canal.

  • 10am: Welcome and outline of the day’s events
  • 10.15 – 11.15: Critique and reviews of portfolios.
  • 11.15 – 12.00: Nick Turpin – “Street photography now and in the future.”
  • 12.00 – 12.15: Break + refreshments
  • 12.15 – 12.45: Stephen Leslie (title TBA)
  • 12.45-13.30: lunch
  • 13.30 -14.30: Panel discussion
  • 14.30-15.15: Anne Waldevogel ( Hoxton Mini press)
  • 15.15 – 16.00: Full Frontal “Candid flash photography”
  • 16.00 – 16.45: Matt Stuart (title TBA)
  • 17.00: End

Tickets

  • Tickets are £50 and are available here >>.
    • Enter the code 1972 to enable access to the payment section.
    • This entitles the holder to access to the events only.
  • For further details please contact Jason Reed at jasonlrreed@sky.com

Interview with Jason Reed

Photo by Jason Reed
© Jason Reed

Eric: Hey Jason, the weekend street photography symposium sounds fantastic. Can you tell us more about what inspired you to start it?

Jason: Firstly, thanks for including the event in your blog. The idea came to me during a discussion with Roland Ramanan about a similar event elsewhere which was a two week long residential photography course. It cost (to my mind) a fortune. I thought that a weekend event could be done at a relatively low cost and still include quality content;  so  I started looking at venues that weekend, and it went from there.

I was also  conscious of the fact that similar events (albeit larger ones)  are happening globally such as the Miami Street Photography Festival and the San Francisco Festival (to name but two).  I wanted to begin something that may become a regular event on my side of the pond.

What do you want the attendees of the symposium to get out of it?

Photo by Jason Reed
© Jason Reed

First and foremost I hope that this will be a couple of days of shared ideas and healthy, lively and intelligent discussion about photography. Almost as important for me is the principle that people are getting together as a community.

Many of us will be contacts  on social media but have never actually met in person. It’s limited in numbers so I anticipate a much ‘cosier’ feel than a larger event.

How have you seen street photography evolve over the years?

Photo by Jason Reed
© Jason Reed

I’m not absolutely convinced that the photographic side of street photography has evolved. I may be wrong but I believe that, apart from the actual content itself, there is very little left that can be considered ‘new’  in terms of unexplored techniques and styles.

Every now and then a style or technique falls into vogue – but I think these are all variations on existing styles and the better  photographers around are able to add their own signature to subgenres within the art.  Aside from those who are blending SP with fine art, I think that we all carry on the traditions established by the pioneers.

Of course technology is the primary source of evolution in the making of, transmission and viewing of photography today and this has been the case for many years – certainly since before I began. The increasingly advanced tech allows for almost perfect images due to lightning auto focus and staggering high ISO etc.  We can now also go online and view millions of examples of street photographs whenever we choose. It’s instant -and instantly available.

I’m not wholly convinced that’s always a good thing and that will hopefully be a topic that we will deal with during the talks and panel discussions on the second day of the symposium.

What do you think is unique about the photographers who will be a part of the event?

Photo by Jason Reed
© Jason Reed

We are lucky enough to have a stellar line up for the Sunday ‘seminars’. Nick Turpin, Matt Stuart, Stephen Leslie  and a delegation from the Full Frontal flash collective will all be delivering talks. We will also be having a panel led discussion on a range of subjects and on that panel (so far) we have luminaries such as Dougie Wallace and Charlie Kirk.

You can see from the list  that the level  experience in the room will be enormous. And that cast may grow in the next few months. I should add that these guys are giving up their time for nothing. That’s pretty special.  Aside from the speakers and based on the pre ticket response so far,  the current attendees are coming from far and wide.

We have people flying in from Europe and even the US. Not sure if any of that makes them unique but it says a lot about their love of photography.

Why are these in-person events important? To play devil’s advocate– why not just learn via the internet?

Photo by Jason Reed
© Jason Reed

There’s a limit  to what anyone can learn by looking at a screen. Even with some element of ‘discussion’, the constraints of the internet simply cannot rival the spontaneity and honesty  of face to face discussion and interaction. For example, I hope that we can build some sort of informal portfolio review time into the weekend.

I guarantee that many of the images that would have been faved or liked on social media would actually attract some form of constructive criticism in an honest, non sycophantic,  live discussion. My big issue with photographic social media is that many people (especially newcomers) think that pink stars and likes mean that an image is good. It isn’t.

I fully expect most of the shots I submit to any review we have to be panned. And that’s how it should be. If you get one great shot per year, you’re lucky.

Why do you love street photography?

Photo by Jason Reed
© Jason Reed

Difficult question for me right now. I’m in a long slump and haven’t have much love for shooting for quite a while. I do still love photography however and am constantly amazed at the skill of capturing a miraculous candid moment and the beauty of the quotidian in  everyday life. That’s what good street photography is.

Don’t miss out!

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© Tony Ray Jones

Purchase tickets for the London Street Photography Symposium 2016 >>