My current project is a study of the person asleep; I have collated a series of images through a series of trips around the city centres in the UK. The majority of the images were taken during an exceptional warm summer, not just that but the images were shot on separate occasions.
I shoot street photography around the UK and through careful editing and assimilation I noticed a pattern emerging from my work, and I was intrigued by what I had actually recorded that I then decided to focus my attention on just that subject.
What became apparent was certainly the temperature was a key factor in all circumstances, not just that but the time of the day these photographs were actually taken.
I was quite astounded at what I had actually found, I found that these people seemed so far removed, displaced from their natural surroundings that they became comatose in appearance. For all intents and purposes they were asleep, but why?
Why were these people asleep openly in public, was it the heat? Was it alcohol induced or a combination of both? I have witnessed people travelling fall asleep especially on a long journey, it seems quite acceptable to see this as a journey on a plane, ship or even a train can induce a relaxed state of mind as to the point of restlessness and so the body begins to shut down essential motor behaviour’s and further induce sleep.
So I understand how this can happen but openly outdoors and in the full glare of the sun, surely this factor would prevent you from falling asleep in such a hot heat outdoors.
The people in the photographs amazed me as they were totally immersed in their sleep, for myself as a photographer I decided to explore more, and apparent states can be recognised for what they are.
The subject of photography is always a topic of conversation where ever I go; I meet people from all walks of life, though it does make me more attentive when I do meet like-minded people who are into art whatever form it takes, people in everyday situations influence my own state of mind and so I begin to document these ‘events’ and capture some essence of the human spirit.
Photography has opened up an amazing world for me, and for like-minded individuals it can be very exciting and is a unique way of meeting people, I enjoy meeting people from other cultures and finding out what makes these people tick.
Those people have influenced my work over the past two years or so, and I have moved away somewhat from just shooting landscape photography, though I do like to shoot this from time to time.
It is actually people who I now prefer to capture on digital or analogue format, shooting film is a fantastic way of capturing the world, the cities and its streets. There is so much to capture, so from reading this blog hopefully you will gain some inspiration and go out and capture people going about their business in an extraordinary way.
