Black+White Photography Magazine September 2010 Back Issue

I was talking to a photographer the other day who said that he travelled to locations outside of the UK, not because he loved travel but because he felt the need to see with ‘new eyes’. I kept thinking about this – how familiarity dilutes the everyday so we stop really seeing what’s around us. I remember going to the south of France and being astounded when we arrived back at Dover, and drove through the Kent countryside, how lush and green it all was. In the same way, I find taking a photograph of a person you know an interesting experience. While you are aware of how the light falls on their features, you also start to see how their life has shaped them – something you perhaps don’t see in your everyday interaction with them. It’s not always an easy experience. I recently photographed someone close to me who, on the surface, has a good life – but what the pictures revealed was the suffering she had experienced in the past. However hard I tried, it was impossible to ignore. So I went with it. But I find the pictures difficult to look at. Of course, not all portraiture is so intense! Capturing the look and feel of a person is often enough – but still you need a freshness in your approach, a willingness to encounter your subject and open up possibilities. There’s lots about that in this issue – I hope you enjoy it!