On Sunday 20th March 2022 I joined Brian Lloyd Duckett for a street photography workshop inspired by the work of Saul Leiter. I had picked up before the New Year a book of Saul Leiter’s images called ‘Forever Saul Leiter’.
Once at Waterloo I caught the Underground to Piccadilly Circus and had plenty of time before the workshop started to do some photography.
After early arrival
Across Shaftesbury Avenue I spotted some street art high up on the building opposite.
Start of the workshop
We all met in the cafe of the Central Cinema. I have walked past many times but the coffee was good and at this time on a Sunday it was empty! Brian’s brief as always was comprehensive and the days was planned out to practice techniques employed by Leiter. This included showing us images that reflected each of the techniques.
Included with our schedule was a simple summary of the technical aspects of the day. These were a long lens (85 to 150mm), use a wide aperture, a slow shutter speed, use vertical framing; perhaps look for out-of-focus element, negative space and sub-framing.
Even better as we started each of the eight sections Brian gave us a sheet with the trigger and examples of Leiter’s work.
- Reflections (windows, cars, reflective surfaces)
- Focus (long lens – sense of detachment)
- Nostalgic elegance (people, cars, signs, objects)
- Isolation (people, objects)
- Lunch
- Shoot through layers (moisture, weather, opaque, dirty foregrounds) 14 Colours (complimentary/similar)
- Shoot through gaps (frames, openings, doorways)
- Abstract (colour, form, texture)
I used my 24-105mm F4 lens set to 85mm for most of the images shot during the day.
Morning workshop
I did go off topic too.
The Burlington Arcade provided some interesting opportunities after Bond Street.
Take a moment 2022
In Piccadilly Circus I had seen a shop converted into a space with displays of images celebrities taking a moment. In the Burlington Arcade several closed shops had had their windows covered with similar take a moment images. These images were from the artist Ray Burmiston. Visitors to London were encouraged to take a selfie af themselves relaxing and taking a moment.
This too good an opportunity to miss.
The arcade was busy as we walked through to Piccadilly.
At the entrance to Royal Academy we played with taking images in the light.
Yoko Ono Street Art
In St James’s on Duke Street there is a mural of Yoko Ono.
The mural celebrates the then art gallery called Indica where John first met Yoko in 1966.
This is my final image of the morning of the Saul Leiter inspired workshop that made it to this blog.
This is the book where I first started to explore the images of Saul Leiter