The author and photographer on discovering rising street photographers
Aficionados of street photography are likely to have come across the popular Street Photography London, a blog that reports on street photography topics and spotlights emerging and established street photographers and collectives from around the world. We often wonder who’s the voice of the web’s most popular photography blogs, so today, we’re talking to the author and photographer behind Street Photography London.
Meet Nicholas Goodden, also known as Nico. Born in the UK, raised in France and based out of London since 1999, Nicholas is a professional urban photographer, as well as a cinemagraph artist. His roster includes Adidas, Peugeot, Sony Entertainment among a long list of brands. Read our interview to learn how Nicholas discovers new photographers and what’s inspired his commitment to covering and shooting street photography all these years.
Nicholas will also be featuring EyeEm photographers on Street Photography London, so keep an eye on his blog for those, as well.
What’s your relationship with photography, and can you remember when it began?
I think as most children are, I was fascinated with taking photos as a kid. It was fun and had no other purpose than capturing life. The digital age really changed things and by making photography affordable and accessible it allowed me to take up a new hobby. Then in 2010 after a couple of years improving my technique, I launched my photography website.
Since then I have actively built my portfolio and at the same time have actively promoted it which has resulted in working on terribly exciting projects for huge brands such as Adidas, Amazon, Peugeot, Sony Entertainment, Match.com…
It’s tricky finding the right balance between the amount of photography you do and how much time is spent marketing it. You don’t want to end up spending more time on the Internet and writing emails as you would take photos. Photos should always remain the priority.
If you’re spending more time promoting your work than shooting… you’re doing it wrong.
By Nicholas Goodden
Tell us about your blog – how long has it been active and what’s your vision?
I run two photography blogs. My personal one where I share everything relating to my own work, including tips for photography business, social media tips, how to improve your photography, and more.
I decided to launch the Street Photography London blog and website to give back a little. I became interested in promoting street photography as a whole as well as talented international street photographers… The blog features articles on the subject of street photography and a large part of it consists of interviews I conduct with international street photographers and international street photography collectives.
The blog is not for profit, it is in its third year and has been very well received so far with mentions in the Huffington Post, The Phoblographer, Feature Shoot, Creative Review and quite a few more.
Who are three EyeEm street photographers who have caught your eye and what is it that attracts you to their work?
Dina Alfasi has some great street work which is very eye catching. I just think maybe a little more selection would increase the overall interest his work gets. There are some random shots which I think dilute the quality of his work.
Thomas Lim makes great use of colour with a particular love for yellow it seems. He also makes a great use of capturing shadows and more minimal scenes. It really speaks to my heart.
Pau Buscato has a collection on EyeEm that are excellent and very funny/light images. I definitely want to see more of that!
Premium
By Dina Alfasi
How do you find the photographers that you feature?
There are different ways.
First, since we have a good following of street photographers on Twitter and Instagram, many people’s work gets straight onto our feed, sometimes with mentions of our name @streetphotogldn. So we become aware of the most talented ones.
Word of mouth is also very useful. So each time we interview or feature a street photographer, we do tend to ask for recommendations. And then research of course, a lot of it. We don’t care really if someone has a celebrity status or tons of likes. We’ve featured famous and not famous street photographers. The only common denominator is talent.
What is it about street photography that makes you want to shoot? And made you want to run a blog, as well?
Street photography has allowed me to remain a wanderer. I have always loved walking around London without a real purpose other than to observe. If you love people watching then you’ll normally love street photography.
I used to shoot urban landscapes which I still love but the London Eye is the London Eye, Big Ben is Big Ben… Although it is possible, it’s very tricky to shoot any of these places differently.
Street photography is total randomness and we are powerless in the face of unpredictability. We can only be ready to shoot whatever happens and pray we don’t miss THE shot.
It’s a reassuring thought too that it’s impossible for anyone to replicate what we’ve just captured.
What do you prefer to shoot with on the street?
I shoot with Olympus cameras. I’m very lucky to be currently testing the Pen-F before it’s release to the general public. Olympus involves me in all their releases. But there is a deliberate choice from me to work with Olympus. I truly am loving their cameras. Sure… people will always say the camera doesn’t matter, etc… But I’d rather work with a camera which is small and makes sense than something bulky.
By Nicholas Goodden
By Nicholas Goodden
By Nicholas Goodden
By Nicholas Goodden
By Nicholas Goodden
Thanks, Nicholas! We can’t wait to see your pick of EyeEm street photographers for the upcoming interviews on Street Photography London.
