In Plain Sight: The Art of Seeing in Everyday Moments

In Plain Sight: The Art of Seeing in Everyday Moments

‘the whole point of creativity is to express feelings and emotions and I think the best creative expression comes from deep inside, almost like a sixth sense. ‘

– Why candids? It takes a certain sort of patience to perfect them, so why?

Candids, particularly street photography, are my preferred style mostly because they capture the everyday. People often get stuck in their day to day and forget to appreciate the beauty that comes from what’s around them. When I’m out with my camera it makes that more obvious for me and hopefully the shots remind others that they just need to look and they can see it too.

I also like the kind of anonymity that comes with being behind the camera, it’s quite easy to go unnoticed and allows me to capture life in motion.

– Do you see the dream shot in every scene or do you just happen to be looking in the right place at the right time?

That’s a tough one to answer. Probably a mix of both, I think there are times where I see the shot and need to wait for a long time for someone to come through the frame, and even then sometimes the shot isn’t right, so there can be a lot of standing around.

Other times I just happen to see the shot as it is, mostly with stationary subjects. This can still be tricky but more due to composition, finding something which can really make the subject stand out and not overshadow them completely.

So a bit of both for sure, bring in the right place is mostly just getting out there with my camera though, getting used to looking for the shots all around you.

– Where does music and motor-sport fit into your photography aesthetic?

Both music and motorsport have been instrumental in me learning to find my feet with photography, they are both slightly more controlled environments, you know where the subject is going to be, there’s more about timing. So I can practice things like composition and originally even just settings and lighting. I think in both of these environments can also challenge me to find interest rather than just putting out the same photos again and again.

These things are also a big part of my life, living just an hour away from Glasgow, Scotland. I’m local to lots of excellent live music and amazing venues so I get to gigs as much as possible and taking my camera has been so much fun. As for motorsports, that’s something I’ve gotten into much more recently and I’ve been going with my family to a few places. I’ve been fortunate to have some incredible opportunities to attend various races over the past few years.

In relation to an aesthetic that’s not really something I’m to focused on at the moment, like I said I don’t have any rules for my photos and that includes fitting into an aesthetic.

– What do you look for when searching for your next candid shot?

There’s a whole range of things to look for when searching for candid shots. Composition is a big one for me at the moment, I’ve been trying to work on seeing different compositions as I’m looking for shots.

Also colour, looking for frames and then waiting for a pop of colour appear, this could be anything, a jacket, hat, hair, etc but it adds a bit of something to the frame.

Another thing I’ve been looking at a lot recently is people’s everyday life. Looking at how I can highlight the aspects of people’s day that they overlook, for example commuting, or just going for a walk, into something interesting to look at.

– How do you think photos are important in the life of a regular person?

I think particularly in such a social media dominated world people are exposed to ideals all the time. Using photos to show the world around us has beauty but isn’t perfect is important. I think photos can also inspire creativity in other forms, paintings, stories, even just inspiring a feeling of hope and optimism in someone.

For individuals even without wanting to share their photos they can still be extremely important. They are moments frozen in time, memories of people and places that are important.

– If art is how we decorate space and music is how we decorate time, where does photography fit into it all?

I think they are really interesting ways of describing art and music although I’m not sure I would separate them like that. I think music can be art and vice versa. If I’m going to stick with this way of looking at it though I would say photography is how we decorate the past, our memories can play tricks on us sometimes and photos allow us to see things as they were.

– Who has been inspiring you lately?

I’ve always been inspired by Paola Franqui (@monaris on Instagram). Her work is incredible, captures not just moments but feelings too! Her work continues to inspire me to challenge myself and expand my knowledge, definitely worth checking out.

– Last but not least, if your creativity could only come from either your heart or your brain, where would you choose and why?

I think I would go for the heart; the whole point of creativity is to express feelings and emotions and I think the best creative expression comes from deep inside, almost like a sixth sense. Of course the brain aspect is important too for the development of skills and techniques; there’s lots of learning to be done, but for raw creativity I would have to go with the heart.

ManicWorld Magazine

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