on London time: London Street Photography Festival

I'm not sure how I heard about the London Street Photography Festival (most likely TimeOut) or how I got Gavin to come along (SHOCK!! ...most likely my promise of a delicious Sardinian lunch) but I'm super glad the day came together. The weather was dreadful (need I even say that over and over??) however, the art was fantastic. I'm fascinated with street photography, especially those taken guerrilla-style of people just going about their everyday lives. It's amazing to see how street photographers create these perfect compositions, although I'm sure for every two shots that make the gallery, there are 1,000 that didn't. But, there were other photos we saw that seemed a bit more posed than just walking down the street, snapping shots, so I'm not totally naive to think every shot is taken surreptitiously.

Anyway, we started our afternoon of art appreciation at the German Gymnasium in King's Cross (most of the participating galleries were in the King's Cross/Camden neighborhood) to see a the first ever showing of this photographer's work. She took thousands of photos in London in the 1940's-50's whilst she was a nanny. She continued taking photography throughout the rest of her life, but no one had ever seen her collection until after her death in Chicago in the 1990's (I think.) Her shots were A-mazing and lovely. I think I enjoyed her show the best.

From there, we walked through St. Pancras station and quickly looked a series of photos commenting on the strained immigration relations between France and England taken at border agencies... again, so interesting. Then on to the British Library to view photography of 1940's London street markets. That show I didn't enjoy as much because it was too confusing to find. And when I did figure out where the installation was - the cafe - there was no way I was going to stand around where people were eating to get a closer view. Ridiculous.

After that debacle, we headed north to a studio which was showing a series of photos taken in East London near and on the sites of where all the Olympic stadiums are going up. The construction has greatly impacted the environment and people who live in the area, mainly in a negative way according to the photographers. Still, a very interesting perspective to see.

The last gallery was located in Camden and contained two different artist's work concerning public transportation. Both were guerilla-style shots taken of either people on the bus or people waiting at bus shelters. Catching people unawares whilst waiting, walking, snogging, talking on the phone and sleeping is fun... like playing "I Spy!" After all that art appreciation, we were hungry for Sardinian cuisine so we walked along Regent's Canal to a ridiculously rich, but oh so scrumptious pasta lunch.