June 21, 2008
Londonist Behind The Lens: Simon Rigglesworth
A series celebrating the talent of our friends over in the Londonist Flickr pool who make our site look pretty with their fabulous photographs. Here, they introduce themselves and share their favourite London shots.
I moved to Sutton, London’s forgotten borough four years ago to be closer to work. Sutton has a bit of a personality crisis in as much it has a Surrey address and yet Boris (and Ken prior to him) insist on taking our money for taxes. It wasn’t until after moving I got into photography – the centre of the city not being too far away meant that I could easily go up and grab some shots whenever I wanted. No other city I’ve been to offers so much to a photographer; the history, architecture, people and cultures that are amassed here means that you can grab your camera, walk down any street and you’ll be rewarded with any number of opportunities to get a good shot.
My real passion is for editorial-style photography. The paparazzi get a bad name but no one can disagree that they have a great job – getting paid to take photos. Having a day-job does make this difficult but I take every opportunity I can to go and photograph whatever newsworthy event may be happening in town – the protest at President Bush’s visit last Sunday being the most recent. I love being able to capture people at the height of their emotions, whether that be happiness, anger or misery.
News is regularly censored or what may be deemed an important story to one person may take priority over another which is important to someone else. The growing number of online news sites is combating this and it means that photographs taken by the public are increasingly relevant in order to ensure that all sides of every story get told.
I use a Nikon D3 and D300 but the quality and price of a lot of the tiny compacts means that everyone can afford to carry around a camera at all times – meaning that anyone nowadays can contribute to what is making news.
See more of Simon's work at his website and Flickrstream.
If you're a Flickrist don't forget to join our group and tag your quirky London photos "Londonist".
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