A series celebrating the talent of our friends over in the Londonist Flickr pool. Here, they introduce themselves and share their favourite London shots.
My real name is David Smith; I use D1v1d because it is short and unlike my surname, unique. I'm an American ex of the Big Apple and have lived in Hackney for nine years. Like many Americans, I travelled in the 80s and 90s mainly by automobile, often driving 25 miles to work in midtown Manhattan and home each day. When I moved to the UK, car travel was not something I wanted to import; now my primary transport choices are bicycle, bus and tube in Central London and trains throughout the UK. That opens a perspective that you just can't get sitting behind a steering wheel.
My attitude and approach to photography has also changed. My first serious camera was an auto everything film SLR - I tended to pay too much attention to capturing details rather than composition. Moving to London gave me the chance to see great photographic works first hand and to take advantage of the many resources including Photofusion. I've learnt the importance of visualisation which has carried over to my professional work as a management consultant as well as in my amateur photography. I use a variety of kit, from a manual everything TLR and a classic Nikon F series to a DSLR and smartphone cameras.
Some of my work is reactive to things around me a la Cartier-Bresson; other work is more contemplative and I have some time to plan the composition or to frame elements - a bit more the Walker Evans method. Sometimes I try to capture something which cannot be photographed - a mood or spiritual context; pointing to a signifier is the closest thing - for instance, the sun rays in Hope
Check out Dave's Flickrstream for more
