Londonist Behind The Lens: Buckaroo Kid

Lindsey
By Lindsey Last edited 193 months ago
Londonist Behind The Lens: Buckaroo Kid

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.

Tower_Bridge.jpg
Tower Bridge - Although I have done quite a lot of processing on this, I really wanted to get an un-cliched image of an icon that's been done to death. It was also a really weird light that day, which has informed how I treated this image.

My name is Kathy Archbold and I'm lucky enough to live in Waterloo, SE1, one of the most photographed areas of London. I'm Artist in Residence in a school one day a week, and also paint the faces on mannequins in a factory, which pays the rent, as I am a mostly an out of work illustrator.

mobile.jpg
Mobile - I took this on one of the few sunny days in the Autumn, came home with a bunch of shots all of which seemed to lack something. So this is actually two photographs that I layered together as an experiment and almost abandoned, until all the elements seemed to suddenly fit. I like the sense of scale, the tiny Big Ben and the woman talking oblivious on the phone.

I've only really been taking photographs for around 18 months, and have never really considered myself a photographer, Indeed I feel I have few actual photography skills, so I'm very honoured to be featured on Londonist. I'm extremely interested in image making by whatever means though, so for me photography is just another way of doing that. All my photos are edited in Photoshop, which I know has upset some purists, but I use it to get the picture I was thinking of when I aimed the camera. I don't have a lot of photographic equipment, and wouldn't really know how to use it if I did.

buskers.jpg
Buskers - I once lived in west London, and remain very fond of the area. This is taken in Portobello Rd, which was actually really crowded that day. I'm pleased with how this came out, because these guys not only sounded great, but reminded me of much missed Londoner, Joe Strummer. That's how I decided to try and treat this shot, as a reminder of those days when he had a weekly residency in the Elgin with the 101'ers.

I use a Panasonic Lumix 'point and shoot' camera, which I carry with me all the time, and has the advantage of being barely noticeable.

I love London. I love how you can walk out your door, and never really know what quite what you'll see. Having an account on Flickr has been a real inspiration - I am constantly amazed at the wonderful work and differing viewpoints, and its also a real motivation for me to learn and improve my own.

Check out Buckaroo Kid's Flickrstream, leave comments and let us know who you'd like to see featured here next.

If you're a Flickr fan don't forget to join our group and tag your quirky London photos "Londonist".

Last Updated 09 February 2008