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 name is DOYLE and I live,work and play in South East London. That's not Croydon, Cheam or Morden, it is Camberwell, close enough to the River to hear Big Ben on a quiet evening. I work in rock and roll, looking after bands, travelling the world and sometimes taking photos. I used to be a freelance music photographer in the 80s, having my own darkroom which was a great passion, being able to play in there for hours, retouching and re-dodging prints. But I soon got bored (a habit of mine) of taking mugshots of musicians, so left the business altogether to run a vintage clothing shop with my wife in the now defunct Kensington Market.
One evening I went to see a friend's band play at the 100 Club in Oxford Street and the singer asked me if I would like to help out with band's gear as they were going to a gig in France in a transit van. That was 1992 and I am still on the road. I have all the opportunity to take photos of these bands at gigs and festivals but you know what? I leave that to all the budding rock photographers out there to massage the egos of the privileged!
London, to me, is being able to be free to wander the streets, meet new people, share their cultures, food, festivals and feel relatively safe doing it. Believe me, we have it good here! The City never bores me as she always throws up new images and is ever changing. But it has its drawbacks too. Just as you make friends with someone they decide London is not the place they want to live forever! That's a bummer but made up by the fact you meet so many different people. Being able to go on benders at night knowing there is a night bus home and a garage open for milk, bread and sundries is also a treat for those not living in the City too.
I love Ansel Adams, O Winston Link, Karsh,Bresson but, then again, I do love a good print!! As for gear, well in the past I have used everything from my own pinhole cameras to large format cameras but I think anything that records "The Decisive Moment" is fine. It's not always about quality is it? I have a Canon 350D which is fine for me at the moment as it's light, small,and fits in with travel although I would love to roam London with a lovely wooden large frame camera one day so, if anyone would like to help out with this....
Check out DOYLE's Flickrstream for more
