Londonist Behind The Lens: Stryker66

Lindsey
By Lindsey Last edited 169 months ago
Londonist Behind The Lens: Stryker66
Brief encounter
Brief encounter
Life's necessities
Life's necessities
Once upon a time
Once upon a time
On the road
On the road
The last empress
The last empress
To a better place
To a better place
Trouble in store
Trouble in store
Brief encounter
Brief encounter
Life's necessities
Life's necessities
Once upon a time
Once upon a time
On the road
On the road
The last empress
The last empress
To a better place
To a better place
Trouble in store
Trouble in store

A series celebrating the talent of our friends over in the Londonist Flickr pool. Here, they introduce themselves and share their favourite London shots. Introducing: Stryker66 - Ian Brumpton

I've always been quite a creative person, I used to write for television and at the moment I am working on a play and a children's book, I also draw and paint for fun but my passion is street photography. London is one of the best places in the world to be a street photographer, an endless source of inspiration on my doorstep and though I've lived here 14 years I know I've still barely scratched the surface. I love London's cosmopolitan nature, the absolute mix of peoples and cultures that gives you an insight into so many other worlds.

Nearly all of my photographs are in black and white. I find it helps me tell a story within a frame better without distraction but it's a question of personal preference at the end of the day. The common themes that I hope people can see running through my work is a love of telling stories and a quest for great light and shade; film noir is a big influence for me. I have always been a keen people watcher and this drives my style of photography. The goal is to capture a sparkling moment from the world passing by us every day and immortalise it. Sometimes I get lucky and it happens.

Last year wasn't a great one for me. Like many Londoner's I found myself made redundant and my Mum died after a long illness. It did however give me proper time to reflect on what was important to me in life. Becoming a recognised street photographer is definitely one of those things and I'm hoping to have my first solo exhibition this year.

For anyone interested in street photography Flickr is a great place to be. There are so many really talented people out there from whom I've learned so much and many of them I now count as friends. My advice to any aspiring street photographers would be take pictures, lots of pictures, regularly until it becomes second nature, practice does make perfect, but be sure to only show other people the really good ones :-)

Explore more at Ian's Flickrstream.

Last Updated 13 February 2010