From time to time we take a look at the people behind the pictures in the Londonist Flickrpool and ask them about their London and their photography. Today, extraordinary images of ordinary subjects from Gaz-zee-boh AKA Geoff Holland:
Latest Livery of the Old Kings Head Former pub, Holloway Rd, London N7. Friday 4 March 2011. Cafe Mozart - Closed! Swains Lane, London N6. Sunday 30 January 2011Public Housing & Transport Junction Rd, London N19. Sunday 10 October 2010.Urban Marsh Yellow Iris (Iris pseudacorus) & Lesser cats tail grass (I think). Hampstead Heath, Monday 25 May 09. London N6.Holloway Wheel (for a day) Holloway Road, London N7. Sunday 22 November 2009. Pharmacy - 'Household Name' Oxford Street, London W1. Thursday 25 February 2010Hanging in Holloway, Hollway Rd, London N7. Monday 17 January 2011. 18:30Former Filling Station Corner of Mercers Rd and Holloway Rd, London N19. Sunday 27 February 2011.Spring Harvist Harvist Estate. London N7. Taken during a lunchtime stroll. 13 April 2010For Childrens Sake - Stop! Some smoke. Heading Down Bayswater Rd. 10 Jan 09. Demonstration calling on Israel to stop the massacre in Gaza.EMC Tower, Great West Road, Brentford, London TW8 9AN. 11 May 2009.Classic Morris Minor Bradbury St, Dalston, London N16. 30 May 08.
I started taking photos when I was about eleven. I was inspired by my mum who captured our life in the 50’s with the family box camera. I learnt to process black and white at school where I was a member of the camera club. At home I would load my films in the developing tank under the eiderdown. When I was fifteen, I had a summer job working as the ‘photographer’ at the Rockley Sands Caravan Camp in Dorset. However, after this early promising start my output for the next several decades, while diverse in character was mainly processed by chemists. I have shoe boxes full of prints and negatives.
The arrival of digital and my discovery of Flickr gave a new impetus to my interest. Being able to take a lot of photos, review them immediately and process and edit them on my computer was transformative. Flickr enabled me to share my favourite images with other photographers and to get them seen. I have chosen the twelve photos featured here to try and reflect some of my interests which include, people, politics, nature, architecture and art.
I aim to produce interesting images of often ordinary subjects with strong and well balanced colour. Several narratives have emerged in my Flickr stream. A good example is the changing face of Holloway – in the three short years I’ve been posting to Flickr many local landmarks have changed. The Old King’s Head became The Gaff music venue and recently a Costa Cafe. Blockbuster on Seven Sisters Rd has become Pound Shop. A filling station has become a block of flats and so on.
My camera is a Nikon D40. All my photos on Flickr are altered in some way. Most are cropped, colour and contrast are enhanced, nasty marks and unsightly items are removed and sometimes colour is changed to black and white. I use Microsoft Photo Editor and to a limited extent Paint Shop Pro.
