Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

To see the full gallery “R U Talkin to Me? (vol 2) please click here

As the saying goes: “if you can’t say anything positive, don’t say anything at all”. Fortunately I can photograph things around me and get them to do the talking for me. The statements  I have encountered on my travels strewn across this city somehow sum up my thoughts and feelings on this shit storm we are being propelled into. They hopefully convey a fraction of the ridiculousness, pointlessness and general horribleness of it all because right now I feel both too powerless to speak and am also consciously aware I don’t wish to add to the gargantuan mountain of vitriolic opinions already present on the internet.

But are these messages I see out of the corner of my eye talking for me or to me? Is the Universe trying to tell me something or am I seeing what I want to see? We are relentlessly bombarded with messages from media and advertising in every waking moment of our lives but what about the word on the street? What about the writing on the walls, the jackets, the advisory signs..are they signs or just signs?

We see things and we feel they are meant for us. We know these randomly discovered statements can’t actually be specifically for us but sometimes they connect with what is going on in our sub-conscious and their significance to ourselves is hard to ignore . Although we have to take into account we are often a little too eager to assign greater meaning to things that maybe is warranted because ultimately it gives purpose and  relevance to our existence. It makes us believe that we are not insignificant. That our lives actually matter in the great scheme of things. A delusion possibly but almost definitely  a necessary one.

We live in an era where we seem, more than ever, to be defined by our opinions and interact with people through the agreement or opposition to those publicly shared statements.  You used to be judged on how you look, what you wore, but not it is your words on the web that will give you your identity although slogan clothing, which is featured in a few of the photographs does seems to be a current fashion these days. I guess there was  a need to provide some sort of real life accompaniment to our digital declarations because what we believe in can be posted to social media for everyone to see but what do you do when you are in reality? How can people tell how you feel or what you stand for? Solution? Become a walking billboard for your own opinions. It’s essentially the real life equivalent of the Facebook inspirational poster, fortunately without the inclusion of a background of a sunset, clouds, rainbows or fucking unicorns. (I don’t mean unicorns having sex btw – that’s on a different site I believe).

I always wanted  a t-shirt that said “Yoga can’t stop death” so maybe I should just go ahead and scrawl it on the back of me jacket if that’s the current vogue. Ironically it would probably result in me being battered to death by a mob of angry yoga women in jeggings all pumped up on kale juice. Probably wouldn’t have been my first choice for my demise but there you go…

If you would like to see my previous series of “R U Talkin to me” please click here

 

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

 

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

 

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

Q: What is the difference between someone you know and a stranger?

A: A stranger makes no attempt to hide what they are feeling.

Some snatched street portraits this week. All the subjects featured seem to be weighed down with their own thoughts. Or rather they are just not concealing their weariness or unhappiness as they do not feel anyone is looking. If we become aware we are being observed we will do our best to conceal what we are thinking. The irony is that our guard is up more in private with those we know than  in public with those who we don’t. Surrounded by an endless sea of strangers, we make no effort to put our ‘face’ on. These photographs for me represent the face behind the face. The one people don’t want you to see. But if we are all doing the same thing, why hide it?

We live in an era where so many photographs presented in the digital domain feature fake smiles. An endless stream of selfies featuring nothing but artificial moments fabricated for the camera. You cannot trust a presentation of happiness that has been constructed for consumption. So is misery ultimately more truthful than happiness? People rarely fake being miserable, not in photographs at any rate, so maybe you can trust misery more as the default position of the human condition. The truth is both are moods and states of mind that we experience on a regular basis, the real difference is that we try to hide one but project the other.

 

 

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london