Damon Finlay on Finding Street Photography
“The exhilarating feeling of pressing the shutter to make an image I love is what thrills and excites me”
Damon chats with Jovis about his landscape photographic journey and what led him to Street Photography.
© Damon Finlay
Can you tell us a little about who you are and how you got started with photography?
I'm an amateur photographer from Edinburgh, Scotland.
My interest in photography was rekindled when I was told I was visiting a bucket list City for a landmark birthday. The city was Rome and I wanted to record the historic landscape, monuments, and the moments and memories of my trip.
This became the start of a great journey into a photographic hobby.
At first and up to 2019 the majority of my interest lay in landscape/seascape/natural world photography with some architecture thrown in.
Around the end of 2019 I made my first forays into Street photography as a diversion from my landscape photography and to broaden my skills by shooting something completely different and unknown to me.
As a result of the arrival of the pandemic and the restrictions to our travel and movement, I lost the ability and then the motivation to carry on with landscape photography and turned to Street photography as it was something I could still practice within all the movement limitations.
From then onwards I've been completely hooked on all the genres within Street photography and the surprises that are thrown up while out on the streets with a camera, whether its colour combinations across a scene or just the sheer randomness of human actions frozen by a click of the shutter. If you've had the fortune and eye to spot any of those myriad things it's as exhilarating as standing on a beach or hillside waiting for the sun to come up and light your scene.
What does landscape photography mean to you?
Landscape photography was a catalyst to explore more of my home country of Scotland, from the East coast on my doorstep to the Highlands, a couple of hours drive north, and also the North of England, Northumberland in particular. The combination of being outdoors, a bit of exercise (or a lot if it involved hiking up a hill), and the chance to witness nature at its best, or sometimes worst was a win-win situation. Throw in the creative side of photography and the chance to record what you witnessed in your own way and it could be a magical experience when it all came together.
Where is your favourite location to shoot (specific place or type of place)?
For Street photography, hands down it's London for the sheer variety of places with their own distinct character that lends themselves to different genres within Street.
For Landscape it would be the Isle of Skye, like London it has everything a photographer would want but in the landscape category, from mountainous viewpoints to coastal areas with real character, and if you're in the right place both of those categories combined.
How would you describe your photographic style?
Eclectic maybe! I don't know if I have one as such. I try to be open to as many different influences/styles as I can, some more successfully than others.
I suppose I believe in the adage that there is always a potential photo if you're willing to really look and not just be focused on conditions, (glorious sunrise/sunset, etc), specific viewpoints, or styles that are tied to all those things coming together at once. I've had just as enjoyable a day photographing say maybe rock details on a beach as I would have if the sunrise had come through and lit up the perfectly formed candy floss cloud sky.
© Damon Finlay
Can you take us through your creative journey and tell us what it is that you look for in an image?
The simple answer is whatever catches my eye, the difference between street and landscape for me is that with landscape photography you have control of pretty much everything other than the light and weather conditions whereas with some styles of Street, not all though, you are reacting to things happening around you in a very short space of time.
With landscape, once something has caught my eye I'll look for ways to introduce depth to the frame and work with that and try to incorporate things into or out of the frame if they don't help, this can also work with street if you've found a scene and are quite happy to fish there.
How have nature and photography played a part in shaping the person you are today?
I think both have improved my patience threshold, previously I may not have been able to just wait for something to happen, that would have been wasted time or a source of frustration, but now I see it as probably the best way to spend time, just watching the world unfold before you with no absolute certainty of what exactly will happen.
Embrace the chaos and just go with the flow!
Who and what inspires you to keep creating and exploring?
I guess the what is a sense of curiosity and wonder at what can be seen and achieved and amongst the who's are Mark Fearnley, Josh K Jackson, Liam Wong and the incomparable Saul Leiter. Landscape wise I would list Bruce Percy and Theo Bosboom.
© Damon Finlay
What is your best experience while taking photographs?
That moment when you've pressed the shutter and you just know you've caught exactly what you've wanted, also waiting at a spot for someone to come and fill the scene and they do! Alternatively, standing on a beach or hillside watching the sun coming up with perfect light over the scene before you is pretty good in its own right and it can also lead back to that moment when you've pressed the shutter I mentioned earlier.
What is your worst experience while taking photographs?
Getting hit by a wave on the Isle of Skye, covered head to foot in seawater, followed closely by the time I thought I was going to get chased and trampled by a herd of cows while walking to a remote loch in the Highlands. That forced me to take an alternative route back which then involved fording a river! All because my water bottle was bumping against my tripod and sounded like a cowbell!
Are there any photography-related projects you're working on that you'd like to tell us about?
I don't have any specific projects on the go at the moment but it's something I'd like to do/start at some point this year.
© Damon Finlay
Tell me about something related to photography you want to learn.
I'd love to become more comfortable with asking strangers for street portraits, which would in turn hopefully improve my street portraiture with more practice. So far, I've only managed to ask a few people with mixed results in the photos.
What is your favourite photography book, why is that and what is the latest photography book you acquired?
The latest photography book I acquired was The Unseen Saul Leiter, a much-appreciated Christmas gift.
It's mostly monographs I have collected so far and one of my current favourites is Liam Wong's After Dark. It features night photography in several cities across the world, the majority in Asia, Tokyo, Seoul, etc. and both the setting and style fascinate me. It's a world I can get lost in.
What lies ahead for you?
Definitely more adventures on the street and hopefully a return to making some more Landscape photos.
I want to return to London to explore the areas I haven't been to yet for street and urban photography and hopefully take part in a UPC photo walk.
And in general, to continue enjoying photography and striving to improve and learn new things, there is always something we can learn if we are open to the idea.
What advice would you give to someone who's just getting started with landscape photography?
Don't get hung up on expecting the conditions to be perfect, they rarely are. Be open to your surroundings and make the most of the environment you're in.
Experiment with your subjects and the types of photos you'd like to make.
If you find something you enjoy then embrace it, whether that's the shot of the grand vista or focusing on details in the landscape, or waving your camera around for a bit of Intentional Camera Movement, it's all good and only you can know what gives you joy. You can always try other things after spending a bit of time with one thing, you do not have to do only one type of photography for evermore.
© Damon Finlay
Which Photographer in Urban Photographers Club stands out to you?
Adam Ramjean for his style and unusual images. He does something very different from what I do and I enjoy his work. Another photographer is Neil Johansson as I also shoot in black and white and his work is something I can relate to. I have to mention this photographer too, Benito Mpangi whose night images are fantastic and as someone who shoots a lot at night, his work really appeals to me.
What has been your experience with Urban Photographers Club so far?
I've had a good experience with UPC, there's a lot of interaction on the FB page and everyone is friendly and helpful to others. I like what I've experienced so far!
It would be great to be able to get on a UPC photo walk, hopefully, that will happen sometime this year!