marcia’s musings

I met Filomena at the Freddie Mills Club in the Elephant & Castle area of London. A devout Irish Catholic, she was getting the hall set-up for the charity boxing fundraiser that night and made me a cup of tea while we were waiting for it to start. She told me a lot of stories in a short time, about wars, starting life in the uk, family, faith, tea… After an already long day of photographing rowdy pub boys, this was a pleasant little break.

She is really upset that the Southwark Council is going to tear down the little hall run by her church – it is the only community space they have.

Admittedly, the photo could have been composed a bit lower but I just love her expression so much I had to share it. I wish I could share the photo I mentally shot when I met her walking towards me holding a cross to her lips.

- london, uk, clear early evening sky, 19 degress, listening to Feist’s ‘I feel it all‘

@ trafalgar square, london, uk – march 2009

you gotta love random elvis impersonators.

- london, uk, 15 degrees, sunny windy day, listening to Bob Marley ‘Stir it up’

turkish gozelme

are so delicious

its ridiculous

making turkish pancakes in stoke newington (c) marcia chandra

– London, UK, 7 degrees Celsius, overcast, listening to DJ Arems’ ‘Soulove’ mixtape… ohhh yeahhhh….

Conversations in Ridley Market (c) Marcia Chandra

Clockwise from top left:
(1) Stall #2, Robert Evans, fruits & vegetables, working here since he was 10.
(2) Stall #41, Agnes Mensah, undergarments, moved here 8 years ago from Ghana.
(3) Stall #15, Susan Baldwin, eggs, whose stall has been in the family for 3 generations.
(4) Stall #138, Ahmed, textiles, arrived here from Turkey 4 years ago.

These are a set of portraits I took for a short story on Ridley Road Market in the Dalston area of London. As none of my original ideas were panning out and time was running out, I decided to do something on this amazing place near my house where I often shop. This market is like no other I have been to in London so far – busy every day except for Sunday, it is a thriving multicultural blend selling vegetables, eggs, shoes, cloth, soaps, luggage, and spiritual ointments, among other things. It feels like the popular markets I’ve been to in Brazil and Southeast Asia.

I really am not a fan of photos taken in markets – they just have this tourist feel about them. For this project, I decided to just focus more on the people, their stories and simple portraits. And, although I wasn’t that excited about it at first, it turned out to be quite fun.

I spent about 3 days hanging out talking to people and taking pictures. The first day I was just handholding the camera but it wasn’t working out very well as either people would say “no” or they didn’t take the ‘portrait’ aspect serious enough so that I could get a good, still, unsmiling image. Bringing the tripod and light reflector made a big difference – as I took (extra) time setting up the ’serious’ equipment, my new friends also became much more serious, encouraging their customers to wait for a few minutes, asking me how they look, where to look. I was able to spend at least 15 to 30 minutes with each person even though there were people all around. By the end, I even had people asking me if I would take their photo.

I read an interview with Vanessa Winship where she noted this similar technique when photographing school children in Turkey – though you might not need it, sometimes having big, serious equipment just helps to set the tone for what you are trying to achieve.

Anyways, there are a lot of interesting and funny conversations I had with people over those three days, too much to detail here, but perhaps I might look at keeping this project going over the year and compiling a complete picture of the market and people at a specific time… things will always change.

- London, UK, 7 degress Celsius, clear starry night, listening to the sound of silence.

Now that I am doing an MA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at the London College of Communication, Ive sometimes been finding it difficult to get into the groove of photographing. Its no longer simply for the joy of it, but now there is pressure to produce something creative. On a weekly basis. Part of me just wants to pout and shout: art for arts sake! But, really, Id be a fool to say that – I’m actually the one paying for this privilege of producing something creative on a weekly basis.

In anything, you sometimes feel like you have ‘on’ days and ‘off’ days. The pictures I brought in for the street photography assignment were symbolic of some serious ‘off’ days. I went out with a purpose – not to enjoy the street – but to get something. I ended up forgetting about everything around me – which is the essence of what being in the street is. Take a look around, see the people, the shadows, the little things – everything on the street becomes an accident that, if you’re lucky, your camera manages to see.

Anyways, I think Im over it. Here are some photos I took a few days after the street photography assignment. It was a beautiful afternoon and I just wandered around my fabulous neighbourhood of Dalston near the Ridley Road Market, shot in digital but envisioned in 6×7…

Biking in Dalston (c) Marcia Chandra