Bruce Gilden, the infamous Magnum street photographer from New York was shooting at the South Exit of Oxford Street tube station last week. So I suddenly came face-to-face with him on Monday as I turned out of the exit. Not surprisingly, a lot of street photographers love Oxford Street, so lots of people saw him and one or two chatted with him. I did say hello and I asked to shake his hand. I got the finger! I mean he put his hand in my direction, but it was firmly wrapped around the camera, and the flash in the other hand, so I rather embarrassingly shook one finger. It was silly but brilliant to see him. I was wearing a kind of photogenic hat, and I swear I saw his eyes frame me up for a split second – he was in shoot mode. Tweets flew around from @twocutedogs @sbuckton and @shuttertrip about him being there. I imagined him swamped by a gang of street photographers or whatever is the collective noun for them (us).
Here is a lovely film about Gilden:
The parts where he bosses the public around are very funny. He seems to have this uncanny knack of making people feel like he’s doing them the favour.
Zdenek Lesovsky (who works using a similar method to Gilden) was there last week and posted a set of photos afterwards that he made showing Gilden at work. My favourite is this one (sharing switched off so I can’t post it here) http://www.flickr.com/photos/zdenek_lesovsky/6527392851/in/set-72157628465312945 It’s not a portrait of Gilden, but I like the portrayal of his way of shooting. It seems to show the buzz of the moment and to a certain extent it’s a bit of a thrill for people to be photographed as though they were famous for a moment. They are just as important as celebrities to a street photographer. It also conveys (perhaps a bit more successfully than the film) how you can blend into the street when you’re taking pictures. Even when dodging around like Gilden with a flash. However, his style is undeniably confrontational.
All in all, it was a serendipitous week for me. I ‘met’ Bruce Gilden, won a tenner on the lottery and then I was looking through Nils Jorgensen’s photostream and I saw my own brother in one of his pictures! In a whole year of looking at thousands and thousands of street photos, it’s the first time I’ve recognised someone I know. Anyway it was extra good as Nils kindly offered to send my brother a complimentary print.
By the way, what should the collective noun for street photographers be?
