“I’m documenting the people of Leeds for my final year dissertation”
“Wow, that sounds a lot more professional than my usual pitch of ‘Can I take your picture?’”

I caught Rob with an outside photography studio set up in the centre of Leeds. I say studio, it was more like one soft box, a background and a camera on a tripod.

Rob studies photography at the local city college and was in town taking portraits for his final year dissertation. We spoke about the similarities in our respective projects and he explained about the concept and theory behind his. He seemed quite knowledgeable in terms of knowing various techniques and other photographers who he had obviously studied.

It got me thinking about the influence education makes on a person’s art. I’ve had no official teachings in photography myself, apart from the things I’ve read and picked up - does it make a significant difference…?

Anyway, thoughts aside, after signing a model release and Rob had taken a series of shots of me (leaning cooly against a steal pillar ;) I had a look at them:

“Wow, it makes me look really tall!”
“Yeah, it’s the angle I’m shooting at”

And he went onto explain the influence of other street photographers such as Vivian Mier, Helen Levitt and a few others in his shot choices.

So, in response to the conversation, I decided to mirror his influenced style by also shooting from a low angle. I have to say it’s not a natural angle to be at, and I wasn’t that low. I can understand the effect it has in terms of skewing the subject and making them look more imposing perhaps but I don’t think I will be using it that often, if at all.


Humans of Leeds