In conversation with David Somerset, who works in events and programmes for the British Film Institute.
D - How did you first get into photography?
P – By pure chance, really. I was living just outside Oxford, on a houseboat, and on some mornings I would wake up, especially when it was foggy, and it would be another world. I used to walk my dog, Jessy, around this huge meadow, called Port Meadow, and decided that I should be capturing some of what I saw. So one day, when in London, I popped into Aperture cameras in Museum street, and bought myself a 35mm Leica M6.
D – Why a Leica?
P – I had always enjoyed and studied photography a little by collecting the odd second-hand book here and there over the years. And I quite liked Henri Cartier-Bresson, amongst others. And, I suppose, I wanted something compact that I could easily carry around. Then I set up a little, makeshift darkroom in the spare cabin. Then, a few years later, I bought myself a Hasselblad. Then a Mamiya 6x7, which was recommended by my darkroom printer, Melvin Cambettie-Davies. Then a large-format Linhof. I do have some other cameras, but the four I’ve just mentioned are mostly what I have been using in London for the past twelve years.
D – And you only use film, right?
P - Yes… and I think that’s because, what I got started with, I have just stuck with. It’s not that I am anti-digital. In fact, I think sometimes digital can work better the film in certain situations. But I do enjoy the darkroom, too.
D – Tell us about some of your projects that you have been working on over the years.
P – My own personal photographic projects?
D – For now, yes.
P – Well, as I’ve already mentioned, I bought myself a Leica, which after a while I began to carry around London with me on a regular basis. Then came the Hasselblad, and then the Mamiya. And, after a few years, I realised I had a fair amount of decent London images… so I contacted a few publishers, three of whom wanted to publish. The first book was going to be a compilation, though, for some reason, it never happened, probably because I was distracted with other matters. But I still carried on taking photographs, whenever I could, in my spare time... and, during those early years, I started to document the Notting Hill carnival, with two Leica’s and using Ilford fp4 film only. I have now recently completed ten years of the carnival with those two cameras and film, so that is one project finished.
Insert carnival photo
P - And because I have lived mostly in the Notting Hill area, I have been documenting the borough of Kensington and Chelsea, too. As you know, I am a keen cyclist… so, whenever I would go somewhere, would always take a slightly different route, searching all the time to spot something different.
D – And is that part of why you have wanted to take photographs?
P – Most definitely. One of the best things about photography is that it makes us more receptive to our environment. I have learnt and discovered a lot about London because of that. It has taken me to a lot of places that normally I would not have gone to.
D – So, they are two books…
P – I hope so, one day, yes. I am currently editing all of my Notting Hill carnival negatives. And my first book, which is almost ready to go, will be a compilation of everything. And for the past four to five years I have been documenting architecture that I have found interesting, just using the Linhof 4x5, though this book is not quite finished. I keep spotting new buildings all the time on my travels. It’s infinity in a way, what I am trying to achieve, like London itself. There is so much to choose from. But with this particular project, the architecture one, there must be a point when I say enough is enough.
D – Sounds like a lot of work?
P – It is. And the summer months I find it a lot easier for this type of work than the winter. On the lighter mornings I can get up early on a Sunday, when there is hardly anyone around, and very little traffic.
D – Correct me if I am wrong, but there are no people in these shots?
P – That’s correct. I didn’t want any distractions.
D – So, there are four books?
P – No. There are possibly two more. Because I carry my Leica everywhere, I have photographed a lot of people. Sometimes I stop and ask them, and sometimes I don’t. So there’s a people book, all shot in black and white, with the Leica only. And there’s a possible graffiti book, too, in both black and white and colour. Most of which has been around the Shoreditch and Hackney area, but not all.
grafitti image
D – A little while back you tried raising some money through a crowd-funding campaign, is that right?
P – Yes… And it was a disaster! I didn’t realise what was involved. I had never used any form of social media before. And, stupidly on my behalf, I wasn’t prepared at all. But people liked the video and stuff. We did raise some money, but not enough.
D – So why crowd-fund when you have had publishers interested?
P – A few of the publishers I have not liked so much their idea of how the book would eventually look. I suppose I could still contact some, or even go back to the older ones, but I have since had this idea of London Unseen, which will also be the name of my first book.
D – So, please tell us about London Unseen.
P – Like myself, there are a lot of keen amateur photographers out there, with a lot of good London work. Often I look online and see this. And because London is one of those city’s that is constantly changing, I think it would be a good idea for there to be a contemporary image library.
D – But you will also be showing older work, too?
P - Oh, yes. There is some great vintage stuff. But where this image library will differ from other image libraries is that London Unseen will concentrate only on one city, instead of accepting any old image from anywhere around the world. And we want to keep our curatorial standards high, too, in what we accept.
D – And who will be the judge of that?
P – At the moment, me. But it’s a lot of tedious work, sitting at the computer. Interesting, though, as I am a Londoner, to see all of these images past and present.
D – How do you judge what to be good or bad?
P – Good question… Because London Unseen is an image library, obviously every photograph does not have to be a work of art… I suppose, each image will have to have some kind of artistic merit… or some kind of historical importance, or place of interest, or something… I think, for me, I have to understand why a particular person took that photograph in the first place, in a similar way as to why I would have done… But, naturally, everyone has different tastes and opinions as to what is good or bad… so I guess I have to try to find a varied balance, something for everyone.
D – Would it be fair to say that London Unseen is a unique idea?
P - As far as an image library goes, yes… I mean, I’m sure there are others that concentrate on certain individual subjects… but we also want to have an e-commerce shop, publish and sell prints. At the moment London Unseen is, of course, in its early stages. I have no idea where it will go. Obviously I want it to grow. And I want to offer other photographers, like myself, the chance to get published and gain some recognition through their work. But first of all I have to get people to join. Without that, there is nothing.
D – Tell us a little more about the publishing side of London Unseen.
P – I want to pick certain subjects, and there are many... and then invite say… one hundred or two hundred photographers to be part of that book, all by donating one image each… or maybe more than one image each if a particular person has a lot of work on one subject.
D - All compilations?
P – Probably. But who knows?... Maybe there are other photographers out there with a large body of work. I’m sure there are. I have even potentially seen some of them. Chris Dorley-Brown, for example, who’s been documenting the city a lot longer than I have, is one. Many years ago, I bought a book called ‘ Anonymous’… compiled by a chap called R. Stanley Johnson. I didn’t realise at the time, but that book must have had quite a profound effect on me… because years later, I have the idea of doing something similar with London Unseen… And what I’ve realised is that, when there is a compilation by lots of different photographers, it’s very interesting because you don’t know what you’re going to get next. Images, you see, often come with no explanation. It’s an instinctive thing. Often people don’t even know why they take a particular photograph. They don’t plan it. I like variety. And then there’s different cameras.
D – But most of the photographs in these books will be by relatively unknown photographers?
P – Yes, that’s the plan. See, most people have a camera nowadays, so there’s a lot of good stuff out there. But there’s also a lot of rubbish out there, too. But I have to get enough people to join. And it would be great if one day London Unseen could become the main image library for the city, with just decent photos. So much of what I have already photographed has since disappeared. Everything is changing so fast. It has always done, of course, but probably not in the way that it is now. And I think there should be an organised, visual a record of the city.
D – What has changed most since you started documenting London?
P – Its seems as if a lot of the character is disappearing. The high streets look the same. There is less room for individuality. It’s become very corporate. Very expensive. But there’s always a positive and negative. And most people as they get older, I think, often believe that things were better in the old days compared to when they were younger. We become more cynical the more we know.
D – And lately you have been converting some of your images for screen-printing…
P – That’s right… but only the ones that I think will work. I’ve always had a thing about screen-printing ever since way back when. But that’s another story.
D – We’ll, good luck with it all.
P – Thank you.