Rob Macdonald – The Shot I Never Forgot – ‘New York 2000’

‘NEW YORK 2000’

You shouldn’t be looking at this image.

Or, more precisely, I shouldn’t be showing you this image.

I promised I wouldn’t.

Most of my images are made on the street, in the city.  I will never forget this shot because of the reaction of this man when he noticed I had included him in my composition.  Usually when people feature in my work they are figures or shapes, perhaps giving scale to a scene or becoming a dynamic element within the balance of a static composition.  A person in my shots will be anonymous really and so I don’t feel the need to seek permission.  On this day in New York in 2000 I had noticed this very smartly attired businessman sitting on the ground, in a patch of harsh sunlight, engrossed in his newspaper.  Something about his pose caught my eye and from a distance I took a couple of shots and then on the third click of the shutter, this shot, he turned and spotted me.  The ‘prey’ had spotted the ‘hunter’. In a flash he was in my face and angrily protesting that I could not take his picture and that I must never show it to anyone.  I remember being shocked at the intensity of his reaction and I had to firmly hold my ground when he demanded that I tear the film out of my Hasselblad and destroy it.  There was no way I was going to agree to that so I managed to persuade him that I would never exhibit the image.  As he walked away I was left spinning – in my mind I created a fictional reason for his wrath – was he hiding something? Did he have a secret identity that my image might threaten? I will never know his reasons and I remember clearly that in that moment to have asked him would have been impossible – it felt like his life depended on it.  Why would someone be so threatened by photography?

Over many years as a photographer I have occasionally met opposition to my camera and one of the ways I form an impression of a city and its people is by how welcoming they are to a visiting street photographer. But I have never been challenged as intensely as this and that is why I will never forget this shot.  I don’t even think it is especially strong and probably would never have exhibited it anyway but it has been interesting to have this opportunity to present it and in a way assert my right to present it. This is the first time I have ever looked at it bigger than contact sheet size and even now, all these years later, I feel a pang of guilt about showing it to anyone, breaking that promise I made in the heat of the Manhattan sunshine.

www.robmacdonaldphoto.com

Olivia Poppy Coles – The Shot I Never Forgot – ‘ New Orleans 2013’

‘ New Orleans 2013’

On a wall in Joshua Mann Pailet’s ‘ A Gallery For Fine Photography’ in New Orleans, hung the Edward S. Curtis photograph ‘Before the white man came’, edition 291 for $4,500. It was a photograph taken in North America in 1924 and features a Native American woman, wrapped in skins from her waist down, her hands balancing a bowl on her head. Her back is to the camera and before her lies a winding riverbed with palm trees hanging overhead. It has always fascinated me as a photograph; it seems to embody Curtis’ romantic admiration for the past. To the point where he has almost forgotten his presence within it, so intent he was on its subject’s preservation. I gazed at it longingly for another moment before heading back out into the 40-degree heat that was New Orleans in July.

Later that day we took the tram up to the City Park, hoping to get some relief from the heat but instead running from shadow to shadow of the large palms and deep south oaks hung with spanish moss. Suddenly finding myself alone, I rounded a bend by a lake and came out onto a grey stone bridge that overlooked the water. As I turned, I gasped at what lay before me. There to the left of the bridge was Curtis’ scene. The water twisted round into the distance and palms, hung heavy, lined the banks. There even lay a small grassy patch to the right that stuck out slightly from the bank, where the lady in the picture stood.  At that moment the others came around the corner and I grabbed one, standing her on the grassy spot and pulling out my camera. I moved around for a moment and found the shot. A moment from another time and another place, on a mid summer’s day in Louisiana.

www.oliviapoppycoles.com

Richard Chivers – The Shot I Never Forgot – ‘Monkey Puzzle’

 ‘Monkey Puzzle’ 2005

This photograph was taken in the 2^nd year of my Degree course at Brighton University in 2005. Up until I took this photo I really wasn’t sure how to progress my photographic practice, I wasn’t really any good at thinking of a concept first and then making the work to support that concept. What I enjoyed about photography and still do today was to randomly explore my surroundings and capture areas of the landscape that I found interesting and that I thought had a beauty to it, and then eventually a project would reveal itself.

I would also often be disappointed with the outcome of the photos, having found an interesting subject to photograph I would be really excited to see the outcome but quite often felt the outcome didn’t live up to my expectations. ‘Monkey Puzzle’ was really one of the first photos that managed to live up to my expectations of what I was trying to achieve when I took the image.

The photo is taken at the old Cement works in Shoreham and i really just felt all the elements came together to create an image that had a real beauty to it, especially in the relationship between the Monkey Puzzle Tree and the grey crumbling building, its been 8 years since i took it and i still like it now.

Ironically although responding to this image has led to different projects evolving, I have never used it in a project as I have felt that it has never really fitted in. As I loved the photo I had it on my website as a single image, which my peers often couldn’t seem to understand and would often laugh about. It is now part of a collection of photographs that I am calling Monkey Puzzle, the collection isn’t suppose to work as a series but instead they are really just a collection of stand-alone images that I have taken that I find interesting, maybe they will evolve into something else further down the line.

www.rchivers.co.uk

Rut Blees Luxemburg – The Shot I Never Forgot – ‘Tour Nantes’

‘Tower of Nantes’

The work shows the Tower of Nantes, and I made it from the top floor of the building that dominates the sky-line of the old city. Despite the suggestive promise of its modernist floor-plan – sci-fi meets erotica – it only houses the municipality of Nantes.

www.rutbleesluxemburg.com

Sarah Smith – The Shot I Never Forgot – ‘Raven’

‘Raven’ 2013

 I photographed this Raven as part of a series, As the crow flies, about my obsession with crows for my Major Project at Westminster University in 2013.

Whilst technically not the best shot, the shoot itself was an absolute privilege. To spend time in such close proximity to such an amazing and intelligent creature was an experience I’ll never forget. I spent about an hour in a darkened studio with this beautiful Raven, who hopped about at lightening speed, onto my shoulder, on top of my lights, staying still for mere mili-seconds, and testing my ability to focus!

www.sarahsmithphotographer.com

John House – The Shot I Never Forgot – ‘City Limits’

‘City Limits’

 When I first came up with the concept for ‘The Shot I Never Forgot’, four images appeared in my head within a few minutes. This image, taken whilst studying for my degree was one of them because it marks a significant learning point in my photographic practice.  I was trying to create a series of images that were constructed – something I had never done before and have not really attempted since.  My concept was to make surreal scenes that made comment on the urbanisation of our lives, in particular our leisure activities.  

For the most part, the pictures I made were quite unsuccessful – however, I have always enjoyed this one and returned to it time and again.  In part, I think it works due to the rather striking pose and styling of Ahmet Unver, who kindly agreed to play golf around a car park for the afternoon.  I have always enjoyed how the shot is framed and how Ahmet genuinely looks like he is sizing up his shot towards the tower block.

Whilst I never went anywhere with this series of images – I found the experience a poignant lesson. Constructing an image forces you to consider how to build narrative and meaning into a Photograph by controlling all aspects of it, ideas which can be applied to any style of Photography.

Whenever I look at this image, I wonder why I did not pursue the constructed image idea further within Photography as it offers a uniquely alternative way to work with the medium.

www.johnhouse.co.uk

André Lichtenberg – The Shot I Never Forgot – ‘Untitled from The Full Moon Series’

 ‘Untitled from The Full Moon Series’ 2010 

This image represents a change in direction in my personal work, a new beginning in my full moon project. The work was created on a warm summer’s night in 2010 in a field somewhere between New Heaven and Eastbourne in the South East coast of UK. This is a remote location situated between the rail tracks and the beach, it’s mainly a flat-ish land with a low vegetation and some concrete pathways (which apparently were built by the army during the World War II to be able to take heavy equipment and tanks near the beach).

The image marks the birth of the Licht series which has been published and exhibited widely since. Up until this point my full moon project was mainly about the landscape itself, focussing on locations being illuminated by the soft, romantic and mysterious moonlight. I remember that the project was already evolving at the point, with the exposures getting much longer (playing with the idea of representing a night as if it was a day) and myself paying more attention to the thought process during the time the exposure was being made. Working at night in quiet and remote locations gets your brain going in unusual directions, The process can become quite meditative and self-reflective. Suddenly the idea came that instead of waiting behind the tripod, I should become part of the photograph, so I started interacting with the landscape, gently painting it with light and leaving clues of my own trace as I moved through the frame.

After seeing the result of the first test I decided I had created something I needed to explore further. The project, “Licht series”, has evolved further from that initial point and became slightly more polished and controlled, which somehow made me exclude this image from the series in the final edit.

 www.photoandre.com

Richard Rowland – The Shot I Never Forgot – ‘Welder’

‘Welder’

I was working in Shanghai on ‘Urban Fictions’, a photo & video project looking at the emergence of European-style theme towns in Eastern China.

These are massive scale developments for China’s ever-expanding business elite. One day I came across a welder on-site and was dumbfounded that he’d be doing this highly-skilled and dangerous job wearing a cardboard mask. There was something preposterous about these enormous developments, essentially designed to showcase China as the powerhouse of the 21st century, built on the backs of migrant workers with such makeshift protective gear.

Sad, slightly amusing, but true.

Martin Seeds – The Shot I Never Forgot – ‘My grandfather and I at a beach in Sabinillas. Spain 2009’

‘My grandfather and I at a beach in Sabinillas. Spain 2009’

I went to meet my parents one summer at their holiday apartment. A few weeks before I left my father said he wanted to give me my grandfathers box camera. The trip was meant as a get away from picture making so I didn’t bring my own camera or any agenda for making pictures.  However I decided to take a few rolls of film with me so I could try out the family heirloom. I remember it being a bugger to load, there was lots of fumbling with the film and cursing. Not wanting to purposely make pictures I just took the camera with me as I went about doing other things. I quickly realised that when I did decide to make a picture it never burdened me with any mental activity before I released the shutter. Perhaps its because it didn’t feel like a camera but more of a tin box into which my grandfather and I stared and left some quiet thoughts.

www.martinseeds.com

Marc Wilson – The Shot I Never Forgot

‘Untitled’

After 4 years, 23,000 miles and 143 locations, I thought I had completed the photography for The Last Stand in Norway. But no, six weeks later, I now found myself on the ferry, returning from northern France.  Ironically I had also ended up having to return to Norway for an immediate second shoot after all the film from the first trip was fogged in camera. But after editing the images for the project’s book, I realised an extra final trip was needed. So with a car boot packed with gear and supplies, I spent four days along the Normandy coast photographing at 8 locations, full of bloody and horrific memories, to finally complete the work. As I crossed the halfway point in the journey I thought this must be where La Manche and the Channel meet. This time it truly felt like the end of the project.

www.marcwilson.co.uk

Architecture and Interiors photography by Jim Stephenson

‘Untitled’ 2011

In November 2011, 2 days after my 30th birthday, I visited Japan with a friend of mine. As an architectural photographer, I’d hoped to photograph some of the architecture in a country that has a vernacular so different to our own. When I got there I quickly realised it was going to be far more difficult than I thought as I wound my way through legions of Japanese tourists to get the angle I wanted on the building. Sitting in in a cafe at Kyoto Train Station I realised the much more interesting project would to be stand back and photograph tourists photographing each other. This was one of the first I took, and I love it! There’s only about 3 photos I’ve ever taken that I’d say that about as well! Her stance, her dress and the muted colours came together perfectly, just at the moment she turned and noticed me. That trip, and this mini-project, changed the way I work and for that reason this is most definitely a Shot I Never Forgot.

www.clickclickjim.com

Ellie Davies – The Shot I Never Forgot – ‘Dwellings 13’

 ‘Dwellings 13’

 The image was taken in Puddleton Forest just outside Dorchester in Dorset, UK.

 This particular image was made in an area of the forest which is predominantly very dark pine plantation.  There are a few people walking dogs on the paths but as you go into the denser forest it feels very isolated.  Earlier in the day I had found a treehouse in the woods and it had obviously been recently occupied.   It is unusual to find actual habitation in those woods and it changed the atmosphere.  It looked as if the people using it had been forcible removed from the area because there was rubbish all around it and a lot of signs of destruction.   I prefer to work in forests  where I am unlikely to be disturbed or observed or perhaps feel any threat, but this discovery had unnerved me and I felt a heightened awareness of the forest and sounds around me.

This image strongly evokes those uncomfortable feelings for me.  The darkened pathway leading into the background suggests my state of mind and sense of discomfort.  The suggested presence of other people in the woods is an important theme throughout my work and for this reason I am glad to have revisited this image and bring it back into the series where it belongs.

www.elliedavies.co.uk

Stuart Griffiths – The Shot I Never Forgot – Wednesday 1st April 2009 – G20 protest, Bank of England, London

‘Wednesday 1st April 2009 – G20 protest, Bank of England, London’

 This photo was taken at on April 1st 2009.  I like many other photographers where photographing the G20 protests in central London. There were more photographers than protesters, but at least I could relax in the fact  I was on assignment for the New York Daily News.  I remember getting excited when the light was getting low and watching this posh kid wearing a Union Jack blazer who began attacking a burning dummy with a walking stick.   He was loving all the attention along with the worlds press.  When I sent this image it was never used as someone had managed to get a photo of the Iain Tomlinson (who was unlawfully killed) and that became ‘the story’.  So despite getting excited about taking this photograph, in a way, this was just another generic view of bad craziness, the frustration of youth and how everyone nowadays has a camera.

 www.stuartgriffiths.net

Oren Noy – The Shot I Never Forgot – ‘Untitled 2004 petach tikva (urban landscape)’

‘Untitled 2004 petach tikva (urban landscape)’

I took this image back in 2004. At the time I didn’t know exactly to which series it should be belong to nor should it start a whole new series. All my series deals in one way or another with the southern neighborhoods of Petach-Tikva (my immediate surrounding), without a romantic gaze or impressive insight, but rather as a case study for common urban neighborhoods and cultural taste in a western society.

I don’t think photography say something, people do. For me, Photography in the worst case is a shallow cliché, and in a good case a pies of information presented originally, which swallowed in endless mesh of political and cultural discourses.

There are several things that I like about this image which make me return to it occasionally; the extensive occupation with borders and the innovation dealing with it. Almost everything can define a border; Concrete wall, different iron fans, pieces of wood, tin plate and hedges.

Other themes upper as well; emphasized nationalism (flags), fantasy of exotic life style (round parasol), and obvious lust for better living environment (rooted grass) and of course Middle Eastern sun light.

www.orenoy.weebly.com