© Steven Brooks

© Sander Meisner

Photography has played a role in my family for years. My Grandfather was very nerdy when it came to photography. He had lots of different cameras (some of which I still have) and took them everywhere shooting everything. We recently found 15 rolls of cine film developed from a trip he made to the US in 1950 which were unbelievable. His nerdiness rubbed off on my mum who became a professional family photographer and my childhood was spent with her shouting at me and my sister to shut up, keep still and smile. Because of this I still loathe having my photo taken but I must have liked something about it because I remember taking photos throughout school and university. When I moved to London in 2003 I carried on shooting on a few digital cameras but I don’t think photography really ‘began’ for me until I randomly sat down with a guy called Sean, the cousin of a friend of mine, who introduced me to Flickr. I very much doubt I’d be so obsessed with photography now if I hadn’t have had that conversation.

I grew up an hour outside London in a town called Guildford. After school I went to Aberdeen University to study History of Art and English Literature. Once I got my degree I moved to London and worked at MTV for 2 years and have since moved into producing kids TV shows. As with any job it can be horrible but when it’s good it’s a great job that I love. (+ there is always something interesting to photograph)

Yes. About 2 years ago a photographer called Eamon Lane put a notice up on his stream calling for people to let him come over to their homes and have their portrait taken. I don’t invite strange men over to my place very often, but for some reason I agreed (and he came over). He took one roll of 120 (The photo can be seen here) and then we got chatting about photography and Flickr. Through this chat Eamon introduced me to loads of great photographers & groups I’d never heard of, loads of ideas that had never occurred to me and, most importantly, he made meeting other Flickr photographers seem like a good idea.

At the moment I’m travelling so, once I find a lab cheap enough to process my film, I put them on my computer and split them into two categories; ‘Not Shit’ and the rest.  ’Not Shit’ acts as a pool and from which I pick out each shot if and when I think they’ll fit into my stream. There is no real science behind why I post specific shots, (at the moment it depends heavily on when I can get stuff developed) but, as much as I can, I try to choose each shot as individual and different from the rest.

I have bought only one camera away with me (an M6, it rules) and I take it everywhere. I have one lens so I don’t have any real choices to make about equipment, but I think that’s a bonus. I’m sure if I did have to make those decisions I’d always be wondering about the kit I didn’t take, and how the photos would have looked if I did.

Typically I’m influenced by all the photographers that everyone else, quite rightly, loves;  Soth, Eggleston, McGinley, Frank, Arbus, Chelbin etc . . . but Flickr is also a huge influence, Salva Lopez, Ben Roberts, Rafa Alcacer, Olya Ivanova, Harry Mitchell, are all great photographers (there are many many more) and I consider, Contract Killers, Your photo isn’t that great and Photographs on the brain to be some of the best groups on Flickr, always showing great new work, often from people you’ve never seen before, which is amazing. Also, since I’m an unemployed travelling bum at the moment, I try to see as much photography / culture as I can, wherever I am. I recently went to the Getty in LA to see the ‘Engaged Observers’ exhibition which was incredible.

I very rarely get a yes either when I ask people on the street for a portrait, maybe 1 in 6 are a yes. I do find that if you approach people in a crowded area they are far less likely to say yes simply because they don’t want all those people looking at them while they do something they think is weird. If and when they do agree my instruction is always, “I don’t care what you do as long as you don’t smile.” Then, whilst framing the shot etc, I wait for them to relax and think that I’m taking too long and take the shot. I think the best example of this is this portrait . . .

I took this on my last visit to see my godfather. When I drink wine it tends to wake me up far earlier than normal and my godfather and I had drunk a lot the night before so I woke up at 4.30 am. Much as I would like to go back to sleep in these situations, my mind is always annoyingly awake, so I got my camera and went for a walk. My godfather lived in Suffolk, so for the next two hours I wandered around the misty fields taking photos of sheep, trees and anything else that looked good in the early morning light. It was only when I got back that I realized I’d over exposed everything by two stops and thought the whole film would be shit. I didn’t get it processed for ages thinking it would be a waste of money however, eventually when I did, this came out. It’s one of my favourite shots, but it’s 50% accident/incompetence, so I suppose I’m only 50% responsible for it, which feels odd.

Thanks Tommy.  Please visit Flickr to see more of Tommy’s photography.

© John’s Goldsmith

See more of Patrick’s photography at Flickr.

See more of Adam’s photography at Flickr.

See more of Mark’s photography at Flickr and at the photography collective, Statement Images.

At first taking photos wasn’t exactly natural for me. In my case it all actually started with a VHS camera that I got for my 15th birthday. I was crazy in love about the ability to capture the movement of a human body. I still have dozens of tapes depicting me running, jumping and twisting. I felt like I was making my own surreal music videos. It lasted for a few years until I decided that it’s the right time for me to try something new so I switched to photography.

Probably the main reason is possibility of being creative. Self-expression on various levels was always important to me but it reached completely different state with photography. It feels like I’ve finally found something truly mine, that gives me comfort and inner peace.

I’m doing senior year of social psychology studies. I currently live and work in a truly great city on the west side of Poland called Wroclaw but I’m planning to move to London next year.

Silence. Minimalism, simplicity, pureness. Pre internet era. Brutalist architecture. Karlheinz Stockhausen. Wolfgang Tillmans. Krzyszfof Kieslowski. Marcel Proust…

Every single day brings new challenges. Learning how to cope with insecurity is one my biggest personal and professional achievements.

I like this feeling of randomness. It’s like watching five different movies at the same time. Besides I get bored quite easily so putting together different photos gives me an illusion of something more amusing.

Family, friends and friends of my friends. I’m a model hunter. Ability to work with someone I have never met before is always exiting. The only problem is that after few sessions we become friends and then I’m on a hunt for someone new.

The whole process of creating photos is based on mutual trust and hard work. I don’t like to plan everything in advance so every session is kind of journey for me and my models. Usually the only thing that is sort of planned is location but still everything depends on the situation, mood, weather, time, light. I’m aware that working with me isn’t always easy and can be very, very exhausting that’s why I’m even more grateful. Thanks to my models’ hard work I’m able to achieve truly satisfying results.

I love discovering new places. It’s extremely exiting to be in a beautiful surrounding for the first time I feel like I’m in candy shop. But I also have my favorite locations that I regularly come back to.

It’s something unnamed, state of being in-between. Something very complex but recognizable at the same time.

“No digital, just film” is my only rule right now. When it comes to gear: Canon Rebel K2 is my main camera, but I’m on constant search for a perfect compact camera. This week I’m testing Canon Canonet 28. I usually have one compact camera with me at all times (Canon Prima, Olympus 105G or disposable Kodak with expired film inside). Some time ago I bought a big box of Kodak Farbwelt 100 but I like to experiment with different films.

• Paul Herbst
• Jasper Ulvelius
• Alana Celii

Just to name a few.

This particular photo was taken in an abandoned building that I found while searching for the new photo location half a year ago and I have instantly fall in love with it. As far as I know the whole building was built as a social housing in the late 70s but few years ago all the tenants have been moved to another locations and since then it stayed empty. About 50 meters from there you can find a tiny cemetery dedicated to mental hospital patients. Most of the graves are quite old and belong to the victims of WWII psychiatric experiments. The building itself is scary in a way, old wallpapers and floors filled with documents. It’s also well known destinations for all the local drunks.

Thanks to Lukasz for participating in the interview.  Please visit Flickr and Lukasz’s personal site where you can see more of his photography and buy prints.