PRO COLUMN
Lifestyle photographer Andy Smith on capturing the diversity of London in portraits
Lifestyle photographer Andy Smith talks his photo series capturing the multiculturalism of London in portraits
To celebrate the visual trend from Adobe Stock, Multilocalism, I shot a series of images in one of the most multicultural cities in the world – London. The series consists of ten portraits of small business owners, and ten street portraits. Each photograph reveals enough background to provide context and make them identifiable to London, yet still hero each of the subjects so as not to distract from the purpose of the image – a portrait. The collection also consists of more lifestyle-style shots which lent itself well to the small business portraits.
I’m a lifestyle and portrait photographer living in London, so the brief seemed perfectly suited. I loved the simplicity of the street portraits and the fact that we would have an opportunity to meet landlords; the casting was as varied as the locations we’d be shooting in. The number of varied locations across the city and shoots taking place in a short amount of time meant there was a high degree of planning. My agent (Lisa Pritchard Agency) helped everything run smoothly which included organising location recces ahead of the final shoots to helping guide creative decisions on the day. Following the recces we created a shoot schedule and a shot list so all we had to do on the day was focus on the people and their businesses. Not only did the planning mean the shoot ran as smoothly as possible, it also gave me the chance to meet the people ahead of the shoot.
The collection includes a range of great imagery, one of my favourites from the street portrait series is the group shot of five students – there’s a hint of irreverence in their expressions that I can (just about) remember having myself. There is also a fabulous image of Brenda Rice who has been a waitress at Nathan’s pie and eel restaurant in East London for 42 years.
And finally, one of the strongest portraits for me is the one of Ash, the pub landlord, standing behind the bar. It’s my favourite pub in London so I was thrilled to photograph him in such a fantastic-looking location – he’s a laid-back and decent bloke so it was all very easy-going. Sadly we were there before licensing hours but I’ve been back since to make up for that!