Michael Letchford

MEMORABLE MOMENTS - OF PATHOS, HUMOUR & BRITISHNESS

LIFE, MOSTLY IN MONOCHROME

Welcome. Thank you for joining me.
You know, life as a photographer puts you in the wonderful position of being a visual storyteller, capturing many wonderful and poignant moments in people’s lives.

Photography allows us to create timeless images that captivate, fascinate and entertain. But, it’s always the emotion captured in the image that really resonates; and of course, the implicit story - the connection with the person, the situation, location or event.

It makes me very happy to be a professional photographer and to be able to capture those moments, those emotions, those stories - particularly in monochrome.

Ever since I developed my first roll of film, I’ve been beguiled by the visual impact and sense of emotional 'story-telling' that monochrome bestows on images, so, between commissions, I spend many hours attempting to capture some of life’s more intriguing ‘StreetLife’ moments or creating lifestyle portraits or dramatic landscapes, mostly in monochrome but often in colour. I also share here some of my experiences on assignments and video shoots, and occasionally I write about specific equipment - if it worked!

I really enjoy capturing lifestyle portraits and creating couple shoots, both in the studio and in the environment. Naturally, I photograph clients in full colour, but I always render selected images in monochrome for their gallery. It lends a captivating, timeless quality to their images that I find totally compelling.

Street Photography is pretty much where I started - long ago in ‘71 - with a Canon FTBn film camera and some basic lenses. We’ve come a very long way since then and my shooting gear, ‘darkroom’ facilities and skill sets have had to change a fair bit since the days of the Thurrock Photographic Society. It was called Candid Photography in those days and the genre has evolved beyond recognition in that time. I still love working in the streets of London; attempting to capture ‘slices of life’ and maybe even a little bit of humour along the way.

These images have been shot during planned projects designed around a specific theme. There's really no substitute for the challenge of real photographic projects with proper deadlines. Projects add focus and timescales as well as ambitious photographic objectives.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did creating them…….