A Camera and A Cuppa
Team chats| Photography
When he’s not editing, Jamie can scarcely be seen without a cup of tea or a camera in hand. While he’d love to tell us all about the perfect cuppa we wanted to know more about his other love.
So, Ellie delved into Jamie’s photography and explored the connection between this creative outlet and his practice as an editor…
Ellie: Seems like an obvious question to start- but why do you do it? what attracts you to photography?
Jamie: A lot of my creative practices and the way I approach things stems from art school. It’s great (at art school) because there are no commercial considerations so you’ve got the freedom to experiment – so that’s exactly what I did, I experimented for 4 years. Once you’re out in the commercial world you need to have an outlet for all that creativity, so photography has become mine.
Ellie: Is that why I always see you walking around with a film camera of some description? And how does digital photography play into this?
Jamie: It’s become a sort of trendy and fashionable thing to shoot on film now. I started on film and have never really stopped. Even when I treat digital shots, I tend to give them that film-like appearance because that’s just how I see things.
I like to shoot medium format most of the time but that involves using a separate light meter and taking the time to get the focus right. With film and the cost of the processing being so expensive now, I generally shoot digitally in situations where I’d want to take loads of shots – like when I’m shooting in a market for example – they’re brilliant for street photography because people are so preoccupied and you get so many interesting characters.
Ellie: How do you navigate that interaction of taking photos of people in the street? Do you often get people noticing?
Jamie: It’s one of those funny things, I’m more conscious of the fact that I’m taking a photo of them than they are of me. They’re in their own little worlds. There’s almost a bit of an adrenaline rush when you’re trying to get a shot of somebody in particular. You do have to force yourself to get out of your comfort zone.
So this couple here (image below) – I was taking quite a few photos of them just to get it right. They kept glancing over at me cause I thought I was going to get caught any second, but they didn’t clock me at all. One of the tricks I have is I’ll bring the camera down and I’ll look over their heads as if I’m taking photos up the street.
Ellie: Do you find that your photography influences your video editing, and vice versa?
Jamie: Oh thats a good question! Sara mentioned that she noticed my shot choice changed as I got more into street photography, but it’s hard to tell if my shot choice has actually changed or whether I was actually influenced by the style of the camera ops we worked with at the time. Maybe I started shooting in their style. It’s tricky to say what influenced what, because my editing work and my photography are so intertwined and they’re constantly informing one another.
Ellie: And in terms of photographers, who are your main influences?
Jamie: Saul Leiter’s work has had a massive impact on my own photography practice. Unusually for a street photographer, he shoots portrait a lot of the time. He just creates the most amazing, unexpected compositions, really making the most of blank space, and framing his subjects using windows, doors, and other aspects of the environment.
Ellie:Where can people see your stuff?
Jamie: I upload to my website and my Instagram pretty regularly:
https://www.jamieworsfoldphotography.co.uk/
Instagram: @jamieworsfoldphotography
If you enjoyed a little peek inside Jamie’s brain – keep an eye out for our next newsletter where we’ll be chatting to another member of the S&B team about something that brings them joy.
