LT: When did you first encounter the Routemaster bus? How far back does your fascination with it go?

RO: I first saw the Routemaster on TV at my parents’ house in Staufen, on the edge of the Black Forest. I was 12 or 13 years old.

LT: How did the project for Last Stop get started?

RO: I’m a founding member of photodebut, which was set up in 2002 as a collective for emerging photographers. At photodebut I became friends with Maxine Beuret and jet. it was at one of our monthly photodebut get togethers (at the time at the agency in Charlotte Road, east London) Maxine informed us that the routemasters were going to be phased out by the end of 2005. Jet, Max and myself then realised that we shared a strong common interest for the routemaster, so we decided to create a tribute of this london icon. We split the project into three. Maxine concentrated on still life photography of the exterior and interior design elements of the routemaster, jet documented the drivers and conductors at the 19 and 38 depots (in Hackney and Battersea), and I photographed en route (passengers, drivers, conductors) and still life imagery of the interior and exterior design elements.

From the start I had the idea of a book in my mind. I had a pretty clear idea how i wanted the book to look and be. Then I researched some routemaster photography books that were to date available. I found out that there were quite few out there, however none in the form I felt I wanted to create.

Due to restricted time, Maxine unfortunately had to end her involvement as she was also shooting her own personal project ‘the departure of the slam door trains’. jet and I continued until the last day of the rm, 9th december 2005. jet was happy with the last stop website which we created together with emotional designers. in 2005 www.routemasters.co.uk was archived by the British Library in the interest of national heritage. With jet’s blessing i went the last mile alone and created the Last Stop book and exhibition (which is currently on show at London Transport Museum until 26th July). Once the project was completed i started to approach potential publishers, exhibition spaces (galleries & museums) and sponsors. London Transport Museum provided me with the home for Last Stop. The museum has been very supportive of the project. We worked well together on the marketing and PR, and the museum provided the exhibition space for free and also organised various routemaster related events (see www.ltmuseum.co.uk) to support the exhibition and book.

LT: I really liked the depot pictures. What sort of response did you get from drivers and conductors?

RO: The main body of work of drivers and conductors in the depot were photographed by jet. Again with jet’s blessing, i was happy that we also could show some of her depot pictures in the book.

The responses were great. We spent several days and weeks in the Hackney and Battersea depots. We created a relationship with the staff who I think were happy and proud to be part of Last Stop, which really was a labour of love project to us.

LT: Did you get a feel for how drivers, conductors and passengers viewed the change to the new buses?

RO: I felt the overall view was that most drivers and conductors really loved the routemasters and their job on them. There was a strong sense of social togetherness that I could feel amongst the drivers and conductors. Having spent 18 months on route I could witness the abuse and joy they were exposed to, especially the conductors. I obtained the sense that many of the passengers (especially the elderly, women and visitors) felt quite safe on the routemasters, because there was a conductor on board.

LT: What other London icons appeal to you?

RO: The people at the gutterslut parties, the architecture of the old East End, the people that run the last family businesses of the East End, the red phone boxes.

LT: Many thanks Ralf! I hope to see more of your photos – we both share a love of the old East End.

Photo credit: ‘Hopping off’ copyright Ralf Obergfell

Post from: The London Traveler

Shoot Experience runs  photographic treasure hunts around London (and in other UK locations, like Liverpool). This one’s booked out already, though you could book yourself and friends on Shoot London Lite. You’ll follow clues around the South Bank to find ten sites, and take photographs. Teams need to be between two and four people – the more the merrier since the ticket price of £22 is per team, not per person.

And in September, Shoot Shoreditch will be back for the fourth year in a row – followed by Shoot Spitalfields. A chance for photographers to get creative in these edgy East End locations.

While photography is of course an interest you can pursue on your own, I know that often, I benefit from being with other photographers. You can see what turns them on – sometimes they have a completely different vision of the place from yours. It’s the different ways of seeing, rather than technical tips, that I really value whenever I go on a shoot like this.

And  of course the competitive element is fun too. After the shoot, Shoot Experience prints out and exhibits the best photos – so you get a chance to see your work on the wall. That’s always gratifying, though it can be frustrating if your photos don’t stand out from the crowd. Still, that’s valuable feedback for next time!

Post from: The London Traveler

Ed Burtynsky is another person whose heart beats faster when he sees a huge industrial building or landscape. He’s a photographer who spends a lot of time looking at massive factories, huge waste dumps, quarries, mines.

Look at this picture. At first you might think it’s an abstract. Then you see the little figures standing at the bottom of the quarry and you realise the scale of the picture. Amazing.

Flowers Central will be showing Ed Burtynsky’s work from May 9th. He’s been out in China taking pictures of massive factories – one I’ve seen shows women standing in line at their workstations in little pink uniforms. It’s a vision which is deeply ambiguous – artistically it’s pretty, but I get the feeling also that this uniformity is soul-destroying, and we’re meant to notice that. There’s a potent ambiguity too in the shots of quarries and waste dumps; he creates a beautiful image out of something which is, in fact, a spoliation and ruination of nature. What should we feel?

Now film and photography are often two very different art forms, but they come together in Jennifer Baichwal’s documentary ‘Manufactured Landscapes’ which will be aired at the BFI Southbank.

Which presents me with a little conundrum. Do I go the gallery first, or see the film first?

Where: Flowers Central, 21 Cork Street

When: 9-24 May 2008

Image courtesy Flowers East Gallery,  London, UK

Post from: The London Traveler

Photographer Franklyn Rodgers has a distinctive, rather abstract approach to portraiture, using monochrome photography and dramatic lighting to create dramatic and even bizarre compositions. But the importance of the show for many will be its celebration of black culture and black success.

Coincidentally, one of the NPG’s most recent commissions shows another aspect of black culture in Britain – the presence of black Britons in the armed forces.

It’s a portrait of Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry, who received the Victoria Cross for his bravery in twice saving colleagues under fire while serving in Iraq. While he’s shown in full dress uniform, it’s not a pompous portrait – rather, what’s shown is a man who has been wounded, who is still in pain; stoical, and modest. Quite an unusual military portrait.

Following up that theme of black Britons in the forces, you might want to meet John Deman at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich on April 6th. John left the West Indies to join Nelson’s fleet in the war against Napoleon, and ended up as a Greenwich Pensioner. The series of re-enactments of historical figures at Greenwich includes other figures such as Samuel Pepys and pirate Grace O’Malley, but I find Deman one of the most intriguing. (If you miss him this time round, he’ll be back in May.)

Performances in the Painted Hall are at 1200, 1300, 1430 and 1530, and are free.

Post from: The London Traveler