For over a decade whilst living in London, I shot photos of Londoners. Street photography is how my photography career began and it is what attracted my first photography clients.
When I started shooting street photography in 2008, there weren’t so many people dedicated to the street photography genre but the rise of Instagram popularised it and the masses embraced it.
Olympus cameras were one of the first brands to notice my work and enrolled me in their Ambassador program, I was an Olympus ambassador for nearly 5 years with my work used in print advertising campaigns for their early micro four-thirds cameras.
“We can be pretty choosy about who we work with and were delighted to discover Nico using our system and were quick to support his exhibition. He is creative with great technique and his dynamic work showcases the quality of the OM-D and our lens range whilst highlighting the spontaneity possible with a camera system designed to be taken anywhere, anytime without needing to pre-book a physio.”
With the help of Olympus I gained more recognition and they helped me through sponsoring my solo street photography exhibitions at Drake & Morgan Bars in the City as well as Hoxton Hotels. I also exhibited at Proud galleries and later on at the W Hotel in Barcelona.
The body of work from my Hoxton Hotel exhibition which lasted a month was called The Great Londoners, a series of 20 framed black and white images of Londoners captured without their knowledge, in order to capture their essence.
“We were delighted to exhibit Nicholas’ work titled ‘The Great Londoners’ in our gallery for the opening of our new Holborn hotel. His work attracted widespread interest since the opening day and played a huge part in helping set both the standard and character of not only our gallery but also the hotel’s vibe.”
These were fun times, I was asked to give talks on street photography at various events and locations including The Photography Show, the Apple Store on Regent street, Tedx, and the London Institute of Photography.
In 2013 I set-up the first London-specific street photography collective, appropriately called Street Photography London. Alan Schaller and Ronya Galka were two photographers out of a group of street photographers, each with their own style.
I worked hard to get the word out there about us and we were featured in The Huffington Post among other top publications. I also organised a group talk in partnership with Olympus and The Printspace in East London.
I found myself doing most of the work, especially on the blog, so I eventually decided to end this quite painful collaboration after a few years, and after “Street Photography London” some of them went on to create “Street Photography International”, a name which truly is a testament to their creativity.
My photography work was taking off, a lot of which not necessarily to do with street photography. I shoot other genres including urban architecture and landscape photography.
You can see all my best London street photography following these links:
BLACK AND WHITE LONDON STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
COLOUR LONDON STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
THE GREAT LONDONERS - BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOS OF LONDONERS
My upcoming book, “How to take amazing photos” is due out in early 2023, it will feature a large selection of my very best street photography as well as tips and techniques to shoot better street photography. The street photos will look a million times better since website photos are reduced and compressed.
It will be the perfect companion for any beginner in this field and in there I share all my best advice.
Until then,
Nico
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