Surreal Street Photography Series

I've been exploring surrealism in street photography for my latest body of work. Inspired by Trent Parke and his incredible black and white images that encapsulate an ethereal quality while shot in our everyday surrounds.

The master of street photography, Henri Cartier-Bresson was also influenced by surrealism.  For me there is something really exciting about playing with ordinary reality, and making it surreal. We are turning the ordinary into the extraordinary.

There are many techniques that have been used when approaching surreal street images. Strange juxtapositions and scenes, silhouettes, double exposures, slow shutter speeds to create blur and the list goes on. Personally, I think the key is to take photos that suggest more questions than provides answers.

I decided to shoot with the iphone for this series. In order to capture the intimacy of these moments I needed to be virtually invisible. Here are some images from the series, as I set out to capture the streets with new eyes.

'Street Focus' - Melbourne street series

I've recently started a new photographic project, 'Street Focus'. I'm documenting people in this series, whether a part of the urban landscape or caught in a candid moment. In our daily lives it's so easy to fixate on what divides us—ethnicity, age, gender and class; instead of what unites us. I'm fascinated with the way we gather and act collectively on the street, on the tram, at work and having fun, it's all superbly similar.

I continually seek evidence that we do absolutely mirror each other despite our vast differences. Every day I am captivated to document the people and the places that surround me on the palpable streets of Melbourne, an incredibly diverse and dynamic place to live.

'Street Focus' Melbourne

My passion for street photography started about 5 years ago when I moved to London. I started out shooting on my iPhone for fun and was lucky enough to connect with the mobile photography community early in it’s rise to popularity. I built relationships with some excellent street photographers, such as founders of the Mobile Photo Network, Ollie Lang and Misho Baranovic. It was also around this time that Instagram launched and provided an excellent platform to share my images and learn from others.

There is a rawness and an excitement to shooting on the street that I find addictive. I suppose it’s because you’re concentrating on what’s right in front of you and really 'in the moment'. I photograph urban landscapes too, but I decided to get back out on the streets of the Melbourne CBD and shoot with a focus on the people of the city.

I wanted to get as close as possible to the subjects, which is of course very difficult. It’s quite hard to take a good photo of someone without them noticing. The iPhone provides a discreet and wide angle camera which makes it a good option for street photography.

These were shot on my DSLR at around 50mm, which is closest to what the viewer would see if they were actually there. I'm pretty happy with results and found it quite thrilling getting amongst the action and capturing the people surrounding me. 'Street Focus' will be an ongoing series documenting urban Melbourne. Stay tuned for more images soon and follow the series here on Instagram.

Flinders Street, Melbourne

This shot was captured on Flinders Street, during my daily commute home from work. The street crossing provides a good backdrop to capture the energy of Melbourne's CBD, combining interesting architecture with people in motion. Like this image, I shoot and edit a lot of my street images with my iPhone, because it's the camera that's always with me.