Review: The Book of Strangers

Today we're starting an exciting new review feature which we hope will be of interest to everyone in the community. As you know, Blipfoto is full of creative people bursting with ideas and projects so, if you're a full member who has a book, CD, or anything else you think the community would be keen to hear about, you can now submit your work for review and a possible feature here on the Blipblog.

We're hoping the community and external experts will become future reviewers. If you're interested in joining that panel just drop us a line via the contact form.

We're starting with two reviews of a new book from long time Blipper and well known London photographer Sue Foll. Enjoy.

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Technically, this is a very clean little book. I like the consistent use of duotones and the two page layout of the image next to the blip text works particularly well. The page size is just big enough to do the images justice, and I suspect the size and soft back binding helps to keep the cost down. A hard back, coffee table version would be delightful but so expensive.

The content of the book gives me the impression of a Robert Frank Americans inspired view of deepest London. The racial mix of subjects continues the Frank theme of people of all creeds and skin colours living together, doing everyday things, but not necessarily in harmony. Sue's comments, reproduced from the blip entries are keen and it is good to have them alongside the image, I wish more photographers would do this; tell me what you are thinking because I'm not smart enough to guess. The camera EXIF data is important to the geek in me, and not distracting to anyone who doesn't give a stuff. I've learnt a fair bit from watching Sue's work and I think this style of book would go down a storm with Blippers keen to turn their own favourites into print.

Scott Richards

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Brought together in The Book Of Strangers is an eclectic mix of personalities and moments from the streets of London. This collection of street photography, simply presented in a small square format, was borne of a collaboration between professional photographer Sue Foll and Roger Tooth, picture editor at the Guardian.

Roger discovered Sue's work through Blipfoto, where she has kept a daily journal for the past two years. Intrigued by her captures, Roger asked Sue if he could make a short film documenting how she approached strangers in her street photography. The Book Of Strangers is a collection of Sue's photographs, accompanied by short notes on her subject, setting or technique.

That technique ranges from carefully considered compositions, to quick shots 'from the hip', but all are in duotone, and all are captured on Sue's travels around her home city.

Light is used to great effect throughout the book, be it to add texture and atmosphere, as in her portraits of a girl caught in the rain in Chinatown (p39) and of a woman eating in Carluccio's in Bloomsbury (p73), or to hint at an atmosphere of fun (men in top hats, p87) or intimidation (bouncers, p123).

Whilst the photographs in the book were all taken on separate days, there are some clever touches. For example, on p77 a G20 protestor stands before the Bank of England holding a sign that asks 'Are You A Slave To Money?' The man looks affluent and wears a confident smile, while the pillars rise up behind him. The height of the pillars is neatly reflected in the next image (p79) of high-rise flats, and the subject now is an old man, flashing the camera a friendly, toothless grin.

As is so often the case in street photography, the subject is not always the star. Just as those people on the edges of society often make the most interesting characters to photograph, so the scenes accidentally captured at the edge of the frame often steal the show. For example, the prim woman and girl at the Chelsea Dog Show (p19) are easily upstaged by the determined scowl of a little girl marching behind them; another sour-faced girl glowers in the background of a shot taken at the Tate (p49), and one man's eyebrows grab the reader's attention on p47.

The text makes little attempt to 'explain' the subject - indeed where it does, such as in the description of a man "wearing the sort of street clothing that associates him with US prison culture" (p8), it feels superfluous, or worse, presumptuous. The simple notes about technique work best, providing the reader with a little insight into the nature of the relationships Sue strikes up with strangers - or the circumstances where she chooses instead to blend in to her surroundings like a guerrilla artist in an urban jungle.

The beauty of the book lies in these little glimpses of people going about their daily business - a moment captured. The images that sing from the page are of a unicyclist holding on to a pillar with an expression of momentary panic (p53), a woman and teenager looking equally fed-up with the Tube (p104), and a young Chinese girl hemmed in by elbows but smiling serenely (p67) to the camera.

The Book Of Strangers is a compassionate rendering of some of London's most colourful characters - and also some of its most ordinary. The simplicity of Sue's approach only serves to underline the achievement of her photography - to unceremoniously immerse us in her London and then just as abruptly eject us with the nod of two shiny-headed bouncers. It was a brief journey I greatly enjoyed.

Nicola More

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The Book Of Strangers is available to buy on Blurb, priced £20 / $36.15 / €29.91