Winner Interview . Challenge No. 23

Dear followers,

We (@blucke) asked @leethatch to tell us about himself, his approach to photography and give us some brief explanation of his methods to achieve his winner photo.

@streetphoto_bw: First, in an open question, what could you tell us about yourself?
@leethatch: Hi, I’m from a town called Peterborough in the UK. I was born here but moved away when I joined the army, now I’m back living here with my wife, daughter and dog.

@streetphoto_bw: How did you start with photography? And how your interest for Street Photography have been growing?

@leethatch: I started with photography in around October 2011, almost a year ago. I have only had an iPhone, first the iPhone 3G and now the iPhone4. At first I was only interested in taking pictures of my wife and daughter but when they were not available (or willing) to be subjects I just started taking pictures of anything and everything.

I discovered iPhoneArt.com and was blown away with the work talented people were creating with their iPhones. I can’t remember when or how but i moved onto IG and I soon became totally hooked on the work of the likes of @koci and @lafletcher. That’s when I figured out that street photography would provide me with willing (mostly) subjects and unique situations. Now I just make every effort to get out and shoot as much as I can. I love the way that photography has opened my eyes and made me pay attention to all those things that i used to miss, those glances, the interactions, everything.

@streetphoto_bw: How would you describe your style? You’re a very active user of Hipstamatic and has a particular way to create some kind of grunge.

@leethatch: My style is changing or has changed I guess you could say. I do less heavy app’ing and try to get more right in the shot itself. I love Hipstamatic and I really want to improve my work so I’m cropping less and using the shotgun approach less. I am coming home with less duds and more usable shots but I need to get a lot better. Hipstamatic has been really useful in slowing me down and thinking about the shot more. I also enjoy using Hipstamatic in some really low light situations, i’ve been getting some really unique shots by breaking a few rules I guess.

@streetphoto_bw: About your winner photo, it was using iPhone or DSLR? What apps did you use? Could tell us about the moment?

@leethatch: My winning picture was taken on a recent trip to Edinburgh with my father. We were walking down the street together and I saw a guy on his laptop by some trash bags. My iPhone was already in my hand (as always) and I just stopped walking and got about 5 or 6 pictures. My dad could not understand why I was excited about a guy sitting in the street on his laptop. The picture was shot with CameraSharp, I cropped with Snapseed, converted to black and white with Noir and then added a little light with PictureShow. The border is with Pixlromatic.

@streetphoto_bw: What are your thoughts about IG? Do you have any street IGers you like most?

@leethatch: I am really enjoying IG, after I figured out how not to see the popular pictures but just those that appeal to me I became pretty hooked. Personally I just want somewhere where I can go look at my feed and post stuff. I think IG has the perfect balance of features, I’m not a big fan of whistles and bells, simplicity wins with me every time.

Street IGers I like the most? That’s a tough one. Just to name a few that constantly produce such outstanding work that blows me away would be @koci, @lafletcher, @moerdo and @dazedandconfuzd. Most recently I’ve discovered @travisjensen, his straight Hipstamatic street shots are what I consider to be top notch, I find myself constantly going back to his gallery and website to take in his amazing work.