Pause

Earlier this term we did a project called 'to be continued', spending two weeks in print, two in photography, and two in the studio.

These photographs are my final outcome. I hired a film camera and searched London for moments of pause. Moments in which the pause is not artificially created by the camera but is visible in real life. They will be continued but as you see them they are utterly frozen.

The first picture was taken in the financial district. The man left the building and walked to that spot. He stood stock still, staring into the building works for several seconds. I took some time to take the shot as it was in bright sunlight, but he did not see me even though i was only a couple of meters away, pointing a camera directly at him. What has he done?

The second was taken outside the Gherkin. By utter serendipity, I wandered past looking for moments of pause and came across a big crowd. It so happened that the Queen was visiting the Gherkin, and was inside that very moment. I positioned myself near the entrance then looked back at everyone else staring without seeing. It was a gift, because every person there had a camera of some sort out - there was nothing noticable about me pointing one around. Eventually Queenie came out - there was a bizarre moment as hundreds of pictures were taken over and over again, phones infront of eyes, and nobody had their hands free, so nobody could clap. The Queen walked silently through and got into her Bentley, which had silently broken down. Out she got, into the people carrier behind, as one of the watchers said 'oh poor cow'.