Peter Cripps Photography

I’ve just returned from my first visit to Photo London. I’ve wanted to visit this art fair in the centre of London held every May at Somerset House since it started 10 years ago and finally made it last weekend. What did I think?

First off, it’s BIG! If you don’t know Somerset House it’s a large building complex situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames. The present building has had numerous uses over its 250 year history but is now dedicated to the visual arts. For Photo London the central courtyard has a huge tent with photo galleries from all overt the world showing their wares whilst the various wings have rooms large and small dedicated to exhibitions and publishing houses.

The thing to note about Photo London is it’s a ‘fair’ rather than an ‘exhibition’. Although there are literally thousands of images on display from photographers old and new it’s primary purpose is one of print (and book) sales. Nearly all the images are up for sale, some at eye watering prices. Walking around some of the gallery booths with framed prints on their walls starting at £6000 one cannot help feel a bit intimidated. Clearly the gallery owners can spot who’s visiting as a buyer and who is just their to look as their icy stares pierce through or around you if they recognise you as being a member of the latter group.

Setting that aside however it was fabulous to be able look at actual prints from photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson, Edward Steichen, Don McCullin, David Bailey, Terry O’Neill, Jeanloup Sieff and many, many more. Needless to say, I did not buy any.

For anyone not living in London this is not a cheap day out. Day entry is £32 and photographer talks are £10. I wanted to attend a talk and when I booked the only one I considered worth while was by a street photographer called Lucy Hamidzadeh. Lucy is a competent and very passionate street photographer and had some nice images and good tips to share. I was slightly peeved however that after I had booked my day ticket and a talk a number of other speakers were announced, including Don McCullin who I would have liked to see. They also had a number of photographers, on the days I was not there, signing books. Clearly the trick is to hold off buying tickets as late as possible until all speakers are signed up.

Would I go to Photo London again? Probably not. It was an enjoyable day out but a little too expensive for what I felt I go from it.

I did stay over however and spent the next day on a long (17 mile) photo walk starting from my hotel at the north west corner of Hyde Park and ending up at Marylebone Station. Overall it was a moderately successful day for getting some street images – though a bit tiring on the old legs and feet.

Below are some of my favourite images from my visit. I decided for this trip, as I was travelling light, to take a single camera (my Fujifilm X-Pro3) and a single lens (my recently purchased Fujinon 23mm F2) in my trusty Billingham Hadley Pro which also doubled as my weekend travel bag.