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Portobello
by Alex SchneidemanThese photographs were taken in my local area of Portobello and are not at all definitive. They were originally shown at the 5 Gallery on Elgin Cresent in 2006.
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A couple of nice shots but i know Portobello very well and this did not make me feel very nostalgic (Not in London anymore). What about the hectic Saturday market, the Moroccans, the Portuguese, the Jamaican hairdressers downstairs, the antique dealers…? I didnt see any of that in your story.
Brilliant — I love your work and this is so different from previous themes. There’s an artful casualness that masks highly conceived and designed imagery. Full marks — I hope it’s a big success.
Unlike the Portobello I know. Not much effort gone into conveying an interesting story with interesting pictures.
Really interesting,natural compositions. You have real style that is out of reach of most.Love it!
effortless monochrome glimpes of the contrasting collection of W11 inhabitants..from the shi shi residents to the transient tourist consumer and back through the every day workers and residents..these photographs capture a stillness and beauty often lacking from the day to day living they portray. Cracking stuff.
Brilliant.I love this for the fact that it didn’t capture the ‘hectic saturday market, the Moroccans…the antique dealers’. That has been done to death and this was far more subtle and less contrived. A genuine departure.
Quirky. Very nicely observed, especially the people - he makes the quotidien seem quite extraordinary.
I ove these pictures, they are timeless and locationless and at the same time very much Nottinghill. It always makes me laugh when people comment about what isn’t in a picture rather than what is. I notice that there are no elephants. Did you mean to include an elephant? I think it warrants one. I love the narrative component of each picture. They all speak volumes to me.
Picture 6 is of a woman on a bus, a very pretty woman that the photographer couldnt resist but to capture (even if his hands were shaking) but are you sure she was on Portobello when you took that? Why is that Portobello? By the way your reflection is in picture 12.
I agree with Matt, there is no depth, theres no meat in this story, these pictures actually make Portobello look very dull and i know that it isnt.
If the title was something like “Town” and perhaps its someones town then i would understand but it doesnt do Portobello any justice and TB is rightly so when he mentioned all the other cultures, there are so many in that area that you would have to specifically go out of your way NOT to take pictures of them. They are Portobello! Its what makes that area so special.
Open Message to WB from AS.
I can take (almost) any criticism of my work as a photographer; if you find a selection of images lacking that’s fine, if you find them inept that’s fine too and if you find them lacking in ‘meat’ I’m cool with that. But for fuck’s sake stop telling me all things you’ve seen before. I’d feel hurt if I didn’t feel sorry for the poverty of your critical faculty. By the way No6 was photographed on the 52 on Kensington Park Road and several others were shot on Golborne Road so I suppose in your little minds that disqualifies the set. If so don’t you feel you ought to complain to Viewbook? They might give a shit. Now fuck off and let the adults get on with their work.
i really like these. i no longer live in the area but recall many hungover mondays when the whole place was as quiet as a mouse..like it was feeling the pain and going ssshhhhhhh, only to find it going mental the following weekend and encouraging me to do the same.
Non illegitimi carborundum! Your work is beyond the comprehension let alone appreciation of the morons who whinge that this isn’t the NH they know –since they know nothing, who give a flying fatootie! Keep up the good work — we are proud to own a few Schneidemans while they’re still affordable. After Saatchi gets a hold of you, it’s all over!
I lived in Portobello for nearly ten years until recently and it’s great to be taken back to the old place - depicted much as I knew and loved it. Wonderful pictures Alex.
I know the Portobello very well too and I liked the fact that whilst a few of the shots were instantly recogniseable of the place, the Flowered Corner, for example, others were not - it’s the photographer’s own view that shows us something different, not just the obvious. Great work.
Oh dear, i seem to hit a nerve and Alex got all his mates to chip in too.
Big boys dont play with little digital cameras (as obviously seen in shot 12) and then convert them into black & white.
From your website it seems that you are a bit of an architect and interior photographer and I was merely pointing out that you are too scared to photograph people in a reportage style, i can see that from this story.
All the shots are either hidden, blurred or its pointing down ie feet, dogs etc. I think your style is in buildings and interiors because i guess they dont shout at you if you take pictures of them.
And i dont think you were capturing “your portobello” i think you were just too scared to point and shoot at who you really wanted to photograph.
Grow up Wozza…these photo’s are fantastic….let’s see some of yours if you’re such a Rankin (or should that be spent with a ‘W’?)
Warren I will ‘Brooke’ no discussion on this diversity matter - what’s wrong with shots 9, 14 & 11, for instance? Work for some government ‘inclusion’ quango do you? Stop ticking boxes and enjoy the shots. I laughed out loud when I read your take on shot 6 as inadvertent camera shake; that was beautiful. I’m sure Alex wanders London in a state of perpetual fear, avoiding all eye contact & daring only to point his lens at feet, walls and dogs… You did hit a nerve, but it was a funny bone. More please!
I lived in Portobello for years and these photos have brought it all back, How someone can’t just get lost in these photographs, is beyond me. Well Done!
Love it- a refreshing lack of cliches!
Open Message to WB from AS
Ok - I think a truce is in order. I did ask the organisors to remove my post directly I posted it but they haven’t - so its publish and be damned I’m afraid. I’ve read other notice board ‘discussions’ before and all they do is detract from the very thing one is interested in. Lets leave the discussion here and shake hands or whatever the net equivalent is. Photography is such an over-arching subject that to get drawn into a narrow discussion like this is beneath us both. Best, Alex
Many wonderful and evocative shots here, much beloved by me. A pity about some of the over-ripe comments! I love the ‘presentness’ of these photos as they happen to convey what Portobello continues to mean to me, for it’s not about being nostalgic, it’s about buying veg after dropping kids at school etc …
Having lived just off the Portabello, I love these images becuase they evoke the street as I know it (rather than the market which is somewhat obvious and not necessarily uniquitous). What is clever about these it that it goes beyond the suposed glam of the place to the reality - a living breathing mealestrom of humanity - great stuff.
Alex, I dont know you personally so i have no reason to insult you, i am just commenting on the pics, i guess that’s why it says “Leave a comment” under the photographs.Leave a comment doesnt always necessary have to be positive, the fact that your story got so much publicity is a good thing. No such thing as bad publicity eh?
Peace Alex.
your stills work is very understated and i often miss things. I have taken time to observe. This is a story, your personal and actually very refreshing view of Portobello. i enjoy the nod to some classic photographic cliches the classic parisian cafe scene, dogs, with the refreshing Englishness of some of the pictures. Those characters included here are less vivid than those typically associated with Portobello. It is their Portobello. The opening shot actually took my breath away as well as no 17 3 teenagers on bike. The ubiquitous images of graffiti and Portobello trader windows are less stimulating yet each image equally important in your short story. That you had an open argument is not wasted it served to highlight that they didnt get it Alex. They wanted the cliche of Portobello.
To expand on my previous comment (no. 3)A photostory should be accompanied by a set of creative images that use composition and light and humour and humanity to create an emotional response with the viewer. I saw and felt none of the above and in fact thought they were not very good pictures except image 1 but it seems from the mostly positive comments that we all have different ideas about photography.
I feel partly guilty for making that first comment, didnt mean to start an all out war here.
I read all the comments and when i mentioned that I didnt see any images of all the nationalities that live around Portobello i did not mean it should be a cliche. It doesnt have to be a cliche, it all depends on the subject. Anything can be a cliche, even some of the shots in this series could be a cliche, for example the lovers in a cafe. Also you have to remember that not everyone knows Portobello like we do, for people who dont know Portobello perhaps images of Jamaicans and Morrocans could be fascinating.