Shot by Shooter is a London based photographer, specialising in portraits of the people he spots around the city. I’m hesitant to reveal his name - it’s no secret, but I love the elusiveness of his blog and the fact that he doesn’t crave fame and fortune, unlike his peers. He also didn’t take my picture, which was a relief, as it would seem that I’d just tried to buy my way onto the blog. He was a lovely gentleman, and the Scottish accent came as a surprise. We met on a scorching spring afternoon in the East End, flicked through a John Deakin catalogue, ate waffles and bitched about people we knew from back up north. The dictaphone was turned off by that point, which is a shame for you dear reader, but a relief for us. 

OSKAR OPREY: So what’s your background? And when did you first start taking photographs?

SHOT BY SHOOTER: I did psychology at University, and I’ve always been interested in images and photography. The idea of taking photos of people started when I was 21. I was in the City Cafe in Edinburgh when suddenly Vivienne Westwood walked in with Michael Clark plus entourage. For some reason I just wanted – because I’m quite, I WAS quite a shy person, and I think a lot of photographers hide behind cameras - like shielding themselves. I somehow wanted to speak to her but didn’t know how to, so I thought ‘well I’ll take her picture’. And that’s how it happened. So I took her picture. Developed it myself and then sold it to the City Cafe for 25 pounds. So I was thoroughly chuffed with myself. I found that having a camera validates you and people let you in and they say hi and you can almost chat to anyone when you have a camera. That’s what I love about it. Doing sporadic portraits has been a compulsive disorder ever since.

OO: But you’ve never made much money from the photos you take?

SBS: I’ve never made any money. Apart from that first image to the City Cafe I’ve only ever sold one other print in my life and that was to Sir Paul Smith. I’ve never tried either. I’ve always wanted to be free: that’s why I have another job.

OO: And you do your other job full time?

SBS: Yeah. Paul Smith saw one of my images and asked to buy it, and I thought yeah why not?

OO: Is it one from the blog then?

SBS: Yeah it’s the one of David Bailey.

OO: Ah yeah- that’s quite recent.

SBS: Yeah – and now he has it in his office.

OO: Has the image been printed large?

SBS: No I don’t like big prints, I can’t stand them.

OO: So how big is the image?

SBS: It’s no bigger than A5.

OO: And they’re all digital photos that you take?

SBS: Yes.

OO: Where do you think fashion blogging came from? Did it emerge from street photography, or do you think it’s more referential to classic fashion photography? I see you have a book of John Deakin’s work there.

SBS: Interesting question. Where did it come from…I think it’s a bit of a backlash against commercialisation. I think people were just bored of the same magazines and the same designers and the same press departments feeding people the same things. It was very driven by sales, but now with blogging I feel that real people are able to provide the things they like. They can’t be bullshitted anymore.

OO: Did you look at other blogs before doing your own – or were you one of the first to start a blog?

SBS: Oh no I wouldn’t say I was one of the first but… well actually I think I probably was one of the first, but in the pre-internet age.  I think one of the very first fashion street photographers would have been August Sander. He would be the first person doing this kind of thing. Now in any circumstance it’s hard to be original – but I don’t claim to be. I do claim to do something just a little bit different: I don’t go to fashion shows.

OO: You don’t?

SBS: Never! That’s my first rule: avoid fashion shows.

OO: And you don’t include photos of yourself on the blog?

SBS: Nope, not interested. Couldn’t care less.

OO:  And in terms of your own ‘media image’ you don’t try and become an internet media personality.

SBS: No, that’s the whole point. It should always be about the photographs, not the photographer. I mean the photographs should show enough about the photographer. It’s fifty-fifty, you don’t need to see me because I’m in the picture with the subject.

OO: What do you think about the other blogs out there?

SBS: This is my Lily Allen moment isn’t it… I don’t really like them to tell you the truth (laughs). I look at them only to see if they’ve got someone that I have – if they do I won’t use that photograph, which is terrible. But they never have. You know, I never see any of my subjects on other blogs; a couple at the most. It’s quite bizarre; obviously I’m looking at the world in a totally different way.

OO: Do you have a specific territory in which to hunt for subjects?

SBS: Yeah. Soho – I’m obsessed with Soho; the history and the seedy dark alleys. This area (Spitafields) is fantastic, as is Brick Lane – Hackney Road is really good as well.

OO: But you would say most of the photos are taken around Soho?

SBS: I would say 70% yeah.

OO: And you get an hour at lunch just to go out and have a wander?

SBS: I go out for my full lunch hour and my break. I never stop. I have to because I’ve only got x amount of time and often I won’t see a single person, then other times I’ll find five. I don’t just take any old rubbish – it’s like a spider sense. I’ve just got to take their picture. For every picture it can take like two or three hours over a few sessions… because sometimes I see the background before I see the person.

OO: So why do you do it then?

SBS: Why do I do it? Em… I think it’s an obsession. I’m addicted to… I just see people that I think – I need to capture something. I need to… do collaboration. It’s also the work of a collector - collecting typologies. If you look through all the pictures you’ll notice that I’m obsessed by ginger people. (laughs)

OO: Yeah there are a lot of ginger boys on there.

SBS: And girls as well. But yeah mostly boys, I see them as the chosen ones. Yes, so I’m like a collector, it’s like when you were a kid and you collected these stickers that you swapped. It’s like that – I want to get that hot boy or that girl with the amazing pair of eyes. That’s what it’s like. And sometimes I think it’s about fragile beauty as well. I really pick on some people, they say to me ‘but why have you chosen me?’ Like there was this one girl Rachel, about four days ago, who was totally insecure about how she looks. She was like ‘why would you want to pick me’?  I said cause you’re beautiful and she was like ‘I can’t see it’. So anyway I put the photo on and immediately got people saying how beautiful she was. I think I’m attracted to that sort of vulnerability.

OO: So is there a ratio between boys and girls?

SBS: Oh I can do a guy in two seconds, but I find it really hard to do a girl. It’s funny and very strange.

OO: Do you think that’s a gay thing?

SBS: Yeah it is I think… it’s a gay aesthetic thing.

OO: Because you know for sure what a hot guy looks like, but you look at girls in a slightly different way?

SBS: Yeah definitely. Someone said to me about my girls that if they’re not ginger they’re some kind of icon. They’re all people that I love. That’s true for both the girls and the guys. I mean I love John Waters; I was obsessed with Penelope Tree and ended up running into both of them and taking their picture. I met Marc Almond, but that was a shit photograph.

OO: And out of the icons, a lot more of them are guys. You’ve photographed Duggie Fields a few times, and Sebastien Horsely.

SBS: Yeah I met Sebastian two weeks before he died. And I said to him how you doing? And he said to me ‘oh darling, I feel like death’. And I thought oh… that’s a bit depressing. And then he died. Awful.

OO: So the images on the blog, and I said this when I emailed you, seem to be more about people’s faces rather than just the clothes that they’re wearing. But, everyone you stalk is quite fashionable. So… why do you choose to frame them in that way? I mean you can tell just by the hairstyles that they’re very trendy people.

SBS: Do you think? Hmmm – some of them aren’t though. Especially with boys, there was one a few days ago, he has a Paisley shirt on, and curly hair and he was not trendy. I thought this is great because I can cut his awful shorts out and he’ll still look amazing. It’s a combination of several elements:  what they wear and what their face looks like. Do they fit into the background? Sometimes I like to have a joke with the background as well.

OO: Because of course you use very specific backgrounds.

SBS: Yeah, did you see the one with Ben Wishaw the actor?

OO: Yep.

SBS: With the cartoon?

OO: And he wasn’t really trendy, very cute though.

SBS: Yep, but the cartoon in the background just looks like his face. And he thought it was the funniest thing. Cause he asked to see it, and there was a blank wall and I was like can you move over. Because I always ask them to move and they don’t get why. So I got him to move and I showed it to him and he was like ‘oh that’s so funny’.

OO: So when you see someone, will you follow them, walk with them down the street?

SBS: Yes, I’ll stalk them, totally stalk them.

OO: Until you find somewhere right to shoot them.

SBS: Yep totally. They are my prey and I wait. You asked me if I like other fashion blogs and the main reason why I don’t rate them is because of the poor quality of the pictures. I’m not saying that mine are amazing but these bloggers are not looking at the quality of the light. They’re just so excited…  they see someone famous and they take their picture. They’re in awe and in a hurry. They’re not looking at how the light falls, how the shadows are cast – is it a diffused light or is it a harsh light? And that really annoys me. I mean I’ve had cases where I’ve had an amazing subject but the lighting is awful, so I don’t use it. As much as it hurts me I can’t use it because the quality is not there.

OO: So how do you approach people?

SBS: It’s kind of my secret. I’m not going to say. I have my own little way of working but I basically just fumble about like an amateur.

OO: And are people aware that you’ve been following them as well?

SBS: Sometimes, occasionally yeah – but I’m very good.

OO: How many streets will you follow them for?

SBS: Eh – you gotta be quick because sometimes they’ll go on the phone, or go into the office or meet their friends. So you’ve got to be very careful that you don’t lose them and I’d say if you see someone mega famous you should try and work it then and there.

OO: How long do you think the blogging trend will last, and is it more important than printed magazines?

SBS: I think it will go on forever because there are a lot of narcissistic, self-indulgent people posting things – and I’m part of that of course. I’m as narcissistic as the next person.

OO: Although you have a funny way of showing it, because you don’t want to be shown.

SBS: Yeah – maybe in a kind of reverse way. I’ve already said I’m in there with the subject… I think I’m showing my narcissism through my taste in people. I wanted to show, in the blogging world, that it’s not all about the big industry professionals. There’s actually amazing people out there, I think that’s what I wanted to show – you can get as equally interesting subjects by not going to these fashion shows. These other bloggers aren’t real independent people because they’re all financed by big companies and get everything for free. And I would argue that you know that little kid who’s got no money has more style on his little pinkie than they’ve got on their whole body. I just think those type of blogs are so oversaturated – there’s a market for it but I just don’t want to go down that road. I thought I’d take the harder path.

OO: Those bloggers are just like free PR agents.

SBS: Yeah. Of course they are and they love it.

OO: And that’s why it’s been embraced so well by the industry.

SBS: I think with my blog, they find it quite hard to pigeonhole me because I don’t communicate with anyone. I don’t write a little chatty story ‘Oh I was walking up the road and I bumped into John Waters’, I just post it and it’s up to people to work it out. I get emails saying ‘who are you? Do you know these people? Are you a man or a woman?’ I find that quite funny.

OO: Do you read a lot of magazines?

SBS: Not really no

OO: Do you ever buy any?

SBS: No. I look. But I read books. And I read comics – I read Marvel Comics. I’m obsessed by

Marvel comics!

OO: Wow.

SBS: Yeah, I don’t read magazines because… because I’m a visual person I do my own visuals. But there are magazines that I do think are really terrific. I think Purple is a terrific magazine. That’s a bible – that’s a brick of a book and I think it’s really beautifully done and is an example of where… that wouldn’t have existed if the blogging thing hadn’t really started. I think they just pushed it up a level.

OO: Do you remember Purple from years ago?

SBS: Yeah I do, and I have their anthology book. It’s a really great looking magazine – and its fifteen quid – but it’s worth it.

OO: So, how many photos do you think you’ve got all together?  How extensive is the shot by shooter archive?

SBS: Thousands. I’ve got an amazing art director who I need because I can’t sequence the pictures. It’s my ex-boyfriend Danny, he’s actually my editor.                                                                     

OO: So he uploads them and everything?

SBS: Oh yeah totally, it’s a team. I’m part of a team.

OO: So images of yours that we print in the magazine – these will be the first time they’ve ever been put to paper?

SBS: Yeah. Well I printed one for Paul. And that was it, nothing else, oh and I gave one to The Chap magazine last week. They asked me for my picture of Alex Kapranos so I gave them that. That’s it. But I don’t care about that – I just want the pictures to get better and better with each image.  It would be great if it took off but I don’t want it to be massive. I’ve got another job… I’d love to make my living out of taking pictures but I have to be realistic. It’s probably not going to happen. And also if it did happen then I can’t work to a deadline. Like if you said to me ‘OK let’s do a fashion shoot’, one - I wouldn’t be interested and two - I couldn’t actually do it because it’s not… mine. It’s quite a selfish thing. At the end of the day I just want it to be all about good portraits, and that’s what I’m going to continue putting all my energy into.

shotbyshooter.blogspot.com 

All photographs are by Shooter.

This interview was originally published in Dragmag Issue 1 (Summer 2011) 

(Source: dragmag.net)