An exhibition of film photographs shot on the London Camera Project walks is taking place in London’s Notting Hill on Sunday (28 April).
The exhibition is called ‘The Decisive Moment’, and has been masterminded by London Camera Project’s Robert Andrews and Alvyn Thomas (AJ) from London venue the Notting Hill Arts Club.
The exhibition features work by many of the participants of London Camera Project walks over the last decade, all of them shot on film.
Andrews said: “I met AJ a couple of years ago and he’s been very supportive of the project, attending photowalks and coming up with cool ideas. After a Notting Hill photowalk a few months ago, AJ invited us to the Notting Hill Arts Club where he showed us around and we spoke about hosting an exhibition with the photowalks as the theme.
“The thing is on these walks we often don’t take that many photos because we’re too busy chatting, or the pics we do take end up languishing on a hard drive or a social media channel where it is scrolled past in less than a second. I think if you have a photograph that you like or are proud of you should consider printing and framing and displaying it. I agreed with AJ as soon as he said it.”
Andrews has been running photowalks since 2016. “My first photowalk was in Birmingham with Hamish Gill [of 35mmc] and some of his friends and then I did them on my own all over London. It was awesome being part of a very cool brand that had chapters all over the States. After a while I went my own way under the brand of London Camera Project.”
The walks (which Kosmo Foto sometimes sponsors) are open to all analogue photographers and Andrews usually picks a different part of the capital each time. The exhibition on Sunday will be preceded by a photowalk through Notting Hill.
“My first London photowalks had six or seven people each time which was really cool because everyone could form their own friendships and it was easier to keep track of the attendees. Years later we can have 40 people which brings its own challenges.
“In the beginning I’d choose somewhere I knew well and we’d go there, walk around and take pics but now I’m open to suggestions of where we can go next and people often ask if we can try other areas. l love that.
“The success of the walks has lead to some very helpful introductions to other businesses like Parallax Photo Coop, Kosmo Foto, Ilford, Kodak, Lomography, Keks, Analogue Wonderland, The Photographers Gallery, Hawkes Brewery and now the Notting Hill Arts Club.”
The exhibition opens from 4pm and runs until midnight. Tickets cost £8 and the exhibition opening will also include a film development demonstration from Zone Imaging.
I'm a New Zealander who has been living in London since the mid-1990s, shooting film seriously since the year 2000. Kosmo Foto was launched in 2012 and has since become a film brand, with the release of my first films Kosmo Foto Mono 35mm (2017) and Kosmo Foto Mono 120 (2019).
I’m doing everything I can to promote film photography in the 21st Century, and help it survive and thrive. If you want to write something for Kosmo Foto, please drop me a line at foto.dowling@gmail.com.
