Theo McInnes’s cinematic photos of New York on film
- Text by Theo McInnes
- Photography by Theo McInnes
Street photography always fascinated me. In fact, it was the shooting style of the Magnum Photography masters from the 1950s on the pavements of Paris and the sidewalks of New York that originally sparked my interest in photography.
Shooting (mostly) on 35mm Leicas, loaded with black and white film, photographers like Gary Winogrand, Bruce Davidson and Eliot Erwitt would hit the streets looking for strange or intriguing scenes from everyday life that stood out to them. These photographers had the ability to turn a brief moment that usually shoots past in the blink of an eye into a story. It creates a memory, of sorts, from seemingly normal everyday interactions between people and how they negotiate the world around them.
These everyday moments can be anything, most of the time something pretty simple, or quite boring and mundane (think a child screaming or someone crossing the road). But with a camera these moments are captured and that ‘boring’ brief moment in time is turned into something with a new found quality, forever frozen and preserved as a moment in time. This is what these masters were so good at – spotting these fleeting moments – and through the medium of photography elevating them into something much more interesting, something worthy of printing, putting into a frame and looking at for hours in a gallery.
It is of no surprise that so many of the classic photojournalists saw the street as a playground to make their art, diving into the melting pot of these everyday social interactions, the little kinks in the city’s fabric.
Last month I found myself in New York, with my analogue Nikkormat FT2 (because who can can afford a Leica in 2022) and some rolls of black and white 35mm. The idea of (trying) to step into the shoes of these masters – or at the very least play on their stage – is something I’d always imagined trying to do, to try and find and shoot those little unseen moments with my old camera, on film, just as the Magnum masters had done decades ago.
Every photographer sees differently, and I found that a lot of the things that stood out to me were what I wouldn’t notice shooting at home: cultural clichés and anything typically American. New York has such a fast-paced and frantic nature, making it easy to understand why these masters never got tired of the city or ever lost motivation to hit the streets and shoot.
Follow Theo McInnes on Instagram.
Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
Latest on Huck
The legendary trans artist & illustrator behind Drag magazine
A new book brings together pioneer Vicky West’s luminous illustrations of fantasy, femininity and fashion.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Why did police taser a Bristol grandfather in the face?
Trailblazing documentary I Am Judah chronicles community champion Ras Judah Adunbi’s horrific treatment at the hands of the police and his fight for justice.
Written by: Maisy Hunter
In photos: Ghana’s complex e-waste industry
A new exhibition explores the country’s huge, unregulated industry, which can be hazardous to workers’ health and the local enviroment, yet provides economic opportunity to many.
Written by: Isaac Muk
Meet Corbin Shaw, Huck 81’s Artist in Residence
The Sheffield born artist talks about the people and places that shaped his practice for the latest issue of Huck.
Written by: Josh Jones
The Blessed Madonna: “Dance music flourishes in times of difficulty”
The DJ talks about her debut album ‘Godspeed’, connection and resistance on the dance floor, the US election and more alongside exclusive pictures from her album release party.
Written by: Ben Smoke
Revisiting the birth of skate culture in 1970s Los Angeles
New photobook ‘Last Days of Summer: California Skateboarding Archive 1975–1978’ looks back at an iconic chapter of youth culture.
Written by: Miss Rosen