Random Excellence: Simon Robinson

Simon Robinson, Glasgow, Scotland, 2011

TOP reader and street photographer Simon Robinson, who knows how to compose in the square, tells me he has lately been spending most of his time publishing 'zines (his own work and the work of others) under the Fistful of Books imprint.

Simon, whose entire name didn't appear anywhere on his old website until I mentioned it to him(!), was born in England, raised in New Zealand, and has lived in Scotland since 1996.

Mike

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Don't be square
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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

David Lykes Keenan: "Simon just released a small book of my photographs taken in the Croatian city of Vukovar 10 years ago. What a great job he did in selecting and pairing the photographs."

Simon Robinson: "Thanks for the encouraging comments! The photograph was taken on a Minolta Autocord—I love the square format and have had many 6x6 cameras (Rollei and Minolta TLR's, a couple of Mamiya 6's and a Bronica SQAi). The barber shop is called 'Mohair' and has now moved from King Street (where this picture was taken) around the corner to Trongate. I would really love a digital TLR!!"

Comments

[Bill Bresler]

Nice work, Mike. Thanks for pointing us in Robinson's direction.

[William Cook]

Great photo! Just when I start to see some real originality and quality in my work a photo like this comes along and knocks some of that hubris off my shoulders. Down a few pegs now and realizing I still have some work to do.

[Mark Bridgers]

That sign has me fascinated. It looks like Monkey Grooming or something.

[Manuel]

A great black and white street shot in a Glaswegian landscape. The composition is quite accomplihed, which is not always easy with the square format.
I would like to add that, when the topics "Glasgow" and "black and white street photography" are brought together, it's impossible not to think of Oscar Marzaroli. He's well worth a search.

[Kenneth Tanaka]

Square framing is tough! By its geometric nature it's so susceptible to distractions and disturbances...even (especially?) to untrained eyes! Square framing -- real, true square shooting, not just cropping -- is a skill that's nearly been lost with the long-ago disappearance of the TLRs. But it's a wonderful, fun exercise to set your camera's aspect square and romp about giving it a go. With today's 'uge file sizes you'll probably still be left with plenty of bits.

This is a cute snap, Simon. Everything in a square has (or begs) a tight relationship with everything else, eh? As the men and the woman seem unengaged the detail that caught my eye is the sign for the (apparent) hair salon! I found myself wondering what the shop's real name might be. "The Kitty Kut"?

[Nigel]

I had a great half hour looking at his work.

This is the so called "street" photography at its best and as it should be. I loved the gentle humour in the "reading" books.

[Tom]

Some lovely work by Simon there and good to see pictures from Britain that aren't centred on London.

[Brian Taylor]

Some good stuff there. Simon seems to have a knack of noticing when his subjects aren't noticing him. Those images of vets at work are memorable -not a project for the squeamish!

[John Gillooly]

I have never shot with a square format camera, but find myself often cropping to a square.

[Paul H]

Proper square photos, as they should be.

He even went to school with me in NZ - or should that be I went to school with Simon in NZ?