Captured #13: March 2025

Hello! 👋

I try to send these emails monthly but it’s been 7 weeks since the last one. Soz. I started sending emails with the primary goal of sharing all the interesting, (street) photography-related nuggets I’ve found over the past month, but also to share some tidbits about my own photography journey in a calm place that isn’t so ephemeral (or annoying) as Instagram.

Having an email newsletter puts a bit of pressure on you to try and write something vaguely interesting each month, but sometimes the inspiration just isn’t there. In this issue I’ve decided to waffle on about a few things I’ve been up to, photography-wise, over the last few weeks. To be honest, maybe that’s all I need to do each month?! :)

Vienna

I went to Vienna for a long weekend to visit a friend. This wasn’t a photography trip but – of course – I had my camera with me at all times, and took some shots as we wandered the streets and sights of this beautiful city for hours.

I’ve not seen too many street photography YouTubers/influencers talk about Vienna which is a surprise as it seems like a fantastic place to shoot. I’ll definitely be back, and next time I’ll try and carve out time for some dedicated photography. Here are some of my favourite snaps.

London

I had a couple of days down in London in February. I love taking photos in London, it’s one of the best places you can go as a street photographer. Loads of places, interesting characters, usually pretty good weather (at least to someone who’s lived in Edinburgh for 15 years!).

The well-worn places you see the photo-influencers shooting in are definitely worth visiting, but there are plenty of other locations worth checking out. I spent a day in the sunshine wandering from Canary Wharf, across the City to the West End, with a bit of the Southbank thrown in for good measure. I even went on a boat. It was glorious.

I also popped into the Tate Britain to see The 80s: Photographing Britain which was excellent. It’s on until 5th May, so if you get the chance be sure to go and see it.

Here are a few of my favourite London snaps.

Leica M11 Monocrom

Last month I wrote about lusting after a Leica M11. I haven’t bought one (yet) but I discovered that you can loan them for free from Leica for a weekend… if you’re willing to pass an identity check and let them take a massive authorisation on your credit card. I threw caution to the wind and gave it a shot!

They didn’t have the M11, only the Monocrom version – the one that only captures black and white. It really is a wonderful camera and I had great fun shooting in the Edinburgh haar!

I wrote a blog post about the experience which goes into a lot more detail. Here are a few photos I took with it.

Some more photos I’ve taken recently

I’ve taken quite a lot of photos recently. Some on film (I’ve learned I really like Porta 400 and Cinestill 800T!), some on digital. You can probably tell which.

The weather has also been pretty good – sunny, but cold. Lemme know what you think!

Experimenting with an online Street Photography forum

I’m a tech nerd as well as a photography nerd, so I decided to set up a FREE old-school, online forum as a place for photographers (street-focused, but everyone welcome) to hang out, share work and chat about all things photography. There are a few forums around, but they are typically paywalled behind a subscription. Why does everything have to be monetised these days?! Well, I’m here to fix that.

Social media isn’t great for long discussions, or even for sharing links to external content – the algorithms are programmed to downrank posts with links… because engagement 🙄 Forums were popular many years ago (Reddit still is, I guess, but it’s also a toxic cesspool) but much of the software never evolved. Not so with my forum which uses the excellent Discourse behind the scenes (not to be confused with Discord – which is awful).

It’s a bit of an experiment. Feel free to sign up, take a look around and introduce yourself. There are a bunch of people on there already, but we need a few more to get the discussions flowing! Don’t be shy!

https://forum.streetphoto.social

📺📚🎞️ Found Online

Here are a few photography things I’ve come across this month that you may want to watch, read or buy! 💸 If you come across anything interesting, feel free to share with me! I’d love to hear from you.

Listening Party 🔈

Nothing has really grabbed me this month in the music department, but here are a couple of albums that are starting to grow on me.

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That’s it for March. See you next time 👋