I imagine my friendships as a spider’s web.
Strands reach out in different directions; some towards college, others towards
London or other parts of the country. A few have to stretch across oceans and
bypass countries or continents to reach bloggers in America or Australia. Occasionally the
horizontal skeins join one friend to another as lives overlap, often in
unexpected ways. For me, the existence of this disparate collection of
individuals and social spheres is a continual source of pleasure.
I’m always looking to add further threads
to the web. Each unfurls the possibility of something new – another person to
talk to, work with, enjoy the company of. They arise in a number of ways. The
most obvious is mutual acquaintances, either introduced in person or
recommended by a friend. A few were lucky chance encounters on residential
courses or during events. Many have been found through London Fashion Week,
with several street style photographers and other individuals met across the
cobbles. Recently I’ve had the privilege to meet two bloggers slightly younger
than me in separate cities, after long strings of emails. In both instances
it was delight to move from computer screen to face-to-face encounter.
Such a diverse range of social interactions proves the irrelevance of age. Exchanges take place with people from fourteen
to sixty-plus and carry a common theme – curiosity about and interest in other
human beings. There’s a phrase that encapsulates this for me, taken from E.M
Forster’s ‘Howards End’: “Only connect.” I most value the friendships that cut
through the shallows and allow for this sense of connection – of conversation
and debate, shared interests and contrasting opinions.
Talk between old friends has a different
context than that of new acquaintances. One is characterized by ease and
familiarity, the other often revolves around discovery. To find such new
encounters, sometimes you have to take a plunge – be the brave one by igniting
conversation with the person sitting next to you.
Then there are the other approaches
demanded by pursuits such as street style photography. I experienced a nervous
flutter on waylaying well-dressed individuals for Oxfam at Hay Festival last summer. Despite
brandishing my camera, it still took a deep breath of courage to ask if I could
photograph the passersby whose shoes, layers or smiling eyes caught my
attention.
With photographer Fred however, I was in
front of the camera for the images above. I met him after someone I know mentioned several times
that he would “have to” get us to do some work together. I followed it up and
several weeks later we met on a freezing afternoon at the top of Primrose Hill.
I had little idea what he looked like, trusting instead that he would recognize
me. His camera was a good indicator though. We chatted between shots, me taking
very gentle steps in the green Office heels as we crisscrossed paths and chose
suitable benches. A quick removal of the coat to reveal the sixties dress
beneath was chilly enough to require a warm pot of tea afterwards. We discussed aspirations, inspirations, respective A' Levels and Cindy Sherman. As I walked back through the
ever-darkening afternoon I paid special interest to the people around me: the
dog walkers, the families, the joggers, the tourists, the couples, the lone
strollers. Each undoubtedly had their own web of threads spinning out their
daily encounters.
You can see more of Fred's work here.