City Academy – explorenation.net ~ photography posts, workshops, writings and thoughts by Steven V-L Lee

Chinese Takeaway

April 2, 2016Posted in Personal, workshopsTagged 2016, City Academy, Fujifilm X100T, London, personal, street photographyLeave a comment

I haven’t shot in Chinatown for a while, and today was a great opportunity to bring a group of enthusiastic photographers from the City Academy Documentary class, as the sun was shining and the weather was warm. It always brings a smile to me to see tourists eyeing the strung up roast ducks and chickens in the restaurant fronts, as well as more weird and colourful delicacies like chicken feets, squids and offal hanging off steel rack displays. I even saw visitors smelling large spiky durians that cost as much as they weighed.

Brick Lane Blues

January 17, 2016Posted in news, Personal, workshopsTagged 2016, brick lane, City Academy, Fujifilm X100T, London, street photographyLeave a comment

The coldest day in 2016 was spent in Brick Lane again, with a group of enthusiastic photographers shooting ‘street’ with the City Academy Street Photography class. Brick Lane is always a hive of activity, sights and sounds. Lots of dodgy characters too. Here’s an endearing shot of a young girl throwing change at a moody electric guitarist busker, well deserved as it was about 3C and sleeting at the time.

Charlie Burns, king of Bacon Street.

October 11, 2015September 24, 2016Posted in Matters Concerning, news, Personal, workshopsTagged 2015, brick lane, City Academy, Fujifilm X100T, London, street photographyLeave a comment

Wandered through the streets around Brick Lane again this Saturday with participants from the City Academy street photography class and caught this enigmatic image of a tourist photographing the Charlie Burns mural. Charlie Burns, as I later discovered is a long time resident of Shoreditch, a well-respected gentleman, who had lived here since 1915, and had seen the gradual changes over the years. He established a paper mill business and later ran a boxing club locally. Charlie passed away in 2012, aged 96.

More below :

Mural by Ben Shaw, artist See here

So Long, Charlie Burns

City Academy Photography Classes

InstantLondon – You are what you eat

May 25, 2015Posted in Personal, workshopsTagged 2015, City Academy, InstantLondonLeave a comment

London Chinatown – Documentary Photography class with City Academy

Sarah Choo Jing at A.I.

March 7, 2015September 22, 2016Posted in Featured Artist, Personal, workshopsTagged City Academy, London, Sarah Choo Jing, street photography1 Comment

I happened to discover this small and trendy pop-up gallery hosted by A.I. Studio‘s director Anne-Marie Tong who is currently showing Singaporean artist Sarah Choo Jing‘s From Across the Road on Redchurch Street in London’s uber trendy Shoreditch. I was on a 1-day walk’n’ shoot London Street Photography for City Academy, and just finish the intros with my participants at Rich Mix’s studios.

Sarah’s dark and panoramic prints caught my attention from the window. In this exhibition, the artist is exploring themes based on the act of looking, surveillance and voyeurism. She delves in a mixture of photography with over-painting, video and installations and the show is on, till 15 March. More info here.

After lunch, the street photography class visited the exhibition and Sarah provided a brief introduction to the visitors about her works.

Sarah Choo Jing and Anne-Marie Tong of A.I

A.I., 30a Redchurch Street, London E2 7DP

11am – 6pm (Mon – Sun)

Nearest tune : Shoreditch High Street, Liverpool Street, Bethnal Green

Cake walk

October 4, 2014March 27, 2015Posted in newsTagged City Academy, London, street photography, workshopLeave a comment

Out walking and photographing the cafes and bars in the West End today, with some workshop participants from City Academy’s Lifestyle Photography class and couldn’t help but take this picture outside Patisserie Valerie on Charing Cross Road, W1

Documentary Photography Masterclass

August 27, 2014March 27, 2015Posted in newsTagged City Academy, Documentary Photography, LondonLeave a comment

I will be teaching a 1-Day Masterclass in Documentary Photography at the City Academy on Saturday, 18 October at the Actors Centre in Soho, Covent Garden, London. As it is only a full day class, we will have run through some basic concepts, and story-telling tips, with a strong emphasis on current affairs and social issues in London.

This 1-Day course is more suited to those having completed the Level 2 Shoot to a Brief course or more advanced photographers.

Brick Lane with Yelp Elites

June 23, 2014March 27, 2015Posted in Personal, workshopsTagged 2014, City Academy, Fujifilm X100, London, street photography, workshopLeave a comment

Spent yesterday Sunday afternoon at the Vibe Bar in hipsterville Brick Lane sharing a photography workshop session withe City Academy and Yelp Elite members. Yes, Yelp is a huge and popular online review site which organises free educational events throughout the world for their Elite members. Street Photography was the subject for the afternoon, or I would rather call it Photography in the Street, since there are so many definitions of what Street Photography is. We had around 15 members joining the session with Carol Edrich (professional Dance and Travel photographer), Zarina Holmes (Lifestyle and Travel, Design consultant) and myself.

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For those that have not ventured along Brick Lane on a weekend, this is the place to hang out, with bars, street food, trinket stalls, and lots and lots of vintage stuff, some of the best curry houses in town and amazing street art and grafitti, and did I mention all the different street food from around the world too, like Japanese, Korean, Colombian, kebabs, jerk chicken, dimsum, burgers, bagels, Thai…

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