Each week we feature a mobile photographer and ask them about the photo they are most proud of and why it is so special to them. The stories that have come out over recent weeks have been truly wonderful and powerful tales. The photos each person choses doesn’t have to be their best or the one they are best known for, it just has to be one that they have an emotional connection with. This weeks featured photographer is John Fullard.

I have only recently come across the work of John Fullard, a mobile street photographer from New York. I have been blown away by the images he takes. He has a fantastic ability of being able to capture a moment in time and tell a powerful story in that split second.

A lot of John’s work is taken on the New York subway where he captures commuters as they pass the time on their journey. Many from this series capture the out of the ordinary such as IMG_9707 or IMG_9710 or the sinister like IMG_9663 or this guy.

I also have a soft spot for his series which documents some stunning graffiti art on the New York streets. So without further a do I will hand over to John.

The Photo I Am Most Proud of: John Fullard

john fullard

I live in the Bronx and made this image on the platform of East 180th station while waiting for a train to Manhattan. I’ve always liked this picture and often go back to look at it to see if I can understand why. I love the scene: the contrast between the darkness and the light, the figure framed by the window, the man who appears so engrossed in his book that he’s completely oblivious to the moving train, presumably his train.

For the most part, my mobile photography is confined to the subway in New York. This photo isn’t really typical of the sort of image I take on the subway, but I chose it for a number of reasons. I chose it not only because I genuinely like it, but also because it marks the start of an ongoing fascination I have with capturing candid portraits of people on the subway, finding those fleeting moments when an individual lets his or her guard down in public, exposing some private element of their character. But, most of all, I chose it because thinking about this photograph, and my reaction to it, helped me come to the realization that composition will always trump resolution. There’s no need to haul around a lot of heavy and expensive equipment to make pleasing images. My day job requires a lot of precision, and I think this had a very clinical influence on my photography, giving me the sense that, for an image to be good, it had to be crisp, clear and symmetrical. To a certain extent this is still true for me, but this photograph marks a turning point and helped me acknowledge that grain and blur could actually improve an image.

I use an iPhone and almost always use the Hipstamatic app to capture images (I’ve recently started using Oggl). This particular image was captured using the John S lens and Blackeys film and post-processed in iPhoto.

Connect with John Fullard

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