ABOUT
*FUTURE CRAFT MARKET DATES - CHRISTMAS MARKETS*
PEXMAS, PECKHAM, LONDON: Saturday 3rd December
CANOPY MARKET, KINGS CROSS, LONDON: Fri 9th to Sun 11th December 2022 INCLUSIVE - Part of Coal Drops Yard, 5-10 minute walk from Kings Cross & St Pancras train stations, London
CANOPY MARKET, KINGS CROSS, LONDONTues 13th to Thurs 15th December INCLUSIVE - Part of Coal Drops Yard, 5-10 minute walk from Kings Cross & St Pancras train stations, London
(BACK AT!) HERNE HILL MARKET, BRIXTON, LONDON Sunday 18th December - near Brixton, South London 10am-4pm
*For my latest posts you can also visit my Instagram page:
#shortsimonphoto
Simon Short is a documentary/landscape/travel photographer who sells his work at several craft markets in London, and specialises in the use of colour film, analogue medium-format cameras and colour dark room printing. His work has featured in a number of broadsheet newspapers as well as in online publications.
Simon grew up in and around West Yorkshire, before moving to the South of England in 1996 after completing a degree in Photography at the Norwich School of Art. Simon is a member of Photofusion, where he prints most of his work from colour negative in their darkrooms, along with Rapid Eye sometimes, both in London. This has become very specialised now in the advent of digitisation, so printing like this is now a rarity!
Simon's work is both imaginative and meticulous. He is drawn to the unusual in the every day, and approaches each idea with impeccable planning and diligent commitment to the vision he has for each photographic project.
IN PUBLICATION AND EXHIBITION
Time of the Signs feature in The Independent on Sunday Magazine, 16 April 2006
London, USA feature in The Independent on Sunday Magazine, 11 September 2005
Interviewed by Robert Elms on BBC London, September 2005
(The gap of 10 years or more is due to putting my photography on more of a back burner while taking up several 'non-photographic' jobs in London and the South East! But the passion in what I do has never left me, & I have returned to the America projects more fully in the last 3 or 4 years.). As mentioned above, I also sell my work at various markets and fairs in London.
Exhibition: LONDONUSA, Gallery Below, Cheapside, London 12 May-18 July 2017
Exhibition: The Camera Club/1885 Gallery, Camberwell, London: 'Commuterworld, LondonUSA & Other Stories, 18-30 March 2018
Exhibition: The London Photo Show, Bargehouse Gallery. Oxo Wharf Tower, London: LONDONUSA & Other Stories, 24-28 October 2018
Read on!
London, USA feature in The Independent on Sunday Magazine, 11 September 2005
Interviewed by Robert Elms on BBC London, September 2005
(The gap of 10 years or more is due to putting my photography on more of a back burner while taking up several 'non-photographic' jobs in London and the South East! But the passion in what I do has never left me, & I have returned to the America projects more fully in the last 3 or 4 years.). As mentioned above, I also sell my work at various markets and fairs in London.
Exhibition: LONDONUSA, Gallery Below, Cheapside, London 12 May-18 July 2017
Exhibition: The Camera Club/1885 Gallery, Camberwell, London: 'Commuterworld, LondonUSA & Other Stories, 18-30 March 2018
Exhibition: The London Photo Show, Bargehouse Gallery. Oxo Wharf Tower, London: LONDONUSA & Other Stories, 24-28 October 2018
Read on!
PHOTOGRAPHER'S STATEMENT
I specialise in location photography, covering documentary, landscape and portrait work, and always looking for the unusual. I also use medium-format colour film for high quality photographic prints. What follows is a little more detail of what I do!
Central to my practice, I use medium format colour film (also known as ‘120’ film). Apologies for those who know, but for those who don’t this is basically a larger film (or negative) than the once familiar 35mm film - the film everyone once used of course - on holiday, or at your Aunt’s birthday party for example! Medium format film gives a greater area to print from in a darkroom, creating a sharper, finer quality/less grainy feel to the final image, when compared with 35mm film, and allows for sharper and larger prints to be made. My preferred medium, and very unique compared to digital. Film has it's own quality, despite the ongoing improvements in digital (or it sometimes seems, just ever more pixels!)! Smaller pixels are still pixels (basically squares next to squares!), whereas the 'grain' in film, when magnified, has its' own unique, people say organic, feel about it.
I print all my work myself in colour darkrooms, a service still available in London in just a handful of places, along with processing the film in the first place - in fact I've noticed a slight resurgence in recent years! What you see on this website are digital scans of course (by the way I don't mind digital! It has it's obvious advantages. I just prefer film, or as it's known 'analogue' photography as my medium, or my starting point even if some of my work is scanned later), but all my projects start life on colour medium-format negative film.
In terms of subject matter, you will notice an obvious heavy slant towards America in my work, and it is prints from America I sell in London craft markets and online in Etsy. I travelled to America first around the year 2000, and absolutely loved the place from a photographic perspective (if you click on my home portfolio at the top left of this page you will see a selection of photographs taken mostly while on those earlier trips). All the while I was looking to turn my interest in those landscapes and back roads of America into a project with an original idea or theme, and what changed my direction, literally, was stumbling across a tiny place in the northern Dakota plains intriguingly and oddly called, at least from an Englishman’s perspective, Wimbledon!
A quick look at my American road map at the time revealed not only a Camden, a Chelsea, a Peckham and other places more familiar to Londoners, but also a Leeds, a Newcastle, a Manchester not too far away, all larger towns in the United Kingdom of course, but all relatively small towns in the US. Since then I've focussed my research on finding many other such small towns off the beaten track in other parts of America with 'British' names, all very small places off the beaten track. So my idea was born!
Now every route I take on my return trips to America are, for the most part, predetermined on where these ‘British’ towns lie. However, I'm also still on the lookout for the unusual/photogenic in these places, and I also engage with people I meet, taking portraits where I can, as well as any signs I find etc – and it’s the friendliness I’ve encountered on my travels that have made this aspect of my photography project surprisingly easy, a pleasure even! I initially concentrated on just signs, any signs I could find, on a building or a signpost perhaps, but only relatively recently have I extended my remit to spend more time in these places, ask questions and meet people, so you will see some portraits on these pages!
A third aspect of my work, seeping into my work almost subconsciously perhaps, is my love of physical road atlases and maps - the pre-digital good old road atlas, printed on paper! I grew up with maps, surrounded by them in my childhood, a consequence of my father's job! That might explain a large part of my interest in maps. This dovetails nicely with pretty much all of my photographic projects, which all involve travel and finding places on a map to some extent. Of course the digital world helps occasionally!
However, around 10 years ago, while I was showing my American work, somebody once asked me a simple question, one which clearly had an impact on me; 'why don’t I start a photography project closer to home'? So I did; an idea was born, from repeated views out of the train window on the work commute to and from London and my home in Kent. Home was about 35 miles from London, enough distance to see my hometown disappear each morning, and London slowly emerge from the countryside - and then at the end of the working day, to see the same pattern in reverse - and all the urban/suburban stages in-between.My wandering eye would spot something to photograph, and I found myself wondering how I could get there. Then those thoughts gradually morphed into the idea of walking, bit by bit, as far as I physically could, through the landscapes the train passed through. What I ended up with was a near-perfect trajectory from inner city through the suburbs to the edges to the countryside, and then the smaller towns dotted around that countryside before arriving at my own hometown. I called this photo-story 'Commuterline' and you can see some of these images under the Stories tab.
There is also the similarly-named 'Commuterworld' - this time a very small series (a triptych) of only 3 images taken while walking under an elevated dual carriageway, one of those 'nowhere' places that could exist in any major conurbation, an area I found surprisingly and surreally caked in fine dust literally inches thick, and an area again only fleetingly passed through by moving traffic, but clearly not designed for pedestrians!
By the way, in case you were wondering, a quick about the name of my website - the 'quite good' element is simply a reference to a phrase my friends tell me I use all the time without realising it! A 'quite good' from me is praise indeed! But of course it's up to you whether you think these images are 'quite good' (or not!) or maybe better than quite good! Photography is subjective after all!
So this website/portfolio exists to showcase these ideas. Some are a work in progress, particularly my trips to America; plenty of 'British' towns (I should say 'villages' or 'hamlets' really but not sure if Americans use those terms!) I've yet to discover!
These last few years I have been selling darkroom prints of my work at different outdoor and indoor craft markets around London (I have traded at Pexmas in Peckham, Pop Brixton, Dalston & Hackney Makers Markets, summer fairs in Peckham & Dulwich parks, 'Flea at Vinegar Yard' in the London Bridge area, & now Herne Hill and Canopy markets more regularly). I'm selling limited edition prints, all printed by myself in darkrooms in London (Photofusion & Rapid Eye). I sell my work at what some would consider quite low prices compared to the higher-end art market world, but I am aiming to reach a wider more inclusive audience.
I am also aiming to turn these ideas into a book form. They are ongoing projects, particularly the American project. I will list forthcoming fairs here (see top).
All my work is available to purchase here online, or a limited number on Etsy. Some of my America work is available to purchase immediately, as darkroom prints via this website, depending on stocks, particularly those I sell at my markets and so have ready copies of. The rest can be printed by me from negative in darkrooms on request. I sell my work in two sizes: small (10x8 inches) for £30 and larger (12x16 inches) for £50 (unframed prices) - including postage and delivery in the United Kingdom.
I stress these are not digital prints but printed by myself from negative, in (old school!) colour darkrooms, adding more of a personal touch, and they are numbered limited edition prints. Just go to my Contact & Sales page. I can accept payment by BACS, but please note I'm not set up to take payments online yet, so if you would like to purchase any prints just contact me on the Sales & Contacts page, or on Instagram (#shortsimonphoto) and I will be in touch quickly.
I should also add that you may have seen my work at one of the trade fairs I talked about earlier where my prices are lower. This is due of course to lower overhead costs (such as no delivery costs!).
An alternative option would be to print in almost any size digitally. These would be subject to photo lab costs and so would be individually priced.
However my main expertise is in darkroom prints, sold in 2 sizes, sizes; either 10x8 or 12x16 inches. Thank you!
Central to my practice, I use medium format colour film (also known as ‘120’ film). Apologies for those who know, but for those who don’t this is basically a larger film (or negative) than the once familiar 35mm film - the film everyone once used of course - on holiday, or at your Aunt’s birthday party for example! Medium format film gives a greater area to print from in a darkroom, creating a sharper, finer quality/less grainy feel to the final image, when compared with 35mm film, and allows for sharper and larger prints to be made. My preferred medium, and very unique compared to digital. Film has it's own quality, despite the ongoing improvements in digital (or it sometimes seems, just ever more pixels!)! Smaller pixels are still pixels (basically squares next to squares!), whereas the 'grain' in film, when magnified, has its' own unique, people say organic, feel about it.
I print all my work myself in colour darkrooms, a service still available in London in just a handful of places, along with processing the film in the first place - in fact I've noticed a slight resurgence in recent years! What you see on this website are digital scans of course (by the way I don't mind digital! It has it's obvious advantages. I just prefer film, or as it's known 'analogue' photography as my medium, or my starting point even if some of my work is scanned later), but all my projects start life on colour medium-format negative film.
In terms of subject matter, you will notice an obvious heavy slant towards America in my work, and it is prints from America I sell in London craft markets and online in Etsy. I travelled to America first around the year 2000, and absolutely loved the place from a photographic perspective (if you click on my home portfolio at the top left of this page you will see a selection of photographs taken mostly while on those earlier trips). All the while I was looking to turn my interest in those landscapes and back roads of America into a project with an original idea or theme, and what changed my direction, literally, was stumbling across a tiny place in the northern Dakota plains intriguingly and oddly called, at least from an Englishman’s perspective, Wimbledon!
A quick look at my American road map at the time revealed not only a Camden, a Chelsea, a Peckham and other places more familiar to Londoners, but also a Leeds, a Newcastle, a Manchester not too far away, all larger towns in the United Kingdom of course, but all relatively small towns in the US. Since then I've focussed my research on finding many other such small towns off the beaten track in other parts of America with 'British' names, all very small places off the beaten track. So my idea was born!
Now every route I take on my return trips to America are, for the most part, predetermined on where these ‘British’ towns lie. However, I'm also still on the lookout for the unusual/photogenic in these places, and I also engage with people I meet, taking portraits where I can, as well as any signs I find etc – and it’s the friendliness I’ve encountered on my travels that have made this aspect of my photography project surprisingly easy, a pleasure even! I initially concentrated on just signs, any signs I could find, on a building or a signpost perhaps, but only relatively recently have I extended my remit to spend more time in these places, ask questions and meet people, so you will see some portraits on these pages!
A third aspect of my work, seeping into my work almost subconsciously perhaps, is my love of physical road atlases and maps - the pre-digital good old road atlas, printed on paper! I grew up with maps, surrounded by them in my childhood, a consequence of my father's job! That might explain a large part of my interest in maps. This dovetails nicely with pretty much all of my photographic projects, which all involve travel and finding places on a map to some extent. Of course the digital world helps occasionally!
However, around 10 years ago, while I was showing my American work, somebody once asked me a simple question, one which clearly had an impact on me; 'why don’t I start a photography project closer to home'? So I did; an idea was born, from repeated views out of the train window on the work commute to and from London and my home in Kent. Home was about 35 miles from London, enough distance to see my hometown disappear each morning, and London slowly emerge from the countryside - and then at the end of the working day, to see the same pattern in reverse - and all the urban/suburban stages in-between.My wandering eye would spot something to photograph, and I found myself wondering how I could get there. Then those thoughts gradually morphed into the idea of walking, bit by bit, as far as I physically could, through the landscapes the train passed through. What I ended up with was a near-perfect trajectory from inner city through the suburbs to the edges to the countryside, and then the smaller towns dotted around that countryside before arriving at my own hometown. I called this photo-story 'Commuterline' and you can see some of these images under the Stories tab.
There is also the similarly-named 'Commuterworld' - this time a very small series (a triptych) of only 3 images taken while walking under an elevated dual carriageway, one of those 'nowhere' places that could exist in any major conurbation, an area I found surprisingly and surreally caked in fine dust literally inches thick, and an area again only fleetingly passed through by moving traffic, but clearly not designed for pedestrians!
By the way, in case you were wondering, a quick about the name of my website - the 'quite good' element is simply a reference to a phrase my friends tell me I use all the time without realising it! A 'quite good' from me is praise indeed! But of course it's up to you whether you think these images are 'quite good' (or not!) or maybe better than quite good! Photography is subjective after all!
So this website/portfolio exists to showcase these ideas. Some are a work in progress, particularly my trips to America; plenty of 'British' towns (I should say 'villages' or 'hamlets' really but not sure if Americans use those terms!) I've yet to discover!
These last few years I have been selling darkroom prints of my work at different outdoor and indoor craft markets around London (I have traded at Pexmas in Peckham, Pop Brixton, Dalston & Hackney Makers Markets, summer fairs in Peckham & Dulwich parks, 'Flea at Vinegar Yard' in the London Bridge area, & now Herne Hill and Canopy markets more regularly). I'm selling limited edition prints, all printed by myself in darkrooms in London (Photofusion & Rapid Eye). I sell my work at what some would consider quite low prices compared to the higher-end art market world, but I am aiming to reach a wider more inclusive audience.
I am also aiming to turn these ideas into a book form. They are ongoing projects, particularly the American project. I will list forthcoming fairs here (see top).
All my work is available to purchase here online, or a limited number on Etsy. Some of my America work is available to purchase immediately, as darkroom prints via this website, depending on stocks, particularly those I sell at my markets and so have ready copies of. The rest can be printed by me from negative in darkrooms on request. I sell my work in two sizes: small (10x8 inches) for £30 and larger (12x16 inches) for £50 (unframed prices) - including postage and delivery in the United Kingdom.
I stress these are not digital prints but printed by myself from negative, in (old school!) colour darkrooms, adding more of a personal touch, and they are numbered limited edition prints. Just go to my Contact & Sales page. I can accept payment by BACS, but please note I'm not set up to take payments online yet, so if you would like to purchase any prints just contact me on the Sales & Contacts page, or on Instagram (#shortsimonphoto) and I will be in touch quickly.
I should also add that you may have seen my work at one of the trade fairs I talked about earlier where my prices are lower. This is due of course to lower overhead costs (such as no delivery costs!).
An alternative option would be to print in almost any size digitally. These would be subject to photo lab costs and so would be individually priced.
However my main expertise is in darkroom prints, sold in 2 sizes, sizes; either 10x8 or 12x16 inches. Thank you!