Shots from the hip
In the early '90s, I picked up a book called Shots from the Hip by Johnny Stiletto. The title and technique appealed. Frames grabbed by holding the camera with a wide-angle lens down low and hoping for the best.
Today, everyone holds their camera at arm's length, weird angles and anything goes.
But this was a time of film, and virtually everyone using a 35mm camera looked through the viewfinder. Away from the usual tourist zones, it was rare to see a camera on the streets; today there's one in every pocket.
A couple of weeks ago, an e-mail popped into my inbox from Johnny, with a link to his website and the words "A website for people who like photography". It rang a bell; I clicked and, sure enough, there were the pictures I remembered from nearly 20 years ago. I still have the book, and I dug it out again for another look.
Johnny Stiletto was - indeed, is - an alias which adds an air of mystery to the pictures. Who is it who shoots so many photographs of his daily encounters? These are pictures that form a visual diary; they're records of moments that catch his eye; occasionally, they're taken just to fill the time. Have camera, may as well take pictures.
Following publication of the image of Francis Bacon on the Piccadilly Line (top), Johnny got a call from picture editor Bruce Bernard, who was a close friend of Bacon, saying it was Francis' favourite picture of himself and could Francis have a print? Johnny remembers that "I had two prints, I signed one for him and Bacon signed one for me."
Some of Johnny's photographs work in their own right, many are very funny, while others benefit from his commentary in which he recalls his thoughts at the time of making the picture.
Today his photographic style is alive and well, he said:
"I'm still using a 35mm camera (film not digital), still using a wide angle, still not using flash and refining the techniques in Shots from the Hip. I'm trying to move towards a man-in-the-crowd view of events. Things that I see that are attractive or quirky, and also the impact of the big things that happen, the 7/7 bombings, Boris Johnson, the Big Bust. The everyday things that hit on me and probably do on everyone else."
I'm 
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~42~RS~)
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Fantastic! - many thanks for sharing this. Not only are Johnny's photos great, but the text that accompanies them is brilliant. I'm using 35mm too and this is very inspiring.
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I love his work, this is pure photo journalism, the pictures in black and white look timeless. I also still use a 35mm film camera, and love the feel of black and white film, it aplies a magic touch to photography.
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I am a FE photography lecturer and found this article and Johnny Stiletto's website very interesting ad a great resource for students.
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I recently took hold of a Leica M and it's a different experience using a rangefinder than a DSLR. I've found it to be much more discreet, and "shooting from the hip" brings you all sorts of surprises; you've no idea what you've captured - admittedly mostly rubbish but one or two nice shots:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmdrfire/3380274431/in/set-72157607827561698/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmdrfire/3338209197/in/set-72157614356634528
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4:30 on a Friday afternoon, and Johnny Stilleto's photograph have made up for whatever the week was (or wasn't). I am looking at ">knife-fork camera>leopard skin boots" as Joan Baez plays from 1961, and preparing to set off for coffee with a comrade in crime. Maybe we shall find some Johnny Stilleto moments with our espresso.
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I adore his book and still treasure my copy. It was the best because it's about why you take a photo and how photos feel, not about how a camera works. It has been the biggest influence on my photos of any book.
Thanks Johnny!
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Oi Johnny flog that snap now while you can get a few bob for it. Bacon wont be in fashion forever.
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Transfixed by the images, pieces of light and dark, transported back in time and place, my breakfast tea gone cold, I am behind schedule and completely happy! The best thing, the very best, is Mr. Stiletto's contemporaneous reporting of his thinking behind the moment of each shot. Stiff artists posing their work in art galleries never deign to explain the thought behind the art; they can learn from Mr. Stiletto. The next best thing - the typos! Intentional "semenal" and perhaps some delightful unintentional erros? I catch myself trying to find Mr. Stiletto in the reflection of the Daimler windows. Or could that be him at the table opposite me?! Inspiring photographic and literal work; thanks for the exposure. (Arizona Londoner)
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Also - I know it's not about the camera, but out of interest, does anyone know what Johnny is shooting with?
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I have 3 words for this "photographer": Henri Cartier-Bresson
All Johnny Stiletto is doing is imitating what Bresson did decades ago and presenting it as innovative simply because he's using film and not a digital camera.
Stiletto needs to do something original.
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@ redhornet:
He's not presenting it as innovative at all - the book came out almost 20 years ago (1992) when we were all shooting film! Most of the photos are much older still.
He is very original in his quirky view and the Britishness of it all but because he takes black and white street photos you think he is unoriginal? Is Lowry unoriginal because others used paint?
Johnny S. is an amateur photographer (in that it wasn't his "day job") with his own vision, something very rare indeed. Are all the photos in his book great? Nope. A few aren't even good. But they mean something to him and he can explain what it is. And the best ones are simply inspirational.
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As a Londoner living in Washington DC and about to embark on a photography diploma, this struck a chord with me in so many ways. Stiletto's photographs and commentary are truly inspiring, and have completely changed the flavour of my day! Thank you for sharing this.
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I find Johnny's work totally inspiring especially since - like him - I also use a 35mm camera (film only), often use a wide angle lens and don't use flash. Thanks for finding/sharing. I'm bookmarking his page.
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@ Ian_Boys
Granted he explains his thinking behind the photos, granted it is inspirational to some, granted many of the photos are quite old. However the technique (camera held waist high or somewhat hidden, shooting "blindly", etc.), no use of a flash and black and white film are what Bresson innovated, so in my view Stilleto is not original in that aspect. I think that, as photographers, we should ackknowledge that fact because Bresson is the one who almost singlehandedly invented photojournalism and the man-in-the-crowd style.
Stiletto being an amatuer is irrelevant, artists come from all aspects of life and don't need to be art professionals in order to create something that gets peoples attention.
Please be clear I'm not claiming his photography is worthless, rubbish or not worth a look, I'm just saying it is not innovative.
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what camera?
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Probably a Leica M3 or 4 with a 35mm Summilux......Honestly the camera makers love these kinds of questions. Why is it important? These photos could have been made with a $5.00 p&s and still be interesting.
I agree, not really innovative work but a great vision nevertheless. At least he's out doing it instead of surfing the web looking at Nikon and Leica products and thinking if only I had one of those, I'd be such a good photographer.
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I've found shooting from the hip to be a remarkably effective technique for professional photography, though it is far simpler to achieve with a digital SLR set to fully auto. Calling myself a photojournalist is not entirely accurate - I'm more like a reporter who happens to have a camera. I'm working for a newspaper in Oman and, for some bizarre reason, the police aren't keen on having people taking pictures of car wrecks here. It is not unknown for them to just grab and confiscate cameras or even camera-phones.
Not being aware of this at the time, I was snapping away when a car inexplicably burst into flames just down the road from the office. A copper came over and told me to stop. "Of course, officer," I said - all the while, snapping away on wide angle, shooting from the hip. Got some surprisingly good shots like that, but more by fluke than skill.
Like redhornet07 said, it's not exactly innovative - even I, a rank amateur, figured it out - but Stiletto is very good at it. Who said everything had to be an innovation, though? Just because someone's the first to do something does not automatically make them the best.
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Why oh why is it always black and white?
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It's black and white (mostly) because it simplifies many things involved in the creation of an image. You don't have time to think about balancing colour in a composition when it takes a fraction of a second to shoot something at the same time as noticing it... for making a point (and for so many other reasons) black and white 'just works' better than colour on average.
I love the street - These images are not about composition/framing, indeed in some of Johnnie's work this isn't great.. It's what you expect when someone is shooting fast and from a hip with film...
The site is a breath of fresh air.
The thought behind each image is astonishing and beautiful. It's neither here nor there if his work isn't 'original' enough (enough for what? This is personal work)... there being hundreds of people attracted by street photography, I have seen very few like this. Inspiring. Thanks for sharing Phil.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/_jp (I certainly don't chalk up)
One that really got me was his documentation of a gravestone in France which reads:
"There are many things more beautiful than tears"
"Im in a First World War cemetery in northern France and at first the repetitive headstones just look anonymous, a uniform army of the compliant dead.
The authorities charged out inscriptions at a price per letter. Some graves dont have anything personal, or just very short. A lot of families couldnt afford it.
Here, 39 letters and small weed at the base of the gravestone battling for life.
I look the grave up on cemetery register. He was the only son of a widow living in Temple Fortune, North London.
Sometimes the camera can see beyond the grave."
This act in itself is incredibly worthwhile.
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Some very impressive images on there. Thanks for sharing.
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I did a project in the mid-70s photographing summer in Soho on a Pen half frame. The camera's simplicity, and the fact that there were 72 frames to a roll, encouraged me to hold it, as you would a mobile phone today, in potentially interesting situations and release the shutter with my thumb without looking through the viewfinder. The anticipation of what would be on the contacts added an extra frisson.
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@ premaks:
The book makes it clear he uses a small SLR. Can't remember the make.
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From memory at least part of the book was using an Olympus om? but the spacing in the neg frames was going. lots of other french photographers you could compare him too Doisneau or Willy Ronis ha ha the list is probably endless, Stiletto is brilliant and we could all learn a lot from this site.
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