In our latest feature on FullBleed, the BJP’s co-produced channel on photographers, we take a look at their short documentary on the life, works and techniques of Glaswegian street photographer Dougie Wallace – currently represented by INSTITUTE – following him during the shooting of his seminal project Harrodsburg.
The documentary is an exciting montage of Wallace in his prime, coupling the photographer’s own narrative voice with sequences of him chasing and startling those who Wallace calls “the 1%” with the light of his flashguns. “Harrodsburg caused a storm in Qatar and Saudi Arabia. You can say that I wasn’t too popular there. They objected to me photographing in public… I ended up with my own Arabic hashtag.” says Wallace. The project is more than just a collection of candid snaps of wealthy tourists on a shopping spree to London; it’s a salient look at wealth inequality in a city in which the number of food banks is on the rise.
Produced and directed by FullBleed founders Jude Edginton and Richard Butchins, the film uses a combination of clever head-mounted cameras and handheld viewpoints to weave the viewer through London’s busy crowds and guide them into seeing the world from Wallace’s eyes.
Edginton recounts the first time he met Wallace: “I was hoping to talk him into a film and go up to Blackpool to revisit his Stags and Hens project. This is a brilliant set of pictures where he relentlessly covered the party culture of the city. He pulled his phone out and said ‘look at these, I’m right in the middle of this book project in Knightsbridge’. They were immediately iconic, you could see even in a few early shots that this was going to be a very exciting and important set of photographs.”
Produced and directed by FullBleed founders Jude Edginton and Richard Butchins, the film uses a combination of clever head-mounted cameras and handheld viewpoints to weave the viewer through London’s busy crowds and guide them into seeing the world from Wallace’s eyes.
Edginton recounts the first time he met Wallace: “I was hoping to talk him into a film and go up to Blackpool to revisit his Stags and Hens project. This is a brilliant set of pictures where he relentlessly covered the party culture of the city. He pulled his phone out and said ‘look at these, I’m right in the middle of this book project in Knightsbridge’. They were immediately iconic, you could see even in a few early shots that this was going to be a very exciting and important set of photographs.”
“It’s mostly projects I do and I only shoot the one theme. A lot of street photographers will shoot anything. I’m only interested in the one thing. Whether it’s stags and hens for my Blackpool book or just taxis in India… It makes it easier for me”.
The documentary, which also offers a glimpse into the more practical side of Wallace’s photography by revealing some of his techniques and preferences when shooting on the street, is available to watch on FullBleed.TV. To see more FullBleed films, sign up to FullBleed’s channel and keep an eye on BJP’s Twitter and Facebook for new releases.
