Fine Art nominee

I find myself drawn to what could be regarded as cinematic lighting at night time and how that highlights certain aspects of the streets I find myself walking along. I find myself as a background character in an unknown story, never knowing whether the things that catch my eye are relevant to the plot or significant to the action about to happen. The places I visit are large metropolitan cities that, very much like London, can feel so lonely despite having millions of inhabitants. I walk the streets as a stranger out of my own comfort zone, drawn to places and characters I know little about. I pick one or two people out, sometimes from a crowd, and then imagine what their stories are: how do they fit into this city, and why are they alone? Almost all of my subjects are caught in lights somehow, be it street lights or car headlights. I imagine another aspect with the photos too that we can see the person in the light but the darkness is their future story which we can’t yet see - where are they going? What will they do? What will be their fate?

My name is Jake Longley, and I am a photographer based in London, UK. Initially trained in music with a Bachelor degree in Music Technology and a Master of Music degree, I developed an interest in photography around 2016 when I bought my first camera. Photography had always been my favourite visual art discipline, however buying camera pushed me head first into the area. I worked at University of the Arts London, and was promoted to a job with international travel. Buying the camera would allow me to document my travels however I quickly found myself using the camera at night in the free time I had, exploring whichever city I was in, and trying to find moments I could capture. After taking some short courses at UAL and being shown photographers like Brassai, Gregory Crewdson, and Todd Hido, I realised I had a niche and a project I could work with in. I've been working within this area since 2016 and believe I have a project ready to show.