Darren Sacks | An Exclusive On Street Photography
“It is really something special for me about being able to freeze a moment in time.”
Darren Sacks is a street photographer most notably known for his shots taken in the central London locations of Soho, Chinatown and Green Park. His photography exhibits an abstract style, with vivid, saturated colours. His work usually depicts anonymous figures, giving it a distinct sense of mystique and intrigue. This is further accentuated by the strong powers of observation and attention to detail he brings to each image. His impressive composition of silhouettes, subjects, shadows, and minute particulars of detail showcases his remarkable observation skills and innate sense of design. Darren also excels in skilfully blending all these aspects and demonstrates the capacity to establish connections between various layers, abstract colours, hues and shades, interlacing them together to make a remarkable photograph. It is a delight to feature an exclusive interview with one of the most talented names in Street Photography.
© Darren Sacks
JLH: Good evening Darren, I am very excited to chat with you about street photography and find out more about you and your work. Can you tell us a little about who you are and how you got started with photography?
DS: Good evening Jovis, it is a pleasure to speak with you. I remember finding a book on photography when I was a kid, and just looking. I was too young to read properly and loved seeing the beautiful images and was wowed by them. They were maybe wildlife or nature images. I used to always carry this book with me. My dad had a film camera, and I always wanted to wind it and press the shutter. I just loved that camera. So that for me was like a first, I think, exposure to a camera and the book to photography. From then on, I always had some sort of camera I used to carry with me to point and shoot. I always had it if I travelled, but my first SLR camera was when I went to New York. I bought a Nikon, and I took probably between eight to ten thousand photos. I didn't really know why I was taking photos, but I just knew I loved taking these photos. I looked at them over and over again. Then when I moved to London, that's when I started doing some street photography. I went to a street photography meet-up group and then found out there was a lot more on Instagram. I started getting involved and that's really how I got into it.
JLH: I am so glad you moved to London and the opportunities it has opened for your photography. Tell me a little about how you shoot.
DS: Patience is a big thing in how I shoot. I will find a place that has potential where I can monitor it in a way where I can wait there and see how I can build that scene up. I'll take a few shots, and then I'll look at it from all different angles. Initially, it may be just a silhouette, but I will consider building something else into it, like adding another layer and then the silhouette, and then something else. So I'll stand there for 25 minutes and build that scene up. Then it becomes not just about the silhouette because many places in London have been shot that same way.
JLH: Patience is not only a skill, I think but such an important quality to have as a photographer. Are you self-taught, and did you go on any workshops or do any courses?
DS: I've not done any formal photography training, but I have a graphic design and art direction background. I went to a workshop by Sean Tucker and Joshua K. Jackson in 2019, which was very informative about using light, how to watch scenes and thinking about what you're doing from a conceptual perspective. I mean, Joshua is obviously like, of course, next level, but he was so welcoming. He would walk around the block and then watch the same corner to see how things would change and work a scene. He said to be patient. A lot of that thinking was interesting.
© Darren Sacks
JLH: You’re a natural! What does street photography mean to you?
DS: Well, for me, it's a lot of things because what's interesting about it is first, you never know when you're going to get your next photo. I suppose my street photography is a bit different because I'm not usually walking around and hunting, but I am fishing. Still, I never know when I'm going to walk upon that next interesting scene. Even though I've shot a lot in London, and on a lot of the same streets, I do see new opportunities all the time. It is about that interesting exploration. It is really something special for me about being able to freeze a moment in time. Even though it's not documenting people or fashion, it is still being able to freeze something and keep it, and that is something that I find special. I find it fascinating being able to create something that didn't exist, I think it is something quite cool.
JLH: Indeed, it’s such an indescribable feeling when we do that. What's the most challenging part about being a street photographer for you?
DS: What’s very important to me is really trying to have a good ethical code. I've always been very specific about it. Before I press the shutter, I think to myself, Why am I taking this photo? Does it have something interesting? Is it important to take the photo, or is it going to offend? Since Covid, I think people have become even more aware of their personal space, so taking a photo can be more challenging. I think the challenge as a street photographer is knowing why you are taking the image and just being aware of checking yourself. To answer your question, I think that as a street photographer, it's important to just stay in line with your morals and your intentions.
JLH: I couldn’t agree more. What do you love most about your work as a street photographer, what type of photographs do you most enjoy taking and why?
DS: There's a photo that I don't know if you're going to ask me what my favourite photo is, but it is a photo that is pinned to the top of my Instagram feed post. It's taken at Jermyn Street. It's like a silhouette. There is a guy in a mirror, there is Fortnum and Mason, there's a bus, and a photo like that, for me was just so hard to take. It took so much time and also the place that it was. There were people everywhere, there were people eating there too, and they thought I was taking their photo, which made it harder too, as I didn't want to make people feel uncomfortable, but I knew that if the shot lined up, it would be good. So, I stood there for about twenty-five minutes in the place, focused. I had to get the layers to line up at the same time. The timing was difficult too. It was a particularly tricky image to take from a patient perspective, from a location perspective and from a technical perspective. I love how that image looks. That's probably my favourite photo I've taken. It was worth it. I like it.
© Darren Sacks
JLH: It's an amazing photo, so many complexities attached to it. Is there anything that you are trying to communicate through your work?
DS: Sometimes, I feel like I need to make more of a story in my work, because I look at, for example, Andrew Campbell's work, and he's got a story to tell and I look at his work often, and I think to myself, how could I bring up a better story into my work? On Saturday night, I got a silhouette behind a bar window of a couple kissing, which is nice, and it's got great layers and it is a nice story. I would say that for me. Obviously, if I find a hint of the human form, and there's a nice story in it as well. That's great. But I think the whole thing is if I was ever to have an exhibition one day or a book, it would be about the London scene of frequent places seen differently. I suppose that would be the story, more than like an individual hand holding in a space, that will be the kind of story of London seen through a different eye.
JLH: I think your interpretation of London in an exhibition or book will be critically acclaimed and a huge success. In your opinion, what makes a good memorable photograph?
DS: There are a few things, but I think one thing is if you have to really look at the picture to see what it’s about, and this is the problem on Instagram is, we don't really see, we just kind of scroll straight across them. But there is really something about a photograph that makes you look, like Moller_Joakim who does this amazingly on Instagram. I don’t know if you know his account, but he does use double exposures and his photos tell a story. You've got to look at them. Sometimes you go back and you look and you're like wow, I didn't notice this. I think it's like a photo that makes you think about it and how it was done. Craig Whitehead does this as well in his images and often you have to look at the images and work out how they were taken. Also, if it has a meaningful message in there as well, that would be great. If you can have any of those things then I think it makes a memorable photograph.
JLH: I think you are right, some of those elements that jolt you instantly should make a good, memorable photograph. Can you tell me about the most memorable photo you have ever shot and what made it so special?
DS: I've got two that I could mention. There’s one taken in the British Museum. The picture looking at a lady and she's standing in a nice juxtaposition. For me, that was like a really lucky moment, I suppose. So that is memorable. I mean, that was just lucky, right? I mean, right place, right time. Lucky for me. Then recently, I really like this image - it’s not an amazingly clever image, but it's the orange background with the bartender and the glasses. His eye actually is in the wine glass. If you look at it closely, if you print it, you'd see that and it was nice because he actually found it on Instagram and said, “Oh, wow, this is me. I can't believe it. Oh, yeah.” That image has been shared quite a lot, and people have really engaged with the image, which is quite cool.
© Darren Sacks
© Darren Sacks
JLH: I can see how perfectly lined up his head is with the glass. Incredible. Do you have a personal motto?
DS: Yes, actually, I do. But it's not my own. I mean, it’s adapted from someone else who is a famous golfer, Gary Player. He said, “The more you practice the luckier you get.” I just say the more you shoot, the luckier you get and I totally believe it. Here’s an example, we're in Trafalgar Square, and I was there by two top hat statues and I said to someone I was standing with, “if there was another person with a top hat, I would love to go down and take the shot from an angle shooting up.” I walked downstairs and there was someone with a top hat – just one person in the whole square. Sometimes you just get lucky.
JLH: That’s really lucky! Tell me some of the positive influences that street photography has had on you.
DS: I would say the main one is patience. Street photography taught me a lot of patience. I was always patient but now I'm really patient. I don't know if this is positive, probably not for London, but I walk very slowly. Patience is a big thing. Obviously, noticing things around us and appreciating things. Like the light hitting a wall in a certain way, or something that looks nice. I’m really just grateful for those small things. Patience, so I'd say that.
© Darren Sacks
© Darren Sacks
© Darren Sacks
JLH: I think we can all do with more patience. Who and what inspires you to keep creating?
DS: William Eggleston, and he has great still life photography with his use of colours and the simplistic use of empty spaces. Some of his work for me that has been something that I could bring into my work. I also like Fred Herzog for his great colour photography, but Saul Leiter for me is really my main inspiration, the compression that he uses and the colours, for me, he's the master and obviously Ernst Haas as well, he’s got some intentional camera movement. I keep going back and looking at Saul Leiter’s work, seeing if I can get anything from there. He is a constant inspiration for me. I'd say that Instagram has been inspiring too and I'll say why and I use this lightly, but Instagram for me has been an amazing tool. The community has been amazing. Although there is the algorithm and all that but I have met some amazing people to sit down with and even look, look at us, like we wouldn't be talking now if it wasn't for Instagram, you know? I know you might say that actually we met on the street, but then, we reconnected through your exhibition which was through Instagram. I have also made some really cool mates as well. So, Instagram and the greats that I read about.
JLH: Maybe you've answered this already. Who are your favourites?
DS: Henri Cartier Bresson, just because I’ve done quite a lot of reading about him. I like his history with a journalistic background and he has done so many different types of photography. There was the war and so many different things and he lived in so many different places. I feel like he had so many different sides to his work that it was incredible. But for me, if I had to choose a photographer, I would just say Saul Leiter. His colour work wasn't seen until later on, as we know, and that was mostly all shot within two blocks of his New York apartment. He was such an innovator in shooting the way he did. I just think he was incredible.
© Darren Sacks
JLH: I love his work and his documentary. I never get tired of watching it because I love his cat in it as well. But, you know, I really like how he lived, and I want to go and hug this man. I do find him inspiring and so humble.
DS: Yes, he was so humble, his whole ethos and his way of respecting. He just had a very humble way of life and approach and if all photographers could be like that, just being humble, and respecting people. Be more like that.
JLH: Have you bought any photography books lately?
DS: I bought The Unseen Saul Leiter and also bought Ernst Haas New York in colour. So those are my two recent purchases.
JLH: Do you have a favourite book?
DS: The Unseen Saul Leiter because I really liked the introduction to this book and how he was written about.
© Darren Sacks
© Darren Sacks
JLH: Tell me something related to photography that you want to learn.
DS: I really want to learn about portrait photography, but like urban portraits and I think Scott Dennis does that really well. He does really cool portraiture but mixed with urban so it's got a street photography portrait style. I think that would be something really cool. If I'm taking street photos, then I could go up to someone and say, “Hey, you look cool. Could I just do a quick shoot?” I don’t want to use it on my Instagram, but just because I think it's cool to give someone something that's nice.
JLH: Splendid! Portrait photography will teach you a lot more about people, lighting and direction. What advice would you give to our readers and aspiring street photographers?
DS: I would say firstly, to not pressure yourself. I think that happens when you go out each day. When you take photos do not have pressure to be expecting that you're going to have 10 images when you get home. I'm happy if I get one good image a month that I'm proud of, you know, also, I would say, people are always looking for a style. I think that style is something that comes over time and my style has changed and is changing. I feel like it's possibly changing again. I'm just saying that it's probably going to change more and it's a signal of growth. I think sometimes people put a lot of pressure on themselves but just try and enjoy what you're doing and it will take care of itself.
© Darren Sacks
JLH: That’s some good advice. What has been your experience with UPC? Why did you join?
DS: I joined really because of the Street Photography Assignments exhibition I went to organised by UPC. I was like, wow, I was really impressed with some photographs. I like the way it was curated and how it was laid out. Really cool. The way that the book was put together looks amazing too, so I was inspired to join.
JLH: Who in the UPC group stands out to you?
DS: Brian Boyce, especially the shots he posted from the recent photo walk. Those double exposures are really good because it's difficult to do that. I'd also say Neil Johansson and Benito Mpangi, their work is very good and cool.
JLH: Okay, so that actually concludes our conversation, Darren. Thank you so much for making the time for UPC and I really enjoyed talking to you.
DS: Thank you, Jovis, that was interesting.