Tate Lates
At the beginning of this year I wrote about my hopes to expand the topics of what I would write about in this blog, but so far I've still only been writing about photography - go figure.
Anyway, in the last week of January I attended the Tate Modern’s Late, sponsored by Uniqlo, with a friend that I met 4 or 5 years ago in Australia. And just to make life even more exciting I took along the 35mm prime lens. Why did my workplace use this lens over a 50mm or, more confusingly, why did they even have it in the first place?
I had ummed and ahhed about going to this event all week because it had been such a heavy few days of photography, travelling as far as Brighton and waking up at 5am each morning. I was also feeling quite rough from sitting in a van for long periods of time and from working in below-freezing temperatures to snap pictures of plasterers busy with their trade. But I’m glad that I suggested this because I did want to go: I just wasn’t sure if I had the energy to spend a whole sociable evening in a place so full of people who had also come to the event.
The last time I went to the Tate was... actually, I can't remember when I last strolled through its halls, admiring the works and just taking some time out to breathe. Normally for me the Tate is useful as a meeting point, like the time when my friend visited from Japan and she couldn’t use her smartphone. Losing your access to free wi-fi and trying to plan a meetup is always interesting, to put it mildly. We met in Waterloo station and after some confusion she found me wearing my standard colours and my red headphones. I did have a moment where I thought, “what happens if I can't recognise my friend?” but happily she spotted me first. I wouldn’t have been able to recognise her from memory, but thanks to social media we have both been able to keep up with the changing times. My my, how 5 years has passed so quickly.
My initial thought about the prime 35mm lense was that it might be more compact and lightweight than all the other lenses I use for work. In terms of composition, this lens is the closest to the focal composition of the human eye. I had to move a lot more than I usually do for photographing in order to achieve the right composition. I am so used to shooting with a wide-angle that I have become lazy in how I stand to take photographs. The 35mm really allowed me to get up close and personal with my subject, but still provided for some pretty decent wide-angle shots. With this lens I actively had to get involved with my environment - something which I normally avoid due to the type of photography that I do and the gear that I use.
I definitely wanted to snap Susan London’s night sky, but there were so many people waiting to use the lifts. We agreed to climb those many flights of stairs to the top floor of the new Switch House. It is an open viewing terrace which gives visitors a spectacular 360-degree view of the London Skyline. It’s amazing how many people will wait for a lift up rather than climb those stairs!
After a long exploration through the various rooms we decided to escape the crowds and find something to eat. The reign of cold temperatures was just coming to an end for the week and it felt definitely like soup weather. After a quick wander around and a short wait we were being seated in Tonkotsu Bankside. Dinner was great but both our minds had immediately gone to dessert as soon as we looked at the menu, after spotting the Miso Caramel. We chose one to share - I definitely don’t think I could've eaten one all by myself! Described as a salted caramel miso ice cream sandwich in chocolate and Guinness cake, the flavours on my tongue were such an explosion I don't remember ever having had anything quite like it before. Though not a fan of salted caramel, always preferring a sweeter dessert, I can see what I am missing.
To summarise this evening out, despite how tired I felt it was really lovely to meet again with someone that I spent a very short amount of time with so many years ago. We talked about anything and everything and it was just really interesting to hear her bring up topics that I had thought about whilst in Australia, especially because we are both Asian. I think both of us are quite glad that we gained world experiences in both work and travel because that is what so many people lack: the understanding of others from various different parts of the world. I had fun using a lens that I normally wouldn’t go for, and if I had more time and a chance to go to another place or event as crowded as the Tate, I would definitely want to take the 35mm out again.
