Getting into that Simon Jones Verve
So, I bumped into this photographer’s stuff online, Simon Jones. Wasn’t really looking for anything, just browsing around. But his pictures, man, they had this… energy. Someone called it his “verve,” and that word just stuck in my head. Everything looked so alive, popping right off the screen. Colors were bright, subjects felt like they were moving even when they weren’t. I immediately thought, “I wanna take pictures like that.”
First few tries were, well, pretty bad. I grabbed my old camera, went outside, and just started snapping pictures of anything bright I saw. Flowers, signs, colourful walls. Thought if I just found colourful things, the photos would have that verve. Nope. They just looked like boring photos of colourful things. Flat. Nothing like Jones’ work.
Figuring Stuff Out
Okay, clearly just pointing at colours wasn’t the trick. I went back and really looked at his photos again. Spread a bunch out on my screen. What was he actually doing? I started noticing a few things:
- Bold Colours, Yeah, But How? It wasn’t just any colour. It was often big blocks of strong colour, or surprising clashes that somehow worked.
- Movement, or the Feel of It: Lots of his shots had blur, like things were whizzing past. Even still shots sometimes felt like they were about to jump.
- People Look Natural: When he shot people, they didn’t look posed. They were just doing stuff, caught in the moment, full of life.
It seemed less about the subject and more about how he captured it. The feeling, the energy. That verve thing again.
Hitting the Streets Again
Armed with these thoughts, I tried again. This time, I had more of a plan. I went downtown specifically looking for those big colour blocks he used – bright painted walls, large posters. Found a solid blue wall and waited for someone interesting to walk past. Tried snapping them quickly, naturally.
Then I started messing with capturing movement. Saw some cyclists, tried panning the camera along with them to get that blurry background he often had. This was tricky. Most shots were just a mess. Either everything was blurry, or nothing was. Spent a good hour just trying to get one decent shot of a moving bike where the bike was sharp-ish and the background was streaky. It took a lot of tries, way more than I expected.
Getting people to look natural was also tough. Asking strangers felt awkward. So I started just observing, trying to catch little moments from a distance without them noticing me too much. A street vendor laughing, someone rushing for a bus. It felt a bit sneaky, but the results started looking less stiff, more real.
Still Working On It
After getting home, I looked at the new batch of photos. Definitely better than the first time. A couple had a hint of that energy I was after. I played around a bit on my computer, just simple stuff like making the colours pop a bit more, adding some contrast. Nothing fancy, just trying to boost that feeling.
One shot of a kid running past a bright yellow wall almost had it. The motion blur wasn’t perfect, but the energy was there. Another was of an old building with a super modern, colourful graffiti tag on it – that clash felt a bit like his style.
So, yeah. I haven’t exactly mastered the Simon Jones verve. Not even close. His work still looks effortless, mine feels like… well, effort. But I feel like I’m starting to get what it’s about. It’s about looking for life, for energy, for those surprising moments and colours, and not being afraid to get things a bit messy or blurry to capture that feeling. It’s a fun way to shoot, anyway. Keeps you looking around. I’ll keep practicing.
