Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Grace Holliday

‘Not knowing anything about the figure is an important part of the photo’: Gerry McCulloch’s best phone picture

A photograph through frosted glass of a man sitting on a chair with a pushchair by him
Anticipating the Indeterminate, 2023. Shot on iPhone 15 Photograph: Gerry McCulloch

In the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern in London, Gerry McCulloch and his wife, Kaori, were buying tickets for a Yayoi Kusama exhibition. “I happened to turn around and catch a glimpse of this unidentifiable figure,” he says. “Among thousands of visitors from around the globe, it tickled me that this humble story was playing out silently in an unnoticed corner.”

As well as being a photographer, McCulloch is a visual storytelling coach, and in his own creative practice his mantra is “identify, clarify, simplify, amplify”. This image, he says, demonstrates each of these components. The opaque quality of the window helps exclude extraneous elements and draws the viewer in to what he calls “the mystery of the moment”.

McCulloch says that optimising his photos is never about making them “more interesting by applying filters or overcooking the recipe. Rather it’s about remaining true to the sincerity of the feeling I experienced when I took it. Without transmitting that honesty, how could others be moved by my picture?”

The person behind the glass remains anonymous, even to McCulloch. “Not knowing anything about the figure is an important part of the photo,” he says. “They remain an unspoken story in the fabric of our everyday surroundings.”

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.