Soho (Needless To Say)

By Mike Kitson

Dr Samuel Johnson once said something along the lines of ‘when a person is tired of London, they are tired of life’. For me, London is a city that I will never tire of, I was born there and, although never actually lived in the city, I worked in its heart for 15 years or so.  Now I live 300 miles away but still occasionally hanker for the bright lights and for one area in particular – Soho.

Shaftesbury Avenue and Soho Theatre
Soho Theatre

When I first started to work there Soho was still enmeshed in its grubby, seedy life; sex shops on every corner, strip clubs down every alley and postcard adverts for all kind of things in every telephone box for miles around!  As an impressionable 19 years old this was (forbidden) heaven – all life was there.

And it still is as this project shows.

The seedy side?

I’ve not been into film photography seriously for very long really, probably starting during the pandemic as something different to do, as a way of having to engage brain rather than just click.  But since then I’ve amassed a smallish collection of different cameras at both 35mm and medium format and enjoy trying out and discovering new film stock.  Consequently when I came across Cinestill’s 800t film with its enhanced sensitivity to red colours I knew that this was the film to try and capture the look and feel of Soho at night.  It had to be at night because this is when the area comes alive, always has and always will.  Recently Joshua K. Jackson published a fantastic phonebook “Sleepless in Soho” that, I thought, captured the essence and spirit of place in ways that most street photography does not.  Possibly because of the digital nature of most photography nowadays images come out as too clean, and Soho is definitely not to be sanitised!

So, in February 2024 I booked myself a trip to London to spend a couple of nights wandering around Soho with an Olympus OM2n camera equipped with a Zuiko 50mm 1.8 lens and two rolls of Cinestill 800t to see what I could see.  And what I got back from pounding the damp street of the big city blew me away.  They were everything that I wanted from the trip, and the film did everything that strong halation promised.

Sometimes in photography there is also that serendipitous moment (or moments) when even mistakes add something to the overall.  With one film I suddenly realised that I was still clicking away even though I thought that I had reached the end of the roll.  I’d probably knocked the rewind button somehow and was suddenly taking multiple exposures without knowing it!  But these images are actually some of my favourites from the night.  The confusion that is there on the street is shown admirably in the image.

Multiple exposure in Soho

www.mikekitsonphotography.com

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Comments

Ibraar Hussain on Soho (Needless To Say)

Comment posted: 10/10/2024

Excellent stuff
The neon filled shots could be stills from a movie
I was born in London and spent most of my life there and still work there - have a love hate relationship with it. Loathe it enough to not want to live there, yet when I’m there I feel ‘home’ and love it, though it has changed for the worst over the last 14 years or so.
I used to go to college in Fitrovia (University College) and spent most of my student days around there with forays clubbing in and near SoHo.

Haha some fond some regretful drink and drug soaked memories
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Huss replied:

Comment posted: 10/10/2024

If you remember it, you weren’t there ;)

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Greg Hammond on Soho (Needless To Say)

Comment posted: 10/10/2024

Johnson was right. I just returned from London. I never tire of it. Love the images.
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Chris Hooke on Soho (Needless To Say)

Comment posted: 10/10/2024

Great article Mike. Nothing can capture the essence of Soho in the rain better than Cinestill 800T. I also love the place. Just need a decent Lottery win to afford to live there !!
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Peter Roberts on Soho (Needless To Say)

Comment posted: 10/10/2024

Wonderfully evocative images, Mike. Thank you.

Even in its semi-sanitised persona Soho is still Soho. It always reminds me of my misspent younger days and makes me mourn for the old Marquee Club!
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Steviemac on Soho (Needless To Say)

Comment posted: 10/10/2024

An excellent article and great images. I love the halation from the neon lights. The rain soaked street is an absolute peach of a shot. I'm a Londoner by birth, a West Ham supporter until I die, but happy not to live in London. Great to visit, but not to live in.
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Geoff Chaplin on Soho (Needless To Say)

Comment posted: 11/10/2024

Sadly I missed the mis-behaviour that Peter and Ibraar seem to have enjoyed there but I too loved the Soho area for its vibrancy. Excellent shots with a very appropriate choice of film - I particularly like the wet street photo. As you say film can generate some wonderful mistakes whereas digital is boringly perfect or a total mess. Unlike some of the others I have very enjoyed living in central London, at least until about 8 years ago, always something to see and do and mostly friendly people to meet.
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Nick Orloff on Soho (Needless To Say)

Comment posted: 11/10/2024

Mike,

Great images!

I'm in London in a week or so, I've just added a night in Soho with CineStill T800, or maybe Portra 800, or maybe both, to my to-do list.
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Marco Andrés on Soho (Needless To Say)

Comment posted: 11/10/2024

These images are so raw and so full of a provocative energy. Perfect in their imperfection [image 2 in particular]. In spite of being in colour, seems film-noir. Your work reminds me of Paul Schrader's take on the noir-film ‟Kiss Me Deadly„ (1955) « Robert Aldrich's teasing direction carries noir to its sleaziest and most perversely erotic. »
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