FACE-OFF by André Bogaert

I’m a black & white street photographer from London and I take photos of strangers.

Street photographers like me usually look for faces when trying to tell a story in an image.

I was intrigued by the idea of creating a collection of photographs that are in the street photography genre but the viewer is unable to see or cannot recognise the details of a face in any of the images. This absence of faces creates an air of mystery, encouraging the viewer to wonder about the subject’s story or feelings. Also without faces, the photo becomes a mirror for the viewer’s imagination, letting them create their own interpretation of the moment.

So I went back and reviewed my work taken over the last year or so and selected images that were “face~OFF” photos.

Here is a taste.
This is an edit of the whole 50 images collection that you can view on my site.
I have also printed a magazine of the images which can be ordered via my website.







André Bogaert
I've been taking photos for 60 + years and I know I will get the hang of it any day now. I was given a camera for my 10th birthday and No I haven't still got it. It was a rubbish piece of kit but it got me hooked. Nowadays I photograph using digital kit, but obviously from my age, I'm 75 as I type this, I learnt on film cameras, Nikon lenses and bodies built to last a long long time, workhorses that had been around the block a few times before I got my hands on them. I made a point of persuading my 3 kids to start there photography with film & black and white so they could develop and print at home. Later on they could make there own choices as to what to use. That way you understood what a camera and it's lens can and can't do. Most modern camera and lenses are OK, some much better than others I grant you but most will capture what they are pointed at so the subject of camera kit is not too interesting to me. I come from the “it's not what you point , it's what you point it AT that counts” school of thought. I photograph using RAW format so the files are colour but I find a high contrast grainy black & white film look works for me.
photosofstrangers.com