In Focus: Josh Greet

For the fourth episode of our South West based ‘In Focus’ photo project, we spent the evening with Plymouth based photographer Josh Greet. We discussed his youth spent shooting the underground music scene in Plymouth, his recent move back from London and his use of surrealist photography as a means of seeing the rural South West through a new lens.

Flatspot: Hi Josh, if you could introduce yourself, where you’re from and when you started shooting photos? 

Josh: I'm Josh Greet. I'm from Plymouth and I started taking photographs when I was about 14 of bands at the White Rabbit in Plymouth, an underground music venue that harboured alternative culture, particularly the metal and hardcore scene which I became a part of through photography and putting on shows.

Flatspot: When we reached out to see if you’d be interested you explained how it would be refreshing to shoot a local project rather than commercial work. Could you tell us what you’ve based your project on and how it has differed from the work you usually produce? 

Josh: I am really privileged to take pictures for my job, but most of my time is spent researching and meticulously planning shoots, which is essentially giving yourself tighter and tighter boundaries to make work in. It's really important for me to still enjoy photography in a more casual way without having to think about it too much, whether that's just taking my camera with me for a walk on Dartmoor, or you know, going for a swim by the sea, walking around etc. Quite often my favourite pictures are made when I am not thinking about things too much and just going with the flow whilst out walking without restraint. It's really important for me to enjoy photography in this way, and it helps inform my more considered commercial or editorial work - it's nice to have this balance.

I've been taking my cameras with me on walks on Dartmoor and the rest of the South West, trying to capture it in an alternative way by not focusing on traditional landscapes, instead finding details and more experimental ways of shooting to create some slightly more surreal images. It's like a new way of looking at a place that I really enjoy spending time at and have enjoyed since I was a kid.

Flatspot: What have you been shooting on and what influenced the decision to use the camera you’ve been using?

Josh: So I've been using my Fuji GFX 50R which is a camera I bought to use commercially, but it's really quite portable and is weather sealed and everything so I end up carrying it everywhere as I have gradually moved away from shooting as much film. It's really versatile and I end up using it like a film camera in terms of the speed in which I use it. It makes me really consider the pictures I take due to the slowness. I also really enjoy working with the files that it puts out and because it's a digital medium format camera it has mad cropping ability and file latitude which allow you a lot of freedom in the edit. 

Flatspot: You’ve recently made the move from London back to Devon. Do you find this part of the world creatively inspiring and has your work differed since you’ve moved back? 

Josh: Since moving back, I've felt a lot more freedom creatively. In London, there's a lot of people making work in similar ways about similar subjects. You see a lot of similar themes, locations and people pop up in photographs a lot which I found quite restrictive. 

I generally feel like the South West, as well as being a beautiful place to spend time in, there's lots of stuff that hasn't been photographed or celebrated, whether it's groups of people or certain places. Which helps me think more clearly and even helps you have more of a unique view on a thing that feels slightly more original.

Flatspot: Are there any up and coming photographers from the South West that people should be keeping up to date with? 

Josh: Yeah, so there's a couple of well-knowns and then there's a couple of up-and-comers. Jake Varker's doing loads of really interesting stuff and I think he's really got his head screwed on. I'm really excited to see what he does with the pictures he’s been making recently. Becky Tyrell is smashing it, the book she made about the United Downs Raceway was sick.

Rob Darch has three amazing books, maybe more. I've got three of them and they're sick. Nick White who lives in Princetown has always been making amazing work all over the UK. Can't forget Flatspot's very own Jay Bing and of course Josh Parrett.

 

Photography Credit: Josh Greet