My first sneeze

Matt Stuart

February 13, 2017

The British photographer (born 1974) is a master at discovering absurd situations in everyday urban life. In Brussels he captured his first sneeze.
The British photographer (born 1974) is a master at discovering absurd situations in everyday urban life. The city of London is his regular playground. However, when he was handed the Leica M10 for a field trial, he decided to go to Brussels.

For Matt Stuart’s way of working, speed is of the utmost importance. Registering a situation, anticipating how the constellation might develop into an idiosyncratic scene, releasing the shutter at exactly the right time, continuing to observe, and taking another shot: all of this has to happen with no scope for delay.

“One of the hardest things to photograph is a sneeze! They usually turn up very quickly and are gone before you think about raising the camera.

However, this time I was lucky. I walked past the lady in the café who was perfectly lit by the afternoon sunshine. I started photographing her in her warm puddle of sun light, then suddenly out of nowhere "achoo!"

I had captured my first sneeze. Bless her.”

Further pictures taken by Matt Stuart with the M10 are found in LFI 2/2017, available as of February 24, 2017.

Matt Stuart+-

BIO © Vincent Montibus
© Vincent Montibus

Born in 1974, Matt Stuart grew up in Harrow, a district in north-west London. After three years working as a photography assistant, Stuart turned his hobby into his profession. Since 1996, the photographer is constantly on the move on the streets of London, looking to capture bizarre moments but also the curiosities of every day life. Among other locations, his pictures have been exhibited at the Leica Store in Los Angeles. Stuart is a member of the international street photographer collective iN-PUBLIC. More

 

My first sneeze

Matt Stuart