Nicholas Goodden, otherwise known as Nico, is a London-based photographer and drone videographer. Considered “A total Swiss army knife, able of covering any visual requirements thrown his way” by Beavertown Brewery Creative Director Nick Dwyer, Goodden’s work holds an incredible amount of range to it, from dramatic monochrome compositions to intense, vivid long-exposure photographs on the streets of London.

My interest in Goodden’s work is his black and white pieces, where he always leaves some part of the composition in highly saturated colour, either he drawing over it in post-production or leaving the original colour. Take the above image for example, displaying a small riverside walkway, the left-hand side bearing a wall covered in graffiti, Goodden’s particular focus being the word ‘FREE’ painted across the wall. The immediate connotations of this word, and the fact that it’s the only part of the image with any colour, imply restrictions within maybe the photographer’s own life, or generally speaking society as a whole. The use of highlighting the graffiti in the image may also further the message of the original artist, who might be challenging the government by painting there illegally. It suggests freedom through art and self-expression, and a monotony in everyday life that needs to be broken out of.

In my own work, I want to attempt recreating Goodden’s stylistic conventions within the work he’s done using black and white, as I think it would be a challenge for me to replicate, but also graffiti and vandalism as a subject presents the concept of ‘challenge’ perfectly, as more often than not the artists want to protest something.