Talk given by Sean McDonnell at the School of Life, London, March 2011.

13. Each time he took a walk, he felt as though he were leaving himself behind, and by giving himself up to the movement of the streets, by reducing himself to a seeing eye, he was able to escape the obligation to think, and this, more than anything else, brought him a measure of peace, a salutary emptiness within. Paul Auster, City of Glass

15. Think of those boxers who, before a fight against a bigger and better opponent, either plead with their manager to cancel the contest or weep uncontrollably in the foetal position. This is of course futile and pathetic, so it’s half a gallon of stupidly strong coffee, a sequence of ciggies and several wardrobe indecisions. After this I am suitably psychologically deranged and in no fit state to care whether I am going to get the shot or not, but let’s say I feel slightly “combative” which for me is the vital ingredient. Chris Dorley-Brown, The Corners

42. … the important fact about urban living: the continual stream of second attention awareness. Every license plate, street sign, passing strangers, are saying something to you. William S. Boroughs quoted by Iain Sinclair, Lights Out For The Territory

55. I like it in the city when the air is so thick and opaque I love to see everybody in short skirts Shorts and shades I like it in the city when two worlds collide Adele, Hometown Glory

74. loved; life; London

75. Portrait of a Street Photographer

76. the distance between us

89. The following quotation sums up Bresson's feelings: " I went to Marseille. A small allowance enabled me to get along, and I worked with enjoyment. I had just discovered the Leica. It became the extension of my eye, and I have never been separated from it since I found it. I prowled the streets all day, feeling very strung up and ready to pounce, determined to 'trap' life - to preserve life in the act of living. Above all I craved to seize the whole essence the confines of one single photograph, of some situation that was in the process of unrolling itself before my eyes ". It is as if his camera were one with his eyes and his whole being. He quotes an essay of particular significance to this, and of great self interest. It is Eugen Herrigel's 'Zen in the Art of Archery'. Herrigel, a German philosopher, studied archery for five years of his life under Zen guidance, enabling him to write his essay. This practicing of 'spiritual archery' is to train the mind in order to bring it into contact with 'ultimate reality'. Archery is not practiced here solely for the hitting of a target. Andrew Johnson

90. The crowd, Jordan remembered, got very quiet. That was, he said later, the moment for him. The moment, he explained, was what all Phil Jackson's Zen Buddhism stuff, as he called it, was about: how to focus and concentrate and be ready for that critical point in a game, so that when it arrived you knew exactly what you wanted to do and how to do it, as if you had already lived through it. When it happened, you were supposed to be in control, use the moment, and not panic and let the moment use you. Jackson liked the analogy of a cat waiting for a mouse, patiently biding its time, until the mouse, utterly unaware, finally came forth. The play at that instant, Jordan said, seemed to unfold very slowly, and he saw everything with great clarity, as Jackson had wanted him to: the way the Utah defense was setting up, and what his teammates were doing. He knew exactly what he was going to do. "I never doubted myself," Jordan said later. "I never doubted the whole game.“ David Halberstam

91. Roy De Caravara

92. Roy De Caravara

93. Ray Metzker

94. Ray Metzker

95. Daido Moriyama

96. Daido Moriyama

97. Sylvia Plachy

98. Sylvia Plachy

99. Michael Ackerman

100. Michael Ackerman

101. All images copyright © Sean McDonnell except where otherwise credited