A New Direction
For a long time, I worked under the name ‘NJM fliicks’. At the time, it made sense. It represented a phase where I was chasing a cinematic look and exploring photography through that lens. My love for cinema hasn’t disappeared, but over time I've realised that what really matters to me isn’t creating something that feels cinematic. It’s documenting real life.
Street photography has gradually become the thing that pulls me back in every time I pick up a camera. The stories are already there. The moments exist without direction or staging. All that’s required is to pay attention.
Eventually, I reached a point where the old name no longer felt right. It felt like something I had grown out of. Photography, like anything creative, evolves over time, and it felt important that the name I was working under reflected the direction I’m now moving in.
Going forward, I want the work to be known simply under my own name, Nathan J. Miles. Photography, for me, has become something deeply personal, and it feels right that the work reflects that.
The handle yesterday_street exists as a small nod to what this new chapter represents. It reflects the focus of the work itself: the ordinary, everyday moments that unfold constantly around us in public space. Small fragments of life that might otherwise go unnoticed.
The idea behind the project is simple.
Photography captures a moment. That moment passes almost instantly and becomes part of the past. The world moves forward, and the scene changes before we even realise it. In many ways, every photograph is already yesterday.
That idea of preserving time keeps drawing me back to photography, and film has become a huge part of that.
There’s something incredibly pure about shooting film. It slows everything down. You become more aware of what’s happening around you and more intentional with the moments you choose to photograph. It removes the pressure to constantly shoot and instead encourages patience and observation.
For me, film feels timeless. It feels honest. Right now it’s the only way I want to document the world.
I still shoot both colour and black and white, and I love what each of them brings. Colour allows the atmosphere of a place to come through in a really natural way. But the more I shoot black and white, the more I find myself drawn to it. There’s something about the simplicity of light, shadow and form that continues to pull me deeper into that way of seeing.
Over the coming months I’m planning to start developing my own black and white film. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while and it feels like a natural next step. Developing film myself will allow me to immerse myself even further into the process and gain a deeper connection with the work.
It’s not just about the final photograph. It’s about the entire process of creating it.
I’m also looking forward to sharing more of that process along the way, whether that’s through social media or on YouTube. Showing the work as it’s being made, not just the finished images.
Ultimately, this rebrand represents a new direction.
Not a completely different person, but an evolution.
The same curiosity. The same passion for photography. Just a clearer understanding of what I want the work to be.
For now, the goal is simple: To keep walking, keep observing and keep documenting the small moments of everyday life before they disappear into yesterday.
