Beautiful Daze

Portraits Revisited 4: India

2012-02-02T07:02:00.000Z

One of the things I do is organise international study tours for community development students. In 2005 the venue was Mumbai in India. This picture was taken on the municipal wast dump; a vast area of refuse where a community of rag pickers live and work. Although the majority of people there live under temporary shelter and education and health services appear non existent, there are some rudimentary shops and a sustainable community

We were there to visit the local ragpickers association who have been campaigning for the right to pick and resell the refuse as this is their only source of income. Most major cities in developing countries have such communities. It has been estimated that around 1.5 million people in India make their living this way.

The young men in the photograph were happy to have their pictures taken. And although the ragpickers association were pleased to see us, the visit was very tense with a large crowd following us around. It felt like high spirits threatening to tip over into hostility .

Photograph taken on a Ricoh GRD

Portraits Revisited 3: China

2012-02-01T07:22:00.001Z

One of my sons lives and works in China. In 2009 we travelled together through Yunnan. We started in the provincial capital Kunming and travelled north west criss-crossing the upper reaches of the Yangtze river. We spent a few days in the old town at Lijiang. From there our plan was to walk the famous Tiger Leaping Gorge of the Yangtze, but at the last minute decided instead to ascend 18000 ft Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.

A cable car takes you a long way up the mountain. From there it is a series of walkways, steps and platforms to an upper viewing station about 3000 ft below the summit. This is one of the major tourist attraction for the new Chinese middle class and we were the only westerns there. Many people were carrying large spray cans that turned out to be oxygen cylinders. A number of men were alternately breathing oxygen and smoking cigarettes. We wondered if this can set you on fire?

At the top platform everyone takes pictures, mostly of each other. Religious artwork of the local ethnic minority was hung on the platform sides but largely ignored. My son proved to be a hit with lots of people wanting to be photographed with him. The woman in the picture being especially keen to do this. Having exhausted this option she then climbed onto the platform barrier and waved around the national flag so we could all photograph her some more. Playful patriotism perhaps.

Photograph taken on a Nikon D700

Portraits Revisited 2: Morocco

2012-01-31T02:00:00.000Z

Its September 1989 and we are trekking in the Atlas mountains of Morocco. Several days into the journey we break out of the high mountain ranges and drop into a river valley with a string of small villages on the hillside. As we walk through a village the children as usual come out to watch us, the older girls looking after their younger brothers and sisters. Just after the photograph was taken a furore breaks out and people run down to a drainage channel. A women carrying a large bundle of firewood has fallen off the the stone retaining wall and seriously cut her head. We have a doctor with us who goes to help. We later find out that the village is a couple of days walk away from any medical assistance.

Portrait taken with a Contax 139 on Kodak print film.

Portraits Revisited: Tibet

2012-01-30T18:52:00.000Z

One of the great things about coming across old photographs is that they can immediately take you back to that place and moment. The two photographs below were taken in Tibet in 2005. We were travelling around in a small convoy of Land Cruisers and had camped for the night in a valley at about 15000 feet after visiting the expansive Namtso the largest lake in Tibet. One of the photographs taken that day was of men in traditional dress herding yaks by motorbike. Some years later this photo was used as art work for a CD cover by the Tibetan singer Namgyal Lhamo, along with a photo by Galen Rowell (a coincidence that I posted about him 2 days ago?)

The morning these photographs were taken was very cold and dark with constant drizzle. The drivers had parked the vehicles off the road and struggled to get them back up the steep and wet hillside. Just down the track from our campsite was a tent with the mother, child and grandmother sheltering from the weather. Her husband was somewhere up the mounting tendering to the yaks. She offered us hospitality as nomads do the world over regardless of how little they might have. The inside of the tent was as cold as the outside as there was little firewood or dry yak dung available. A family living a harsh and unforgiving life.

The photographs were taken on a Nikon D70.

The shot that nearly killed me: a Guardian feature

2012-01-30T01:00:00.000Z

From the Guardian: stories from 18 conflict photographers recounting situations where they almost got killed and the overwhelming stress of this activity. Showing why we all owe them for putting themselves on the line so these events do not pass unnoticed. Harrowing stuff.

Mads Nissen, Libya, February 2011

On buying cameras

2012-01-29T17:41:00.000Z

I have just made a list of the cameras I have used (owned / borrowed / acquired) since I started with photography at the age of 14. They range from the exotic to the iconic to the rather dull and mostly useless. Not in the same order they include a Minox Subminature, Leica M6, Diana (the original from Woolworths and the current expensive copy), Mamiya 6006, ten different Nikons, Olympus SP, Ricoh GRD and my favourite a Contax 139 which finally gave up life after being dragged extensively around Asia and North Africa. if digital had not come along I would probably be using a Nikon FM3a with a bunch of prime lenses.

In total I have used 49 different cameras (not including smartphones). There was some purpose to this. I know that its the photographer that makes the picture and buying a new camera does not make you a better photographer. But changing your camera type can enable / force a different way of working / seeing, and helps to make you develop new approaches. The same subject should be photographed / printed differently if you a make a conscious choice to use a Diana compared to putting a Rollie medium format on a tripod.

Number 49 is the Fuji x100. Thinking about what number 50 might be; I have a big project in mind and it needs to be the tool for the job.

Galen Rowell

2012-01-28T14:51:00.002Z

Saturday afternoon and I could be outside taking pictures. But I’m inside re-reading Galen Rowell’s book Mountain Light. Photographer, traveller, climber and adventurer Galen Rowell produced outstanding photographs in the mountain landscapes of of Asia and the Americas.

In his writings he concentrated on the importance of seeing the changing light in making landscape photographs, and to get inside the local cultures to understand and show the nature of peoples lives rather than snap them as a passing tourist. To do this he wanted the best equipment and honed down his kit to what he considered the essentials.

The most important thing is to look and learn from his photographs (see the Mountain Light Gallery). However, given our apparent current obsession with new equipment and how cameras perform at 3200 iso it sobering to recall what Rowell used to make his pictures for this book. He shot Kodachrome. In the book he says that for a trip to Pakistan he packed 200 rolls of Kodachrome; 25 for scenics and 64 for “low light and action situations”. From 1990 onwards he moved over to the 50 iso Fuji Velvia. He often used a Nikon F3 but also made extensive use of a so called ‘amateur’ Nikon FTN. He compensated for the slow film speed by preferring to use wide aperture prime lenses whenever possible. He also carried a small light weight tripod for when it got really dark. His wife Barbara (also a very fine photographer) used a F3 with a 36-72 zoom and a 50mm 1.4.

Galen Rowell was also a supporter of the peoples and cultures in the areas he visited. In his memory the 50 for Tibet fund was established. The fund supports Tibetans to 'communicate issues of importance to their community to the wider world.

After Morning Snow

2012-01-27T13:35:00.002Z

Summit Mt Diablo

2012-01-04T23:35:00.001Z

Earth from the Space Station

2012-01-01T00:01:00.000Z

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

Shooting locations in order of appearance:

1. Aurora Borealis Pass over the United States at Night
2. Aurora Borealis and eastern United States at Night
3. Aurora Australis from Madagascar to southwest of Australia
4. Aurora Australis south of Australia
5. Northwest coast of United States to Central South America at Night
6. Aurora Australis from the Southern to the Northern Pacific Ocean
7. Halfway around the World
8. Night Pass over Central Africa and the Middle East
9. Evening Pass over the Sahara Desert and the Middle East
10. Pass over Canada and Central United States at Night
11. Pass over Southern California to Hudson Bay
12. Islands in the Philippine Sea at Night
13. Pass over Eastern Asia to Philippine Sea and Guam
14. Views of the Mideast at Night
15. Night Pass over Mediterranean Sea
16. Aurora Borealis and the United States at Night
17. Aurora Australis over Indian Ocean
18. Eastern Europe to Southeastern Asia at Night

Half Moon Bay

2011-12-30T02:21:00.002Z

Approaching the Bay: Fog clearing

Walking the beach

Interior: Flying Fish Grill and Bar

Sunset Moonrise: Point Lobos

2011-12-28T05:11:00.002Z

Point Lobos looking north

2011-12-27T05:39:00.000Z

One Day When Walking

2011-12-14T22:05:00.003Z

Waste Land

2011-11-07T18:34:00.001Z

Waste Pickers, the people who collect and recycle materials from the rubbish dumps of third world cities could number as many as ten million people across the world. In many places the pickers have organised themselves into trade unions or co-operatives to campaign for their rights, protect their members and promote their educational and economic development.

Waste Land is also a film about which The Los Angeles Times wrote:

That a beautiful film could be set in the world's largest garbage dump sounds like an oxymoron, but acclaimed documentarian Lucy Walker has pulled off precisely that feat in her profoundly moving "Waste Land." She follows renowned Brooklyn-based, Brazilian-born artist Vik Muniz on a singularly ambitious project: going to Jardim Gramacho, a vast landfill established in 1970 north of Rio de Janeiro, photographing its catadores, pickers of recyclable materials, and then collaborating with them in transforming these photos into portraits created with recyclable materials. His purpose is to inspire his pickers to see themselves in a new way and even to re-imagine their lives

See the movie site for more information

PhotoVoice Auction of Exceptional Photographs

2011-11-04T10:18:00.004Z

PhotoVoice works in the UK and internationallywith local communities and NGO's to develop participatory photography programmesto help people campaign and take action to improve their lives.

An auction of photographs, including printsby Eve Arnold, Herb Ritts, Sarah Moon, will take place in London on 22ndNovember. Have a look at the catalogue below, and maybe bid in the silentauction.

Open publication - Free publishing

Visit PhotoVoice

Washington, DC. On leaving the Harry Callahan 100 show...

2011-10-21T22:04:00.002Z

Washington, DC. View from the Phillips Collection...

2011-10-21T21:37:00.000Z

Washington and 2nd World War Monuments

2011-10-21T06:39:00.000Z

Chicago: part 4 Just Wandering Around

2011-10-17T22:32:00.005Z

Chicago: part 3 Lake Michigan

2011-10-16T21:51:00.002Z

Chicago: part 2 from the Hancock Tower

2011-10-15T22:00:00.000Z

Fuji x100 1/30 F2.0 1600 iso (no filters used - just the post sunset light)

On Travelling

2011-10-15T21:37:00.000Z

Whilst travelling I have been reading 'Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi' by Geoff Dyer. One of the themes in the book is that once you see below the surface Venice and Varanasi are very similar places. This sounds counter intuitive as you could make an almost endless list of the apparent differences. It is a beautiful day here in Chicago, sun shining, the lake is calm and serene. But once you get underneath the immediate experience and the architectural / cultural overlay it does not feel that different to being in Cape Town, London, or Kolkata. If you travel a lot, walking around one city really does become in the end like walking around any other. If I did not travel for work, or for family, I might stop travelling altogether. The only thing that lifts one city from another is the unexpected encounter. Today it was seeing President Obama, in Cape Town it was a discussion about the liberation struggle. Dyer ends his book with a quote from the Upanishad:

"What is here is also there, and what is there is also here"

All this makes photography difficult - are we just taking pictures of superficialities. Is it possible to photograph the inherent commonalities of places, other than through people living their lives?

An entertaining clip of Geoff reading excerpts from the book to what sounds like an inebriated audience is below.

geoff dyer at shoreditch house salon from Jeremy Riggall on Vimeo.

Chicago: part 1 from Millenium Park

2011-10-14T22:18:00.002Z

Top picture the Pritzker Pavillion by Frank Gehry

and reflections in the Cloud Gate by Amish Kapoor

When the art looks at you: GF2 at the Kelvingrove Gallery

2011-10-09T17:35:00.000Z

GF2 1/60 F4 800 iso

GF2 1/30 F3.2 800 iso

The Bang-Bang Club: Snapshots From a Hidden War

2011-10-04T21:51:00.000Z

Just watched the movie, The Bang Bang Club. It is based on a true story and the book of the same name. The film follows 4 South African photographers in the period from the release of Nelson Mandela to the first full democratic election. It's hard edged with graphic views of the inter community violence with collusion from the police. The film provides an insight to the history of the time. It also shows the power of photography and the risks involved. Ken Oosterbroek was killed by crossfire, Kevin Carter committed suicide, Greg Marionvich was wounded and no doubt Joao Silva deeply affected by all this.

The book is here

The Bang Bang Club Trailer From Trailerpulse

In praise of the GF2

2011-10-02T21:24:00.000Z

1/40 F5.0 400 iso Panasonic 14mm lens

How small do cameras need to be? There is a trend of moving away from DSLR's to mirrorless cameras as people become fed up lugging heavy kit when its possible to have an equivalent at a quarter of the size and weight. But the usual angst still applies; how good is my camera? I moved from a large and so heavy D700 to the Fuji X100, but after a few months even the Fuji felt too big for those times when you want a camera in your pocket just in case. By chance I came across a Panasonic GF2 for a crazy low price which fits the bill nicely. Its cheap, although some people will still charge you £400 for it, because it is apparently disappointing. Why, well for the consumer crowd it looks a bit traditional (too boxy) and for the would be street shooters it has a touch screen which obviously makes it unusable for real photography. Replaced a few months after its introduction by the curvier GF3, the GF2 is still there on the shelves.

This will ruin my credibility but I like the touch screen controls - if its good enough for your smartphone and iPad then what's the problem? Also, as some argue it has an ageing 12mp sensor which is a bit noisy. We should get a grip over these things, its a perfectly decent camera, the above photo was taken at 400 iso after the sun had gone down; good enough for casual photos I think

Note: I was looking for the Panasonic 14mm 2.5 lens. This was selling in the UK between £240 to £330. Some of the cheaper sellers didn't actually have any stock. They attract you in with the cheap price and then try and source one to send to you. If you want it the next day then you usually have to pay more. In checking this out I came across the GF2 + 14mm kit selling between £359 to £544 (the body only selling between £200 to £399). With a bit more effort I found and bought the camera + lens through an online offer for £299. In effect the lens for £240 plus the camera for £59.

Note 2: The main criticism of the m4/3 system is that the sensor size is noisy at high iso compared to APS and especially full frame cameras. This is of course true but is it a problem? How often do you actually need to shoot at a higher iso. After all Steve McCurry made a career from using Kodachrome 64. Let's accept though that the image quality of the 12mp m4/3 sensors starts to suffer after 800 iso. One of my favourite personal photos was taken of people night dancing in Shanghai lit only by normal street lights. As I remember it the picture was taken on a D700 at 1/30 at F4.5 at 3200 iso. Being full frame the image quality at this iso is just great, but you can't put a D700 in your pocket. If I had been carrying the GF2, using F2.0 would have given an iso of 640. Just use wide aperture primes. With a choice of 12mm F2, 14mm F2.5, 17mm F2.8, 20mm F1.7, 25mm F1.4 and 45mm F1.8 the solution is easy.

Reflections Glen Feshie

2011-10-01T20:33:00.000Z

6 Billion and counting....

2011-09-14T12:18:00.000Z

There are over 6 billion photos on Flickr and the number increases about 3000 every minute. Goodness know how many billion photos now exist. Probably 99% of these pictures are straight colour photographs.

Fancy something different; if so try Color Efex Pro. With 55 different filters available there is a real danger of just tarting up your pictures into something garish and horrible. On the other hand you may find a new look that better expresses what you are trying to do with your photography. If you sell photos it could give you something extra in a competitive market. You can download Color Efex 3 for a free 15 day trial. Version 4 will be out in October but if you buy the current version now you get a free upgrade. It's not cheap, but its mighty comprehensive in the range of effects you can apply.You might not like it, but it is worth a try for free.

A couple of reworked photos from Nepal.

Steve McCurry - Leica Hall of Fame Award 2011

2011-09-05T11:51:00.001Z

Very pleased to report that Steve McCurry is the recipient of the 2011 Leica Hall of Fame award. The prize is awarded to photographers who have rendered outstanding service to the Leica brand and to the genre of photography. "For more than three decades, 61-year-old McCurry has been on the road as a documentary photographer at the world’s trouble spots and has obtained many awards for his work. Since 1986, Steve McCurry has been a member of Magnum Photos, the renowned photographic agency"

Portobello Road

2011-09-03T19:23:00.003Z

A revisit to Portobello Road in London. At the southern end of the road are the 'antique' shops and most of the tourists. As you go further north the quality of the goods decline to flea market, and then to random odds and ends. I used to work here with young people, mainly from the ethnic minority communities. The southern end is still very wealthy and the north not as poor as it used to be, but poorer than it deserves to be.

Riding the Metro

2011-09-02T21:37:00.001Z

Commuter Portrait Number 14

British Museum

2011-09-01T19:38:00.000Z

In the Ancient Greece Gallery, the subject of the photograph is the statue below

Exhibitions: Postmodernity - Lee Friedlander

2011-09-01T16:59:00.008Z

The V and A is currently showing a small but focussed exhibition titled ‘Signs of a Struggle: Photography in the Wake of Postmodernism’ as a trailer for the forthcoming major Postmodernism show. The curator argues that ‘photographic struggles’ within postmodernity take 3 forms:

the first uses quotation, parody or appropriation to explore the conventions and limitations of photographic representation
the second combines nature and artifice
the third artificially constructs scenes to be photographed

All these approaches question the use of photography and its various roles within mass culture and on behalf of hegemonic institutions. As you would expect the usual suspects, Cindy Sherman and Jeff Wall are here. There are also interesting examples from Richard Prince, Karen Knorr, Sarah Pickering and David Hockney. Some of this work does pose questions about the nature of photography, media and representation, some of it though can appear rather precious and about nothing of any real concern; artists producing for each other and private galleries rather than exploring how the world is. To give an example of what is going on, consider the Hockney print below.

Originally, there was a field of sunflowers. One day Van Gough came along, picked a bunch, put them in a vase and painted them. In doing so he created one of the iconic modernist paintings. We have all seen this picture (usually as a poster, in a book, as a fridge magnet, tea towel and so on). Many years later David Hockney, thinking of the Van Gough painting, picks some flowers etc. He then paints, rather than photographs them, to make the point that paintings are more real/arty/meaningful? Hockney appears to think that Jonathon would prefer a quick painting of sun flowers rather than the real thing. Then he photographs both the original vase and the painting. It then goes onto a museum wall as postmodern art (plus another 45 copies for sale). I then see the exhibition, photograph it and re-present it on this blog. No doubt some of the readers will appropriate it for their own purposes. So on it goes; resampling, appropriating, re-presenting. All the time we move further away from the essential nature of a sunflower; its smell, texture, context. All we have are simulations of sunflowers. One of the questions posed here is whether contemporary photography helps us to understand the world, or does it mask the world by simulating it?

Just down the road from the V and A, Lee Friedlander is exhibiting at the Timothy Taylor Gallery. On show are his ‘New Cars 1964’ work and ‘America by Car’.

New Cars were shot for Harpers Bazaar and was supposed to illustrate that years new car ranges for the magazine. However, Friedlander did his usual thing and instead of glossy commercial promo, what we have are cars peeking out behind a wall of old tyres, in the background from a mess of garden furniture, lost amongst the ephemera of a gas station, and best of all reflected in a shop window as if floating in an idealised living room. Needless to say Harpers declined to publish the result, but it is a great piece of work.

America by Car, takes the road trip to its logical conclusion. Why get out of the car to see the sights when you can see/photograph them from within the car. The exhibition is described as comprising "images (which) complicate and invigorate the most bereft of rural scenes. (Friedlanders) desire to collapse and flatten out the three dimensional world parallels the means of cubist paintings". As I viewed the exhibition it became clear that Friedlander used several cars, and I became more interested in what make and model they were than what was outside the window. But then road trips are like that. I once drove a Prius from Las Vegas across the Mojave Dessert to LA and then onto San Francisco. The car was not my choice but it did influence how I felt about the trip. If I had been driving a Mustang it would have been a different feeling and so a different experience. Maybe the car you are in is more important that what you see as you drive along? See also the review in the Guardian here

Images are copyright Lee Friedlander;

Courtesy, Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

Wild Pony

2011-08-30T18:31:00.001Z

Horse Portrait Number 12

Havana

2011-08-29T15:26:00.001Z

After reading the Walker Evans book I revisited my Havana photographs from 2004. Originally in colour I now prefer them in black and white

Book Reviews: Walker Evans - John Minihan

2011-08-29T14:16:00.007Z

On a short holiday in the West of Ireland and came across two books in a second hand shop in Galway. Although they are about contrasting places; Cuba in the 1930's and Ireland in the 1970's, and have contrasting styles, they do compliment each other well.

In 1933 Walker Evans spent a month in Cuba taking photographs for the book The Crime of Cuba by Carleton Beals. The book aimed to expose the corruption of the current Cuban dictator and the unsavoury relationship he had with the USA. Evans intention though was to explore Havana developing his modernist approach to photography. The publishers paid for Evans to stay just 2 weeks, and for the reminder of his time he hung out with then resident Ernest Hemingway. For the book Evans made a number of face on portraits, plus a variety of photographs covering street views, artefacts and painted signs; all motifs he would repeat for his FSA work and the seminal American Photographs. As in his later work poverty is visible and explored objectively rather than as propaganda.

John Minihan is a Irish newspaper photographer working in London. For 30 years he returned annually to his home town of Athy to document life and the changes to the community. In the book Shadows from the Pale he photographs people, the town and in particular the wake of Katy Tyrell in a close up sympathetic way that perhaps only a local could do. Whereas Evans work above has a cool detachment about it, Minihans book makes you feel like you were there. Minihan is also know for his portraits of Samuel Beckett which have been described as "the introspective, infinitely sad gaze of a man looking into the abyss of the world's woes" Likewise his Athy pictures could be described as an introspective and infinitely sad gaze looking into a community whose time has gone; a portrayal of an almost vanished rural Ireland. Cuba though has swapped ideologies but not dictatorships, and development has largely passed it by; Havana still looks, and is, closer to the 1930's than it should be.

Note: There is an excellent profile of Walker Evans in Popular Photography here

The Burren, Ireland

2011-08-27T11:49:00.001Z

Limestone pavement

Kilfenora Cathedral dating back to the 12th century

2011-08-14T18:55:00.004Z

Trawling through old picture files and finding images I had missed. One from Kathmandu 2008, another from Santa Cruz and two from New York 2009

Beautiful Daze on your iPhone

2011-08-09T19:32:00.001Z

If you would like to view this blog on your iPhone simply download the free App and search for Beautiful Daze within the App.

Love on the Left Bank

2011-08-02T15:03:00.003Z

If you are looking for something different to read this weekend then get a copy of Ed van de Elsken's Love on the Left Bank. The book contains intimate documentary images of the emerging bohemian life in Paris in the early 1950's. What makes this different from, and so much more engaging, than other photo books is the fictional narrative that runs throughout. The main fictional character is a dancer called Ann. In real life she was Vali Myers the Australian artist and later role model for Patti Smith. Also buried in the book are figures who later become players in the radical politics of Paris in the 1960's

Sean O'Hagan in his review of the book suggests it is "important for many reasons, then: as an early reflection of youth cultural ennui, disaffection and rebellion; as a glimpse of a particular place and time when Parisian culture, specifically its youth culture, was on the cusp of a great sea change; as one of the first visual narratives that walks the line between fly-on-the-wall reportage and created narrative".

In the early 1950's Ed van der Elsken worked in Paris for Magnum printing the work of Cartier-Bresson and Capa. The style of Love on the Left Bank prefigures the intimate 'family' approach to photography adopted by Larry Clark and Nan Goldin and many others. He is also the author of 19 other books and several films. He once commented on his work: "I report on young, rebellious scum with pleasure … I rejoice in everything. Love. Courage. Beauty. Also blood, sweat and tears. Keep your eyes open."

Wall Art, East London

2011-07-29T09:56:00.001Z

Lone Photographer: Tate Modern

2011-07-28T09:47:00.001Z

Thomas Struth, Whitechapel Gallery

2011-07-27T09:18:00.000Z

Las Vegas

Covering most of the building this sprawling exhibition includes architecture, both classical and modern, high tech machinery, jungle, family portraits. museums and street scenes. Apart from some early black and white prints the photographs are large (several feet across) and printed directly onto perspex. This gives the photographs a semi translucent creamy other world effect and in some cases looks like hand coloured monochrome prints. It all looks fantastic in the cool white space of the gallery, but would not work in your house. But then prints this size are for the corporate market are they not?

Apart from the family portraits people are either absent or marginal in the photographs. Struth clearly is putting us in our place as irrelevant cogs in the machine. The family groups look like (very middle class) enclaves where we huddle together for companionship in the face of an alienating world. The jungle pictures are captioned as 'paradise' but look even more intimidating spaces than the soulless urban streets.

It's all excellent stuff, showing what contemporary photography can be. The style and subject is totally different to the Arbus show, but as powerful in different ways.

Photography at the Tate Modern

2011-07-27T09:07:00.001Z

New Documentary Forms

This exhibition claims to show us new and diverse ways of reporting the everyday, moving away from the decisive picture of the human condition. There is an appropriate random collection of material that suggests the diversity of way the strategies of power are deployed and contested and the daily tactics people use to make life more liveable. However the exhibition could have been more; under curated I think, and it needs a broader narrative to link up the works presented.

Luc Delahaye showed large format prints to explore single fragments from conflict zones

Guy Tillim showed excerpts from a political rally in the Congo in 2006, focusing on the crowd

Boris Mikhailov showed random daily stuff from the Ukraine linked by colours; blue and red

Akram Zaatari presented formal and playful studio portraits made in the Lebanon from the late 1940’s to the 1970’s.

Mitch Epstein exhibited a selection from his America Power series, which explores the detrimental effects power companies have on the landscape

Mitch Epstein, the best pictures in the show.

Diane Arbus.

Downstairs and just along from the ‘Poetry and Dreams: surrealism and beyond’ section of the gallery is the Diane Arbus exhibit. The old favourites are here along with a personal selection of her best work and extraordinary pictures of people confined to a mental institution wearing Halloween masks. Despite the chatter in the previous exhibition about exploring new forms the Arbus work is more visually captivating and powerful.

Diane Arbus: Headless Man - Headless Woman

Taryn Simon: A Living Man Declared Dead.

This is more of a new documentary form than anything in the new documentary form exhibit. Taryn has selected 18 people from across the world seemingly at random. Each person has a large 3 panel display devoted to them. The left panel contains straight portraits of relatives (ranging from 3 to 50 plus pictures), the centre panel is a brief text about them, and the right panel has photographs of supporting ephemera (guns, dead body, cassette tapes, city view and so on). It's interesting because it is a different way of exploring a subject.

But what does it really tell us? I wanted to know more about the person and the context of their life, after 10 or so portraits of relatives I lost interest in them and wanted more of the ephemera to fill out the story. It does make the point that a single, or even sequence of pictures tells us little, and to understand a person and their life we need to do more than that. It is a monumental work in the sense of the time and effort that has gone into producing it. Having said that the photographs themselves are rather plain and despite the innovation in presentation does not really succeed for me.

iPad as a camera?

2011-07-27T08:16:00.008Z

Anyone who thinks an iPad is viable as a camera is crazy. Actually, no one thinks this (just under 10,000 iPhone pictures are uploaded daily to Flickr, for the iPad it's around 20). However, if an iPad is what you have in you hand then it has to do. Grab shot at the Tate Modern with lots of noise reduction. Photo taken appropriately in the New Documentary Forms exhibit.

Quote of the Day: the truimph of the banal

2011-07-22T11:34:00.002Z

Actually it's from the Guardian on July 13th, but I have only just seen it.

Andrew Keen an historian of the Internet commenting on the move to mass digital culture where we spend our time on Facebook, Twitter and Flickr instead of reading books and looking at original art.

"When you leave everything to the crowd, where everything is democratised, when everything is determined by the number of clicks, you are by definition undermining the seriousness of the artistic endeavour," he says. "There is no evidence that we are on the verge of a great new glittering cultural age, there is evidence that we may well be on the verge of a new dark age in cultural terms … where the creative world is destroyed and where all we have is cacophony and self opinion, where we have a crisis of democratised culture."

The Mexican Suitcase

2011-07-22T09:22:00.000Z

As many of you will know the Mexican Suitcase was discovered a couple of years ago and contains previously unseen work photos by Robert Capa, David Seymour and Gerda Taro. If you are in LA on Saturday (24th) Trisha Ziff's film of the discovery and contents of the suitcase is showing at the Egyptian Theatre. For the rest of us there is the online flash version here.

Also thanks to Zone Zero there is a pdf presentation exploring the work of Gerda Toro in the Spanish Civil War.

There is more on the 'Suitcase' from the International Centre of Photography with a selection of photos from Capa, Toro and Seymour

InsideOut Project

2011-07-19T12:45:00.005Z

Following randomly but yet seamlessly on from the Lisbon Graffiti post below. The InsideOut project aims for normally invisible people to reclaim urban space and make themselves visible. This project is partly about enhancing personal identity, partly political and partly an art action. Whatever your motivation might be it is something we can all do. Check the video below and also see other videos of the project here and more general information about InsideOut here.

If you are a bit cynical about this, there is a good section in one of the InsideOut videos from Tunisia during the recent revolution where a man says that until now only the dictators picture appeared in public spaces, now everyones picture can be displayed. In another section somebody says that all you see in public are commercial advertisements, but we can replace these with real people.

InsideOut is a movement started by JR the enigmatic artist, self defined 'photograffeur' and TED prize winner.

Lisbon Graffiti

2011-07-16T19:12:00.000Z

Blog update

2011-07-15T22:40:00.000Z

Just added a free eCard facility to images on this site, along with purchase option for prints and cards. Thanks to Fotomoto for this.

Until August 13th there is a 50% discount on any purchases. Use the coupon below. Click here for instructions for use.

EF8B38
50% for All products
Valid until 13 Aug, 2011

Lisbon

2011-07-06T21:48:00.001Z

In the Alfama District

Palacio de Justica

Castello S. Jorge

Riding the Tram

Inverness

2011-06-27T19:23:00.000Z

Loch Mallachie

2011-06-24T17:12:00.000Z

The Small Isles

2011-06-23T09:33:00.004Z

Canna looking towards Skye

Horse Portrait No. 7: Isle of Muck

Fuji x100 Ad

2011-06-15T12:43:00.002Z

A dark neo post apocalyptic ad in Japanese but shown in this version only on TV in Hong Kong. The narrator says, or so I'm told, something along the lines of' "I am a dog. Everyday wondering on the street alone. Taking pictures .... This world... is it a graveyard? Are we still alive?" All very Araki and a long way from the Nikon ads on Hollyoaks

River Spey

2011-06-12T14:34:00.000Z

Summer Evening: Insh Marshes

2011-06-09T20:26:00.001Z

The Meanings of Photographs

2011-06-02T15:48:00.000Z

This post follows on from the Cartier-Bresson clip below. In the video H C-B said that that he was not interested in documenting things. I’m not sure what he meant by this; the simple recording of events, photojournalism? Instead his concern was with aesthetic problems to be solved in order to make a successful photograph. This is of course central to making photographs, if the aesthetics don’t work the photograph will fail.

However, within all photographs there is course much more than this. There is a representation of the world (albeit somewhat removed) and this content as students of semiotics will know has embedded meaning. How do we try to understand what this meaning might be? One way is to be told what the photograph is supposed to mean is through the use of captions directing the viewers interpretation. This is clearly rather constricting and photographs should be seen as visual text to be read in different ways and at different levels. To help us approach this reading some recourse to social theory can be useful.

For example, all photographs depict an area of space bounded by the frame of the print / negative / viewfinder / etc. Henri Lefebvre has written extensively on the primacy of space in understanding the nature of the modern world. What is going on, why is it happening, who is there, who is not there, and so on. Michel de Certeau took this argument further and suggests that within a given space the dominant order will be deploying strategies to control what is happening. In contrast the citizen will be adopting their own set of personal tactics to make their life more liveable.

Staying with H C-B lets explore the photograph below. This appears to be an idyllic rural scene, but given land ownership it is presumably municipal or authorised recreational space. It is also, we might think, taking place acceptably in non working time. Maybe an escape from the city for a few hours? Perhaps it is a Sunday after church or a public holiday. People are sitting in a pattern that reflects social / gender stratification. Women sit lower down and have the food which we may guess they prepared and are passing up to the men. A man with a workers cap sits lower than the man with braces and a higher status hat. Why are they sitting like this and not in a circle or as an interacting group? Are they feeling content and simply contemplating the scene lost in their individual thoughts (what might these be?), or is there some tension between them hence the apparent physical separation. We assume they are two married couples, but are they? If they are married are there children around but not in the picture? Does the boat belong to them, we suspect not. Is it a symbol of a life they aspire to but will not have?

One of the joys of photography is that it cannot answer the questions that are posed within a picture. It just allows our mind to speculate what might be... We may also personalise the picture. Maybe we remember our last family picnic and think about the feelings / memories we have of that day. In this way photographs of other people in other places can become a way of exploring ourselves.

2 Months With The Fuji x100

2011-05-31T14:23:00.004Z

It's been two months now with the Fuji x100. I come from a background of using SLR's, DSLR's and rangefinders including a Leica M6, and the x100 is in some respects a hybrid of all of these. It's generally accepted that around 80% of photographs are taken with a lens between 35 to 50mm. For me this is Leica territory with a D/SLR outfit filing in the remainder. Since I went digital in the early 2000's the problem has been replacing the M6. After a long wait the M8 arrived but it never seemed worth the money: a flawed and underdeveloped product. The M9 would be great apart from the price, hence the desire for the x100.

Despite the shortage of stock I managed, with considerable effort, to acquire one in early April. Since then I have been fortunate to travel to California, New Mexico and Cape Town (my life is not normally like this). Photography was not the purpose of these trips but I took the x100 along to use when I could, and this post is a summary of the experience and reflection on the camera.

The x100 can produce beautiful and high quality images if the photographer knows what they are doing. It is important to realise it's not a DSLR, it's not a Point and Shoot, and it's not a Rangefinder either. It is, to misquote Garry Winogrand, a thing itself. You just have to find a new way of working that brings out the best of it and you.

There has been a lot of chatter about the shortcomings of the x100. Some of this is due to the poorly though out menu system and functional limitations that can, and should be fixed with a decent firmware upgrade. The Luminous Landscape article sums these problems. Partly though the bad press especially on some of the photo fora has been due to a misunderstanding of the limitations of any optical viewfinder that is not TTL. Of course it's not accurate and it's going to get worse the closer to the subject you are. That's the beauty of having the EVF when you need 100% framing accuracy. Many people also complain about the manual focus system claiming it's unusable. Actually it works well if you understand how the camera operates: firstly you auto focus then use the manual focus ring for fine tuning.

Usually I set the camera to aperture priority with auto focus via the optical viewfinder, and auto iso limited to 1600. Unlike most cameras I have used (heavy duty Nikon's excepted) I'm happy to let the camera run to1600. Yes there is noise but it is easy to deal with in Lightroom. The auto iso works well making sensible suggestions on shutter speed / iso trade offs. If I'm not happy with the choice it is quick to manually override. Occasionally I manually fine tune the focus, switch to the EVR for close focus or if precise framing is crucial. I'm not a shoot from the hip kind of guy, so mostly have the camera switched off as a couple of seconds for the camera to start up is not a problem as it gives me a bit of thinking time about how to make the picture. This is just one way of working with the camera, it may be different for you.

The camera is light enough to carry all day (along with the essential spare battery) and rugged enough to survive the inevitable bangs and scrapes. I always wanted a M6 with auto focus and now I have the nearest thing. For me the killer app is the optical viewfinder and thats good enough to offset the minor annoyances of the camera. It is hard to think of photography over the next few years using anything else.

A selection of photographs taken with the x100 for this blog are here (they will appear at the bottom of this post)

--------------------------------------------------------

By chance just as I finished writing this The Onlinephotographer posted the video below on Henri Cartier-Bresson talking about his photographs. Nicely offsets the talk about cameras.

HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON - Decisive Moment, from bt465 on Vimeo.

On reflection

2011-05-30T15:07:00.000Z

Back home from South Africa and looking through the contacts (although in the digital age I should say the Lightroom library) and this is one of my favourite pictures from the trip.

Toilet block at the Penguin Reserve near Simon's Town

The End of Africa

2011-05-26T14:41:00.002Z

The Cape of Good Hope is the most south westerly point of the African continent with nothing but the South Atlantic until you reach Antartica. Just to the east is the rocky promontory of Cape Point, but here the land slips into the sea with families of Baboons and small groups of Ostrich wandering nearby. Inevitably, it is also the haunt of international tourists; a place of fun and a photo opportunity on an essential day tour.

Book Review: District Six Revisited

2011-05-25T02:25:00.003Z

District Six is an area of Cape Town where the 60,000 multi racial inhabitants were forcibly removed by the Apartheid regime in the 1970's. As such it is one of the seminal events in the struggle for an equal and democratic South Africa

The book District Six Revisited is a collection of around 80 black and white photographs produced by local photographers with some contextualising prose, documenting the area before it was bulldozed by the regime. It stands as a document to a community and a way of life that was destroyed by an act of racist policy. The photographs are sympathetic to the everyday life of the community and the daily tactics of survival and enjoyment. They depict the poverty of the area in an honest and unsentimental way.

Out of fashion these days, the book contains straightforward photographs (in the 35mm Tri-X recording the human condition style) that document daily life, and bears witness to the destruction that was to come. These days such work is likely to be be ignored in favour of more 'conceptual' approaches. However, the book reminds us that documenting important events is one of the things that photography does well, and is something that should not be disregarded in pursuit of more arty approaches.

Below are two of my favourite photographs from the book, both by George Hallett.

The book is published by Witwatersrand University Press and is available via Amazon.

Happy Birthday Bob!

2011-05-24T02:22:00.005Z

It's Bob Dylan's 70th birthday.

"Forever Young"

May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young

May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young

May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
And may your song always be sung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.

Township Portraits: Cape Town

2011-05-23T15:33:00.001Z

Boys at an After School Club

Committee Members Senior Citizens Group

Management Members, Agricultural Co-operative

Camps Bay near Cape Town

2011-05-22T16:05:00.000Z

Robben Island (Nelson Mandela's prison)

2011-05-21T19:26:00.001Z

Outer Security Fence

Prison Wing

Work and Exercise Yard

Tourists Visiting Robben Island

2011-05-21T18:44:00.000Z

Morning Light near Cape Town

2011-05-20T20:15:00.000Z

Cape Town: Heroes of South Africa

2011-05-19T15:37:00.001Z

Desmond Tutu, F. W. deKlerk, Nelson Mandela (and Coca Cola Man)

Loch Linnie, Sunday Afternoon: Fuji x100

2011-05-15T18:43:00.000Z

Photography as Insurgent Art?

2011-05-08T18:40:00.000Z

The poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti has published a book called Poetry as Insurgent Art. In a review of the book James Seckington comments that Ferlinghetti's argument is that modern day poets should avoid the cleverness and irony that the jaded slouch Generations X,Y, and Z have cultivated to perfection. He goes on to say:

In the age of iPods, text messages, and YouTube, it is difficult to imagine poetry as a serious cultural and political force. Poetry, a once fertile field that nurtured dissent, confrontation, and utopian visions, has become gentrified. Subtle, ironic, self-obsessed, and understated, today’s poet is a master craftsperson, constructing clever word puzzles that touch on many themes, but the liberation of the spirit is not one of them.

Poets have become, if not complicit in the status quo, at the least numb to it. Where is the energy in modern poetry? The magnificent leaps of the imagination? The passion that is born of the urgency of youth? Where is the faith, not in one’s self and one’s work, but in the power of words? Where are the declarations, manifestos, and epic statements of purpose?

Without denying the excellent meaningful work produced by a minority of present day photographers, is this critique of poetry also true of photography? Post modern irony, technical wizardry, and rampant commercialism are all very well, but where is the passion and the belief in photography to communicate ideas and liberate the imagination?

San Francisco:Fuji x100

2011-05-07T18:08:00.001Z

Shadows: Fuji x100

2011-05-05T02:25:00.001Z

Highway, New Mexico: Fuji x100

2011-05-01T06:34:00.000Z

Taos Pueblo, New Mexico: Fuji x100

2011-04-29T01:49:00.000Z

Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico

2011-04-28T03:30:00.004Z

Church of Ranchos de Taos in New Mexico, built around the start of the 19th century and a world heritage site. Georgia O'Keefe called the church "one of the most beautiful buildings left in the United States by the early Spaniards". This comparison has been done before and this is my take on it. Three classic views: two photographs by Paul Strand and Ansel Adams, and one of the four paintings made of it by Georgia O'Keefe

Ansel Adams

Georgia O'Keefe

Paul Strand; This is my favourite of the 3
as it places the building more in the landscape
and creates a greater monumental feel to it against the sky

I visited Taos in the evening when the angle of the light was roughly the same as for Strand and Adams. Rather than just copy their photographs I tried a different approach in the 2 pictures below. Both shot in colour on the Fuji x100 and converted in Lightroom; a longway from the techniques of Strand and Adams.

Early next morning with the light from the East, the building looks different.

Las Vegas, New mexico: Fuji x100

2011-04-27T03:20:00.002Z

Santa Fe: Fuji x100

2011-04-26T03:18:00.000Z

Early Morning, Edinburgh Airport: Fuji x100

2011-04-20T10:53:00.001Z

The Sea at Helensburgh; Fuji x100

2011-04-18T01:41:00.001Z

x100

2011-04-17T17:42:00.003Z

Starting to get to grips with the x100. From the picture above its not hard to see where the design concept came from. Take the 'best' of the Leica M series and add the most functional aspects of digital cameras with a hybrid viewfinder and you have a new classic. It's great fun to use and its nice to be back with analogue aperture and shutter controls. As soon as Fuji issue the firmware update to sort out focussing and other miscellaneous glitches (this week?) it will be even better.

For those like me still sorting bugs from features and thinking through different ways of working the camera, the x100 forum is a good source of information. Will post my input to the user reviews shortly.

x100 processed in Silver Efex pro 2

Virtual Shopping Dumbarton: Fuji x100

2011-04-16T11:57:00.001Z

Out shooting with the Fuji x100. It took persistence to get one and I'm happy I made the effort. There is lots of forum chatter about this camera, and a fair amount of disappointment it appears. Putting aside a few obviously faulty cameras, I think this reflects a number of interesting attitudes, and how hype can build expectation followed by a feeling of being let down when you realise its only a camera, its not perfect and it can't do everything marvellously. There are lots of things though that it can do and I'm loving it.

Ruined Distillery, Dumbarton: Fuji x100

2011-04-16T10:55:00.002Z

Insh Marshes

2011-04-07T10:10:00.000Z

Ai Weiwei:Never Sorry

2011-04-06T10:11:00.006Z

Part international star, part dissident artist, Beijing-born activist Ai Weiwei has gained notoriety as one of the fiercest internal critics of China. You can contribute to funding the full-length documentary Never Sorry that will provide the first ever in-depth glimpse of his controversial body of work and life, including his recent — and current — detainment by Chinese authorities.

Alison has provided the following update:

Ai Weiwei remains in detention twenty-four hours after being taken into custody at Beijing Capital Airport on the morning of April 3rd. His wife, Lu Qing, was taken into the local police station for questioning late last night, but has received no word about her husband. Meantime, all eight studio assistants have been released and continue to report a strong police presence around Ai’s studio compound. During their questioning, assistants were repeatedly asked about their salaries, size of the studio and visa status. Police also confiscated hundreds of objects from Ai’s studio, including computers, hard drives, CDs and notebooks. Four police officers remained at Ai’s studio until midnight on April 3rd hoping to interrogate other members of Ai’s staff. At 5:20 am in Beijing on April 4th, Ai’s lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan reported that Ai’s phone remained off and that he had been unable to locate the artist. Police returned to the studio Monday morning and have been stationed at the gate since 7 am.

Wen Tao, an activist and former journalist, was also arrested during yesterday’s raid. No one has been able to contact Wen in 24 hours.

For additional coverage: Time Magazine: Not Another Day in the Life of Ai Weiwei

To contribute to the funding of the film go here

You cou also send an email to the Government of China asking for Ai Weiwei to be released:

english@mail.gov.cn

-----------------------
Update 8th April

Ai Weiwei remains in police custody. His whereabouts unknown. On April 5th, his mother and his older sister posted a missing persons flyer and his assistants continue to be questioned. His detention has provoked responses from Departments of State of several countries, human rights activists, writers, artists and citizens from all over the world. The EU has proposed a motion that calls for the boycott of the 2nd EU-China multi party forum in Beijing on 16-18 May should Ai remain in police custody.

Ai Weiwei's detention comes against a backdrop of more than 40 arrests of "dissident" activists, lawyers and writers in the last three weeks. We are hopeful that confirmation of his whereabouts and his release will occur soon. Until then, please spread the word to your family, lovers, third cousins, fake cousins, colleagues and friends about Ai Weiwei. Encourage them to learn more about Ai Weiwei through this film and recently published articles. Also, let them know that their donation helps us get this film to you sooner.

Bowling Harbour: Day out for the GH2

2011-04-03T17:01:00.004Z

Now using the GH2 and very happy with it.

Cabin at Bowling Harbour, Raw file toned in Lightroom.

Pearblossom Hwy., 11 - 18th April 1986, #2

2011-04-01T16:54:00.004Z

By chance watching David Hockney on TV talking about his work. Maybe its because I'm soon heading for California and New Mexico that I'm taken by the the 'joiner' below.

Hockney describes the work:

'Pearblossom Highway' shows a crossroads in a very wide open space, which you only get a sense of in the western United States. . . . [The] picture was not just about a crossroads, but about us driving around. I'd had three days of driving and being the passenger. The driver and the passenger see the road in different ways. When you drive you read all the road signs, but when you're the passenger, you don't, you can decide to look where you want. And the picture dealt with that: on the right-hand side of the road it's as if you're the driver, reading traffic signs to tell you what to do and so on, and on the left-hand side it's as if you're a passenger going along the road more slowly, looking all around. So the picture is about driving without the car being in it.

Graham Nash

2011-04-01T15:49:00.002Z

Another random chance; Graham Nash is now on TV talking about his photographs. Steidl have great book of his work. Below fabulous picture of Joni Mitchell

Besieged: A Photojournalism Project

2011-03-31T22:09:00.002Z

Kickstarter has set a model for crowd sourcing projects. Using the same approach Emphas.is is another crowd driven venture to fund photojournalism. In return for a small donation (from $10) you can contribute to funding the Besieged project: Four young women photographers plan to go back to Walikale in Congo to visually reconstruct the mass rape of more than 200 women there last summer. This collaborative project is about rape being systematically used as a weapon of warfare.

Watch the video to hear more.....

Agnes, Ying, Benedicte and Sarah comment:

Hillary Clinton stated “It is time for all of us to assume our responsibility to go beyond condemning this behavior, to taking concrete steps to end it, to make it socially unacceptable, to recognize it is not cultural; it is criminal. And the more we say that over and over and over again, the more we will change attitudes, create peer pressure, and the conditions for the elimination of this violation."

In February of this year the NGO V-DAY opened “City Of Joy” a community for women survivors of gender violence in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo. City of Joy will provide up to 180 Congolese women a year with an opportunity to benefit from group therapy; self-defense training; comprehensive sexuality education; economic empowerment; storytelling; dance; theater; ecology and horticulture. There are many positive things taking place in Congo to defeat sexual violence, you cannot expect something as wide spread, and long lasting to be eliminated immediately, but we hope, continuous coverage, and education to viewers and the International community will somehow bring about positive change

nonetheless.

They need to raise $24,000 in the next 35 days. You can make a contribution here

Paul Graham Workshop

2011-03-28T21:23:00.002Z

Residential workshop directed by Paul Graham in Santander, Spain 4th to 15th July
Details here

PHOTOGRAPHY IS EASY, PHOTOGRAPHY IS DIFFICULT

It’s so easy it’s ridiculous. It’s so easy that I can’t even begin – I just don’t know where to start. After all, it’s just looking at things. We all do that. It’s simply a way of recording what you see – point the camera at it, and press a button. How hard is that? And what’s more, in this digital age, its free - doesn’t even cost you the price of film. It’s so simple and basic, it’s laughable. It’s so difficult because it’s everywhere, every place, all the time, even right now. It’s the view of this text you are reading, it’s an image of your hands in front of you, drift your consciousness up and out of this text and see: it’s right there, across the room - there... and there. Then it’s gone. You didn’t photograph it, because you didn’t think it was worth it. And now it’s too late, that moment has evaporated. But another one has arrived, instantly. Now. Because life is flowing through and around us, rushing onwardsand outwards, in every direction.

But if it’s everywhere and all the time, and so easy to make, then what’s of value? which pictures matter? Is it the hard won photograph, knowing, controlled, previsualised? Yes. Or are those contrived, dry and belabored? Sometimes. Is it the offhand snapshot made on a whim. For sure. Or is that just a lucky observation, some random moment caught by chance? Maybe. Is it an intuitive expression of liquid intelligence? Exactly. Or the distillation of years of looking seeing thinking photography. Definitely. Ok, so how do I make sense of that never ending flow, the fog that covers life here and now. How do I see through that, how do I cross that boundary?

Do I walk down the street and make pictures of strangers, do I make a drama-tableaux with my friends, do I only photograph my beloved, my family, myself? Or maybe I should just photograph the land, the rocks and trees – they don’t move or complain or push back. The old houses? The new houses? Do I go to a war zone on the other side of the world, or just to the corner store, or not leave my room at all? Paul Graham

Format Festival on Sky Arts (and video)

2011-03-23T16:52:00.000Z

Everyone's favourite Joel Meyerowitz, plus Brian Griffin, Bruce Gilden etc, are available in short video interviews here

Sunday, Heathrow

2011-03-13T20:18:00.004Z

Sitting in Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport waiting for my flight to Glasgow. Looking across the apron at endless BA flights coming and going to who knows where. I’m reading Colin Thubron’s To a Mountain in Tibet. A story of his personal pilgrimage to Mount Kailas the navel of the universe. Probably the only journey I really want to make now. There is always a feeling that the special journey will in some undefined way make you a better, more insightful person, or as in Thubron’s case heal some personal loss or regret. But then Thubron writes:

“A journey is not a cure. It brings an illusion, only, of change and becomes at best a spartan effort.”

Nevertheless, watching the planes arrive and depart I still want to go.

Uxbridge, Sunday morning

2011-03-13T10:30:00.001Z

Rainy morning
Android phone, Vignette app

Old cigarette machines, Uxbridge station, 20p a packet.
Android phone, Vignette app

The Great Court

2011-03-11T20:33:00.002Z

In London for the Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World exhibition. An amazing collection of jewellery, carvings, glass, and other artifacts from ancient Afghanistan. Everything on display was hidden at great risk from the Taliban who would have destroyed them if they could. The collection represents Hellenic, Kushan, Persian, Chinese, Roman and Central Asian nomadic cultures from around 2000BC to the early years AD. If you are in London before July go to this.

Whilst there I photographed, as I always do, one of my favourite spaces; the Great Court of the British Museum

Si Barber - Big Society

2011-03-09T13:58:00.003Z

Back to street photography. On-line portfolio of the UK and Si's take on the idea of the Big Society. Great contemporary British photography with something to say. There is an interview with Si on Andrew Gibson's blog.

If you like the work, why not buy the book.

Amazon Top 100 Cameras

2011-03-09T00:13:00.002Z

As of today a selection from the Amazon best sellers list. This tells us something just not sure what.

No 1.

Samsung ES71 Digital Camera - Black (12.2 MP, 5x Optical Zoom) 2.7 inch TFT Screen

No 2.

Canon EOS 550D Digital SLR Camera (inc 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens Kit)

No 3.

Sony DSCW320B Cyber-shot Digital Camera - Black (14.1 MP, 4x Optical Zoom) 2.7 inch LCD

No 20.

Fujifilm FinePix X100 Digital Camera - (12.3MP, APS-C CMOS EXR) 2.8 inch LCD

No 49.

Nikon D7000 Body Only

No 51.

Panasonic Lumix LX5 10.1MP Digital Camera - Black (3.0 inch TFT LCD Display, 1/1.63 inch CCD, f/2.0 LEICA Summicron Lens with 3.8x optical zoom)

No 97.

Lomo Diana Mini Camera

No 100.

Pentax Optio I-10 Digital Camera - Pearl White (12MP, 5x Optical Zoom) 2.7 inch LCD

International Women's Day

2011-03-08T10:28:00.000Z

To mark this day I though I would post a couple of photographs by Lee Miller, free spirit and photographer.

On Tipping Points

2011-03-07T13:05:00.000Z

One of the themes that came through the talks at the Format conference was that many of the photographers had some kind of epiphany, or tipping point, that either made the decision that they wanted to be a photographer, or changed they way they photographed. Sometimes it was personal contact (Joel Meyerowitz watching Robert Frank at work) or an exhibition or book (often The Americans or the Decisive Moment). Occasionally, it was revisiting an old photograph and seeing the potential of a new direction.

For me it was seeing Tony Ray-Jones in a magazine many years ago, in particular the first photo below. I had been captivated as a small child when my dad borrowed an old camera to take holiday photos, and at school when the art teacher set up a temporary darkroom. I loved the act of taking a photograph, and then with Tony's pictures I suddenly realised what photographs could be and what photography was for. His book A Day Off is a true classic

There is a good article on Tony by Peter Marshall

Format day 3

2011-03-06T19:13:00.003Z

View from my hotel

Joel Meyerowitz

My final day in Derby and with the Magnum boys having finished their presentations it’s time to move onto the really big name. Most of the presenters here are white men. I know that is the way of the world but next year how about a bit more diversity....

Joel wanders on stage to rapturous applause. He really is the main act of the weekend. Dressed in dark clothes he amiably prowls the stage like Steve Jobs at an Apple launch. Real showman, in the best sense of the word.

Many presentations are based on photographers chatting their way through their greatest hits, often with little analysis of their work or any discussion why their photographs work as well as they do. Joel does go beyond this with discussions about the the potential for placing the main interest of centre in the frame, the power of ambiguity, printing large to explore the micro detail, the discipline of not cropping, the importance of challenging yourself with new ways of seeing and so on. Most important perhaps is asking yourself why you took the image and how could it be better. The underlying reason why we are motivated to do this is, as Joel suggests, that we may have a need to “find beauty, poetry and meaning in the things that pass us by”. He also suggests we must have the “courage, timing and instinct to step into the space to make the photograph”

Once again we hear that the speaker became a photographer by chance. In Joel’s case through an encounter with Robert Frank (interesting how often Frank comes up with photographers of this generation, as is the closeness of the community of famous New York photographers). Joel takes us through his development over 50 years. A couple of things I find particularly interesting. He suggests we see portraits as making a landscape of the body exploring the skin, hair, clothes and personal details. In contrast to his years of making large prints with micro detail he suggests using the horizon line of the sea as the point of the photograph to explore minimal images based around changing shades of light.

He brings the presentation to an end with a moving account of his work at the 9/11 site and then juxtaposes some of these images with landscapes of Tuscany. He ends by saying that the experience of 9/11 has changed him and that his photographs now need to have some ‘social utility’.

A masterclass in how to present and explore photographic work. Adulation breaks out in the crowd with a rendition of ‘happy birthday’ as it is indeed Joel's 73rd birthday today.