END OF YEAR BLOG

I can't believe its the end of a decade already.
I finish on a high note as for December was a month full of activity.
Not that i thought it would be, more snow than i can remember tho.
Which left me spending alot of time at my computer editing and staring vacantly at the screen from time to time.
But i did get out and about.
On a commission for a Antique,s dealer which is a type of job i am new to , but like to mix it up a little. I was able the make a portrait of the owner who is a very interesting guy and i now know more kinds of marble too lol.

One the last exhibitions i saw this year was right on my doorstep in Stroud.
DOUBLE TAKE at the Space gallery was a collaboration between Jimmy Edmonds and he,s daughter Rosa Edmonds.
Jimmy's work was yet another take on one of the oldest arena,s of photography.
The street all the portraits are controlled with Jimmy asking he,s subjects to close there eyes.I was inspired by the work as i consider myself a Street Photographer and have found Jimmy,s work to slip in to a take on the genre to be fresh and any work that makes me stop and think , be provoked and ask questions has for me a substance.
The exhibit was filled with portraits by Jimmy.
The running theme he is dealing with in he's work is trust with subject and maker and this provokes debate.
Rosa's work is again dealing with this but in the subject matter she turns her camera towards youth partly nude, the Sally Mannish inspiration is clearly seen in the work,
But for someone just finding her voice with the camera, there is a language learned.
In all i must say one of the beat shows i've seen at the space this year on all levels.

Now on to what inspired me this month two portraits the first is made by one of my fav photographers.
Nadav Kander.
I made this image (below) a long time before Nadav Kander,s image lolNadav Kander shot Gary Barlow for Take That,s new Album
I shot Jamie when i was at Uni, the funny thing is people did say he looked a little like Gary Barlow lol.

I will finish on this a chance moment\encounter with a modern day Shakespeare
the one and only John Cooper Clarke!
Went to see him at the Thekla in Bristol, we went for some food right next door and WHO turns up..........
My mates son is sat next to John how by the way almost adopted him.
Happy New Year Bring On 2011 !

From the HardDrive Archive

From the HardDrive Archive
Some portraits i found in the bottom of me archive.
I dusted them off and am putting them on the mantle-piece.

Teaching,Protests and 1940's Weddings

I had chance to run a one day workshop in Portraiture (approach's and techniques). On the Visual Anthropology MA at Kent University, i could not of timed it better than i did as there was a student march, protesting the Uni fees. Which lent itself to some interesting work made by the students in the class. They was ask to make two portraits of someone you know and some you don't. Very productive it was and some strong work made by all. I shall be returning next year for more teaching which i come to enjoy and just love being in that environment again.

Below is one of the portraits made by a member of the class.




I then headed to London for more work but while there i could not miss out on seeing the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize at the NPG. As i entered two of my own portraits and did not make to the finals i was interested to see what DID. There seems to be a move towards more of a open mind about portraiture this year as one of the finalist images is semi nude also there is a image made with a lot of movement and not all images are eye to eye with maker and sitting.
I personally pleased to see this as the genre is changing rapidly in the digital age and the repersention of us now has to reflect that.
Well here is my selection from the show , which is one of the best i've seen in a while.
I'll just have to wait for next to enter again?

Finally a image i made at a 1940's themed Wedding.
There attention to detail was something to be desired a totally ACE job one of the best Weddings i have had the pleasure of being a part of and to top it all off the Pearly King kicked off the nights entertainment.

Sweat As !

October Horror

The Rocky Horror is in town and i got a behind the scenes peek at the madness from Almost Legal Productions. I must say that i have not laughed like that for a while, nudity , cross dressing and of course the transvestites from transsexual. All in aid of charity of course.

Reality Street

Street Photography is getting alot more exposure of late.
What with the publication and exhibition of Street Photography Now
http://www.in-public.com/

Street Photography Now from Third Floor Gallery on Vimeo.

A book that is on the heart beat of what is happening now in that world.
Also there is The Street Photography Now Project in connection with the authors of the book and The Photographers Gallery a Flicker group http://www.flickr.com/people/streetphotographynowproject/ has been set up that will go on for 52 weeks until the reopening of The Photographers Gallery.
Digital photography has aloud a burst of creativity for so many that the streets are now alive even more so then at any other time. Its exciting, the street holds so much possibility for spontaneity and wonder that its is a endless subject that will present itself each time with new happenings.

Rally's and Light's

Its been a eventful week. I was involved in my first protest rally "No Tesco in Stokes Croft". Always surprising myself as where the camera takes me, this is a issue that is close to my heart as getting in to photography has concentrated me to the issue of Community and the displacement of it. This i have covered in Bristol before , a few years ago. On this occasion the people of Stokes Croft were protesting against the building plan of a Tesco in a vibrant arty mixed culture part of Bristol. Think east London. I followed the day on the move from Stokes Croft to the council house's on collage green. I was blowen away by the energy that the people of Stokes Croft and touched by there passion for something they believe in and could not understand the arrogance of Mr Tesco! We have to keep the high street from becoming Town of Everywhere!
http://notesco.wordpress.com/







I was commissioned this week by a company called Trainspotters.
A specialist in the antique lighting market but industrial, pre-war and communist decor is just a slice of what they are involved in.
I had the task of shooting a advert that will be going in to Elle decor and World of interiors.
The product was the Dunlop light which to my amazement as been a design godfather, i mean this has been copied time and time again.
But i had the fortune of working two days with the original.
I found it such a pleasing form to explore and with so much to explore in the show room i was spoiled for choice.

http://www.trainspotters.uk.com/

I LOVE BOOKS

I have always loved photography books.
I think it is the one true and best way for the a photographer manifest there work and not only that , it in many ways makes you immortal in the photographic world.
Alec Soth has got this down to a fine art.
He's latest manifestation is Broken Manual http://littlebrownmushroom.wordpress.com/broken-manual/.

A instruction manual for those looking to escape their lives, he has worked with writer Lester B. Morrison.
The book is another angle Soth is exploring a different take of the world.
But for me more than this is the design of the book.
It is a book inside a book. Made in a edition of 300 the book is housed in a one off hand cut shell book with a signed and numbered 8 by 10 print by the artist.
This is what i love about photography right now is a massive change in the way we publish and produce books and the way we view the printed page.
This is a must as much is becoming digital and the book needs take a stand.
Alec Soth is also a book lover modern book lover.
Got to love books!

http://littlebrownmushroom.wordpress.com/broken-manual/

http://vimeo.com/14759277

Galleries !

Well what a month August has been to be honest i have not stopped so sorry for late blog.
I have been involved in a exhibition in Bristol.At ThePhotoGallery http://www.photographique.co.uk/gallery/"Portrait" is the first of many shows been put on Phillip Searle who runs the place, lovely chap.Photographer's in the show are Beso Uznadze,Mike Chick,James Kriszyk,James Stroud,Ellie Davies,Sam Holden and Victoria Hall

There is some really interesting photographic exhibitions on in
London at the moment too.I went along to the Exposed
Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera at the Tate Modern.
One of the main reason's for me to visit it is that Philip Lorca Dicorcia's work is on show and i rate Dicorcia as one of my main inspirations in the photographic world.He's street photography work is cinematic stark and surreal,full of tension and atmosphere.A slice from he's series "head's" is part of the exhibit alongside some the great street photographer's of the last hundred years.
Over at the Photographer's Gallery there is a stunning showcase of Sally Mann,s work The Family and the Land. Which takes you on a visual journey of Mann's work which for me is on the edge, there is a glimmer of spirit and soul within the work but this is continually fighting with a dark energy which seems the spill out of Sally Mann's work.
A must go see!

Talking about my inspiration

I have, since getting in to photography had many inspirations.

When I started my degree I was consumed by images , I would find myself lost for ages in the library not doing what I was suppose to, but surfing the books of photographers.

The first to stop me in my tracks was Nadav Kander. A series of images taken at night of motorways and flyovers, on the surface it does not sound like this is anything new.

But as I would discover there is a certain tension in Kander’s work that is trance like state.

It made me stare, it made me ask questions, his nude work is also very powerful.

Not only for its technique layered but for the fact that many of the images are of old people and not the conventional images of beauty. Although Nadav Kander has been able to portray that with cutting edge.

The portrait of David Beckham was like no other celebrity portrait I had seen up until then, for me it sums up the photographer’s identity.

Firstly there is movement and the face of Beckham is distorted also it is photograph very dark with a black background and a blue\green splash of light (which is a trademark of he’s) makes me think of moonlight and there are many examples of this in Kander’s portfolio.

He has shown me another way of looking at the portrait gene in many of he's works there is

Something is in flux, something is about to happen or has?

The uneasy the in-between is for me what Nadav Kander does best and that is what inspired me then and still does with he’s work

Wonderful World of Weddings

A great day by all at Richard and Nicola,s wedding on the weekend.
Such a lovely couple they were too.
While editing the work i was drawn to this image which is , I think a little
surreal.
The bride is walking towards the Priest and some one is holding out the bucay
but as you can see Nicola is not walking to that?
The Priest also seems to be signaling to the bucay too but is not looking towards the camera.
A moment that seems not to be sure but interesting all the same.The wonderful world that is wedding photography.

Visual food

So was wondering , what does make great photography.
How do we know a great image from a not so great one. Or bad one.
As i am an analytical person i sometimes,well most time, find myself de-constructing images.
One image i came across of late is William Klein 's Boy pointing gun.

Now what you notice with this slice from the contact sheet is the very slight difference.
between what made the iconic image, in the bottom one we see the young boy looking away from the older boy with the gun.
In the edited image we all know the young boy is looking at the boy with the gun, as Klein himself has said it is the look of the young boy that made Klein choose this one.So in that case , the great image was a"Just" movement away.


These two portraits are i think my
best the first (on right) is of my
Grandmother the pastel tone
is really very much her character.
and i was lucky enough to catch her in
a moment of some kind .
The other one (below)
is a image i made while i was at uni for a brief called 'Night of the Hunter"
Isis the model is one of the most amazing models i have had the please to photograph
at the time she was studying
film and drama, in this she seemed to have a look of innersense and angry
all at the same time. Both images i am entering in to the Tayler Wessing Portrait Prize this year so fingers crossed.

New Discovery

It amazes me that for god knows how long i have been a pondering over the Magnum Photos website and i have found new works by a Photographer i must of missed.

The imagemaker in question is Ferdinando Scianna. Italian born
Romantic work sharp like razors.
take a look

The City of now has to be Berlin.I have recently been there for 6 days and had amazing time.Now i know why so many street photographers are creating work there right now, the streets are full of activity and the people are open minded kind.
If i could i would move there for at least a few months of the year.Here is a photo i made when on the streets of Berlin and some of the work from other artists.

The unexpected street

This is part of why i love street photography.
The total unscripted and surprise of what might happen next.
But with that you must stay alert and connected all the time which is not easy.

Someone who does that best is photographer Matt Stuart http://www.mattstuart.com
he has a sense of humour that comes out in hes work amazing !What i have done in the last week on street. With this good weather we've been having i have been getting closing to people on street as they are in a better mood they dont mind.
I love it !

Fabric Label

Loving the Fabric label, picked up some albums today the music is some of the best clubbing tunes in the world , for DJ's its the Albert Hall of venues. But it does not stop there i am very in to there sleeve design and art work too. as we now download so much of are music , finding something with a bit of class to it is important i think.