Nearly New

Another accidental diptych.

The Lure of Surrealism

I recently started reading “City Gorged with Dreams: Surrealism and Documentary Photography in Interwar Paris” which ought to be interesting because it’s a study of “surrealist realism”: the exploration of a real-life surreality encountered on the streets of the city. On reaching chapter three - Nadja: a ‘voluntary banality’? - I thought I’d better break off to read the book of the chapter title. I didn’t really take to Breton’s style of writing and although I enjoyed his descriptions of the meetings with Nadja the story had more impact after finishing it, first by reading the introduction (glad that I didn’t read it first) and secondly by filling in details via a quick google and reading this essay, Trailing Nadja by poet, Susan Elmslie.

Coincidences ensued. In a box of booja-booja chocolates, the message (Boojagram No. 17) read, “Practice a reliable attitude towards fish”. I didn’t think much of it, except that it was a little odder than the usual sentiment. However, I then went out and drove over a big fish, maybe a piece of salmon, in the middle of our road and on the return journey noticed a black glove in the middle of another road. Unrelated to this, I walked past a woman who said into her phone, “I get lost if I walk around”.

Nadja by Andre Breton

City Gorged with Dreams by Ian Walker

Looking at a Thing in a Bag

5DWII - day five. So, what have we learned about Landscape this week? “It’s just a medium” [JA] or a vessel that we can pour whatever we want into. I’ve mostly been reminded that it’s just another unhelpful label although I have been enjoying making some bad landscape pictures. As labels go, I certainly prefer the term street photography but that’s because I have a very wide open view of what street photography is and can be, whereas some people think it died with HCB or Winogrand. A term with little or no baggage would be ideal but unlikely. Joining ‘urban’ to ‘landscape’ only makes it worse.

Landscape Ongoing

5DWII - day four. A sluggish start and then a walk around King’s Cross which hadn’t changed as much as I’d expected - as far as I could tell. We finished the day with a LIP talk by Geoff Dyer on his book, The Ongoing Moment.

The Ongoing Moment
by Geoff Dyer.

A partial, idiosynchratic history of photograpy.

In This Time of Heightened Security

5DWII - day three. That phrase is the excuse for everything. I thought I might try it next time I knock over somebody’s beer in a pub. In this time of heightened security… It’s bound to calm the situation instantly. Today we tried to find the spot where I took this picture in 2002 (3.5 years ago), having only the vaguest memory of a one time visit to the area. Amazingly, we found it. It’s funny how pieces of geography fit back together as you approach them.

Cooke

5DWII - day two. I forgot to mention that the theme for the week is ‘Landscape’ or ‘Landscape is Dead’ if you want to be provocative. Nigel Cooke at the South London Gallery is well worth seeing. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this so try not to judge by the web pictures, ignore the references to graffiti (or anything else that might put you off) and make the effort to travel beyond Camberwell. We also went to hear him talk eloquently and entertainingly about his work later at the Tate. So it turns out painting isn’t dead either.

DIY

5DWII - day one.