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.
Tulse Hill
First entry from S80.
Not Strictly London
I have to admit that being invited to submit pictures to a show called Snapping Little Britain had me a little worried but it turned out to be better than I expected. It’s a group show which, although it had too many seaside pictures for my liking, I wanted to be positive about by linking to some of the other work. Unfortunately I can’t find any useful web links (I thought all photographers had web sites!). The show is at the Orleans House Gallery in Richmond and runs until April 30th. It’s in a nice location if you fancy a day out by the river. If you can’t make it, my three pictures are here (removed), including one which I did as an A2 lightbox. This picture was taken after the private view last night.
Resisting the List
Teaching yesterday I probably made it sound like I’m in constant turmoil battling the list of things that I don’t take photographs of. Chairs dumped on the street are on the list partly because they always make me think of Richard Wentworth. So today I walked past and then went back just to prove I’m not completely ruled by my own rules.
The Unquiet Thames
My dislike of 360 degree panoramas printed flat was confirmed by this exhibition (The Unquiet Thames - you can see more pictures in the “press pack” PDF although the prints are printed over two metres wide). I had to explain how they were made to a couple of parents who were telling their small son that they were “fisheye” pictures. I started with the fact that the verticals would be curved as well if they’d been fisheye pictures and wished I hadn’t started. My problem is that I find 360s are just too hard for me to read when presented flat. Maybe it’s just that I’m more used to the cylindrical presentation which is difficult in a gallery context. I prefer it when they are more tableaux-like with people in them, like most of John Brownlow’s here. I’ve unwrapped and printed this 360 of mine but again it has people to hold it together. Without people they seem to descend into not unattractive graphics. The symmetry in the bridges is interesting but the upstream and downstream of the river both going into the picture seems too wrong. JB has an under a bridge shot in the set above but to me it’s the sofa and in the London set, the collected crap, that draws the eye - the part that has the easily read perspective - with the architecture becoming a spectacular framing device. So, worth a look if you’re in the area but I will be sticking to partial panoramas. It was also my first visit to the Museum of Docklands (it’s been open nearly three years). It had lots of non-functioning technology (like the audio that should have accompanied the panoramas) but since there was much more to look at than I’d expected that didn’t seem to matter.
Cover Panorama
This picture has made it onto the cover of the new LIP magazine. The printing looks a little light for my taste but I like the way the designer made it wrap onto the back cover with the spline on the edge of the shop window, although I can imagine some people not realising that the picture continues.
Pick A Number
Janet Hall was one of the founding members of LIP and she left some of her camera equipment to the organisation when she died recently. If you are interested in a 5×4 Sinar, lenses or a pair of studio flash heads, here is the link to the ebay auction (NB: now finished) which I am running on behalf of LIP. (link is to the camera, follow the link to my other auctions for more).
Time to Play
I’m sure there will be lots of photoblogs bulging with excitement about Adobe Lightroom but all I have to say is that I’m glad I wasn’t sucked into the Aperture hype - as much as I like Apple. Not wishing to get into arguments over which is better I can see these programs being quite appealing to a lot of photographers who don’t want to deal with the behemoth that is Photoshop, as well as those who need a better way to deal with editing, cataloguing, etc. This picture comes via my first, five minute play with Lightroom.
Not a Series
I went to see the Jeff Wall show again and noticed a couple of new oddities which could have been discussed for hours had I not been there with real people. However, afterwards one of the real people was kind enough to buy me a copy of the book below which, despite my having enough books at the moment, seemed relevant to my current thinking. Later in the pub, her generosity was heightened by the fact that she had her purse emptied by a pickpocket.
Singular Images: Essays on Remarkable Photographs
Edited by Sophie Howarth.
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