* As a little aside – I really have been camping and cottaging in Dorset a lot over the past few years and as I tapped out those two words, realised the potential comic way in which they could be read.  Trying to think of a third ‘C’ that I could have been doing in Purbeck (I feel that any descriptive list of alliterative verbs should always come in threes) cavorting was all I could conjure.  Upon double checking its meaning in the dictionary(dot.com), this sentence confronted me:

Jump or dance around excitedly: “monkeys leap and cavort in the branches”.

What a great definition and to actually use a monkey as an example – well, that wins hands down for me each time!

Anyway, as always, I digress.  I love Lulworth, it is a beautiful cove and you never quite know what you are going to see.

CUBE (2012)

BRIGHTON FESTIVAL OPEN HOUSE 2012

Well what a week last week was!  There was a rather frenzied flurry of activity as I found out, rather last minute, that I had been accepted to show as part of The Claremont’s 2012 Open House.

Whilst I am still heavily in the editing stage of my latest body of work ‘Being Nobody, Going Nowhere’ (hopefully to be previewed at the Brighton Photo Fringe in November) – I thought an Open House was a great way to try out some of the prints and do a little taster preview show. The Claremont boasts one of the biggest and most impressive collections of art during the festival so it is a great show to be a part of and I m amongst a great cohort of artists from a variety of disciplines – so I am delighted that 9 images from the (current edit) of the project will be on display as a part of their rather impressive show.

The work is currently being hung and will open to the public on Sunday 6th May.  Full details of opening dates and the artists on show can be found on The Claremont’s wesbite here.

Hopefully see you there at some point!

The other day, quite randomly, I noticed the date of my first post on ourworldmyeye.com and it turns out that we are 3!  On 12th April 2009 the site went live with its first post (aptly entitled “Its Alive). Perhaps amazingly, the blog is still around to tell the tale!

So feeling guilty that such an event had passed me by and I neglected to mark the event in any special way, I thought it was only right and proper to celebrate in true style. That right – with music and videos, so may I present for your aural and visual pleasure and for ourworldmyeye’s birthday a gift of two parts!

BUT…before we go on, I would also like to chastise all readers for failing to wish ourworldmyeye a happy birthday, shame on you all.  That said, on with the party…

GIFT 1 – JAH C PLAYS REGGAE

What party is complete without music?  “None”.

What is the best music?  “Reggae”.

Shall we have an all new Reggae mix tape then?  “YES”.

If you would prefer to listen at your own leisure, then download it here.

GIFT 2 – THREE YEARS OF IMAGES AND COMMENTS

Over the past year or so, I have been saving Spam comments left on the blog, that have amused me in some fashion.  The mighty Spam catcher gets rid of them all before you ever get to see them, but my greedy eye has been picking out some of the best and it now seems appropriate to unleash them on you all. After all, what sort of a party is complete without amusing anecdotes and crude remarks?

So, I have re-made a video I did a while back but made it bigger and better! May I present to you – all the images ever used on the blog, compressed into a short film, set to sweet music and with occasional funny spam comments popping up over the top!

Personally, my favourite of the comments is the simplest: “Good web page. Retain Doing”   What a genius use of English!

Well, that is just about it – I hope you enjoyed the party and thank you all for coming.  In fact, thank you to everytone who has read, supported or abused the blog for the past 3 years.  I never expected at the start that it would end up with a few thousand hits per month so I really do appreciate the support.

See you all soon

J

x

P.S Want to never miss out on any fun again? Sign up to the mailing list for infrequent but fun packed emails with special bonus items!
The current subscribers got an exclusive high quality download pack of the reggae mix plus a selection of desktop wallpaper photos. So do not delay…SIGN UP TODAY.

I am a fan of the writings of Roland Barthes and especially a fan of the punctum. I guess anyone who has been to art college, has to either enjoy his texts or die a miserable death every time they have to write a critical theory essay.

Obviously being into Photography, it is Camera Lucida that interest me most.  I was first introduced to some of the concepts in this book during a talk by a visiting lecturer in my first year of University.  Sadly I cannot remember who the speaker was – but I remember much of their talk vividly – in particular a photographic journey he went on all based around the punctum.

THE GLORY OF THE PUNCTUM

The theory goes that the punctum is the part of a photograph that leaps out at you and envelopes you as the viewer.  As Barthes puts it ‘that accident which pricks, bruises me.’ The punctum of an image can be different from person to person, it may not exist in a photograph for one person, but be absolutely screaming out at the next.  It is the part of a photograph that arrests you and and makes you love it.

A punctum can be seen as a minor or accidental detail that attracts you into the image and changes the reading of it.  It is something that you can never miss when you look at the photograph for ever more – the eye is drawn to it.

I love this concept and especially that it can be an accidental detail that works for one person but not the next.  The lecturer I spoke of earlier cited a postcard as the best example of a punctum he had come across.  It was a fairly dull postcard of a high street in the 50′s or 60′s, with a Woolworth’s in the centre.  On the face of it – it was a very boring postcard, except he noticed one day, that there was a foot just sticking out of the door of Woolworth’s.  The shadow in that area of the image meant no part of the person could be seen – just a foot that appeared to be floating in the air.  This was his punctum and he became obsessed with it and it started a journey of exploration all based around this one image.

THE HELTA SKELTA STAIR PUNCTUM

Often I see a punctum in an image and I often think about this concept and how an accidental detail can become the sole focus of a photograph.  I was recently reminded of it again when editing some images and I noticed a detail which caught my eye.

I now find it impossible to look at the photograph without just staring at my own reflection.  It makes me laugh because it is a basic rule of image making – always watch out for your own reflection.  What tickles me more however, is how the Good Lady Hannah is staring at me in close quarters.  I wonder how much of her life is spent waiting in such a way when I stop to photograph something mid-conversation? Luckily for me she is ever patient!

This image will always have a punctum for me now. It would be easy to look at the image and not really notice the detail that lurks within it – but it drew me in and on closer inspection became the most interesting part of the photograph to me.

I have been designing the poster and other marketing material for an exhibition which spans the whole art department of a college. Usually the poster is knocked together using a bad photo of a student’s work with text nestled around it.

However, this year, they asked (and paid) me to do it – so I thought I should produce an image specifically for it. The more I thought about it, the harder the problem became as I could not think of what to do in camera that could reference fine art, photography, 3D design, textiles, film and so on.

Then I had the idea of getting items from each of the disciplines in the department and photographing them on a copy stand. Unsure what to arrange the items on, a cutting board seemed apt. Here is the result:

ART IN A PICTURE mki (2012)

After this, I thought a bit more refinement and better lighting were in order, so I set up a light box in the studio.  This meant I could back light the objects to give them a sort of floating appearance and use the studio flashes to light the objects themselves in a more controlled manner.  At first I thought I would try it scruffy as that is arguably more representative of an art department. Here is the result:

ART IN A PICTURE mkii (2012)

However, my clean line loving brain could not handle the messy nature of this (plus it proved harder than I thought to make paint splurge out in an appealing manner), so I went back to arranging the items carefully.  This final effort is the one I like best and have used for the artwork.

So the answer to the question “How do you represent it in one picture” is this:

ART IN A PICTURE mkiii (2012)

PIXEL FACE (2012)

WHEN THINGS GO WRONG THINGS GO RIGHT

I would like to introduce you to my new friend.  I call him Pixel Face.

Last week I was ‘commissioned’ to try and touch up and enlarge three rather battered old photographic prints.  Small, torn, worn and weary – they were not in a good way.  To achieve the  desired goal, I needed to get a very good scan and so set about doing a ridiculously large resolution scan to work from.

Two prints scanned fine, but the third was printed on a rather strange fibrous paper and was of fairly low quality – for some reason, the scanner could not handle it and the completed copy was a set of very high resolution pixels.

So Pixel Face was born and I think he is amazing.  Whilst comprised of very little (but very high quality!) data – you can still work out what is going on in the image.

So the game for you today is…guess what the photograph is of and I want more specific than ‘a person’.

Pixel Face is yet more evidence that you should always try things and experiment and embrace mistakes, because sometimes they end up looking brilliant!

Whilst this edit is still in full swing and never seems to come to and end or conclusion – it has shown me a few themes in the images I have been taking and how they have changed over time.  One recurring theme is the abstract patterns of everyday life.  More than this, the still life presentations that are always staring us in the face.  Walk around any corner or look about you for a short time and a natural still life will be there lying it wait, hoping someone will take a second glance and give it the attention it deserves.

All it takes is for you to take your camera out and register it for all time.

Big fan of the Forest, it has trees and old industry and rivers and all manner of excitement lurking within its borders.  Big fan of a good forest generally – but when it is an old working forest steeped in history, then it cannot fail to please my heart, soul and eye.

Thought I would share a small selection of images I took when camping there last summer and share a few of the things that caught my eye – it is a visual feast of a place.

PHOTO DIARY – WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE IN THE FOREST OF DEAN

(Click on an image to open slideshow)

When I say here inspirational images, I mean it much more literally this time – because the chosen piece is a film rather than a single still photograph.

Mark Lewis came to do a lecture at Brighton when I was at univeristy studying Photography and I have been interested in his work ever since.  I have previously touched on the fact that often video art leaves me a little cold.  I rarely see a piece where I feel the medium is being used in a manner that is befitting.  There are exceptions like Christian Marclay and in particular his amazing work The Clock.  But, more often than not, I am left wondering why the person is working in film and not something else.

So then, Mark Lewis was one of the first video artists whose work I really connected with.  No doubt this is partly because his work is essentially moving photographic scenes and so it holds a natural appeal with me.  I think this is an untapped resource of inspiration, because seeing small segments of the world, moving in their natural state is a wondrous thing.

The film Algonquin Park, Early March kind of sums this up for me.  I’m afraid there is no way I can embed the film here without abusing all manner of copyright law – but click on the still image below to be taken to see it on Mark Lewis’ own website.

MARK LEWIS - ALGONQUIN PARK, EARLY MARCH (2002)

This film is brilliantly atmospheric and the composition and chosen scene quite beautiful in their own right.  What I really love however, is the exploration of film that is also contained within the piece.  The simple act of choosing a view and re-composing it through the course of filming by tilting and zooming is disorientating and then endlessly rewarding.  A simple camera trick fools the eye and at the point of the ‘revelation’ gives me enormous satisfaction each time.

MARK LEWIS’ OTHER WORK

I hope you like the film and check out some of his other work, which is kindly shared in full on his website which you can find at: www.marklewisstudio.com/films.htm

Some of my other highlights are:

2001 – Windfarm & Algonquin Park, September

2002 – Children’s Games, Heygate Estate

2003 – Airport

2005 – Northumberland

2007 – Roundabout

Perhaps a slightly macabre choice of image to choose as inspirational and I am perhaps not normally one to single out documentary war photography as a point of general interest.  However, I have taken a slightly more active interest of late having seen Don Mccullin‘s amazing retrospective show at the Imperial War Museum.

SUSAN MEISELAS ‘CUESTA DEL PLOMO’ 1981

SUSAM MEISELAS - 'CUESTA DEL PLOMO' 1981

Whilst my last choice of war imagery to feature on the blog was perhaps a bit more on the comical juxtaposition side (see post WAR…HUH…YEAH, WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?), this one is purely brutal and blatant in its approach.

Taken on a hillside known as Cuesta Del Plomo just outside Managua-a in Nicaragua, the image depicts a well known assasination site as used by the national guard.

There are many horrific images taken of war and the cruelties that lay therein, but this one is particularly stark in its approach.  We are not just witnessing a slumped body or a mass of flesh where we are left to make an assumption as to what has taken place.  This image almost pulls your eyes out with its up front honest depiction of the cruelties that man is capable of committing on its decided enemies.

Remove the body and you could be looking at a tourist’s photograph of a picturesque landscape – where as the reality of the site is much harder to bear.  In fact, Cuesta Del Plomo was a first port of call when searching for missing persons, so common where the assasinations that took place there.

I think this images sums up why war and conflict should always be struggled against and once again extends my respect for those journalists and photographers who dedicate their skills to bringing the reality of it to the general public.

Dulce Est Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori and all that bollocks.

Chek out more of Meiselas’ work at her website…it isn’t all war! www.susanmeiselas.com

~~~And on a lighter note, After several years of writing this blog, I think this might be the first time I have lapsed into the low depths of using the word Juxtaposition. For that…I must apologise ~~~