OURWORLDMYEYE @ ART JUNKY 5th & 6th NOVEMBER  2011

That’s right, I am on the road again, this time to Sunny Brighton for the annual Art Junky fair at the Phoenix
Gallery in Brighton.

Bigger and better than ever – this year it boasts a 2 day extravaganza, occurring on both Saturday 5th &
Sunday 6th November from 11am – 5pm each day.

I will be there selling Lomo prints, Photographs, Matchbox Galleries (including 2 all new colour editions), cards and a host of other wonders.  Alongside will be m’colleague Rob Macdonald peddling his wares.  We
also guarantee to offer fine and friendly chat and mingling with the world at large.

If you are in Brighton pop in and say hello.  If you are not in Brighton – then why not make a trip to the
sunshine coast and add Art Junky to your agenda.

We can guarantee to solve all your Christmas present and card requirements!

If you do not know where the Phoenix Gallery is, here is a link to a handy map I have prepared for you (with the assistance of Google!!!):

CLICK FOR MAP TO PHOENIX GALLERY, BRIGHTON

Well hello there strangers.

Prior to starting my latest scribble, I was tempted to cast an eye back on when I last posted, but fear got the better of me so I have decided to plunge back into things, whilst maintaining an ignorant bliss as to when I last set fingers to keyboard.

Wonky Lamp - Wonky Plant (2011)

EXCUSES EXCUSES…

I know what you are thinking and what can I say – it has been a rather busy few months.  So busy in fact that I hung up my Internet shoes and have hardly ventured into the murky waters of the websphere for the lions share of the summer.  In fact, I wish I was a large wild cat and could have bitten off a large slice of the summer months and skulked off under the shade of a tree with them to slowly gnaw on their goodness.

Instead, following a summer of manic busy chaos thus blog neglect, I sit here now penning this to you as the wind and rain batter my new studio window in not-so-sunny Hastings.

WHAT?

That is right, you did hear correct.  The major event of the summer that stunted my Internet web trickery was moving from Brighton to Hastings.  A short jaunt down the coast when looked at on a map, but a whole sea of change (sea of change…that is a deliberate and clever pun. I thank you very much).

So I sit here now in my studio…

Chess Heads (2011)

WHAT?

That is right, you did hear correct.  The move meant me and the good lady Hannah could get more bang for our buck.  And by bang I mean room and by buck I mean rent. Hence I can now carry out my world takeover from the dedicated space of a studio.

But you don’t care about that, you care about the neglect, the lack of love and my complete abandonment of you all.

SHOW US SOME PICTURES THEN

To that, all I can do is apologise and assure you that I now have a new town to explore, photograph and waffle about on these here pages – not to mention the backlog of a few months worth of new fun and frolics to sort, sift, report on and enjoy!

So without further a do I will keep you no more, it would seem rude after such an absence.  Rest assured that my eye is now firmly gazing once more upon your world and to prove it, here are a few snaps I took during the chaotic first few days of the new abode.

Love to all

J

x

Get the Important Things Sorted First (2011)

Baby New Potatoes (2011)

Just a quick one – was walking down old London Road in sunny Brighton yesterday, when my eye was drawn to a hand drawn poster.

It is perhaps the greatest missing item poster I have ever seen and I felt deserved to be preserved in the history of the world wide web!

So behold below and enjoy as much as I do!  I have removed the authors phone number for their priovacy, but if you see this jumper – be sure to track them down!

I WANT YOU BACK (MISSING JUMPER POSTER)

Went down to Brighton Beach the other day, with a bunch of students who were in disarray…sounds like the beginning of a blues song!

Went down to Brighton Beach the other day,
with a bunch of students who were-in disarray.
Trying to teach them to use camera’s proper-lea…
As well as compose and inform them in every-way.

Sorry, that was pathetic and a blatant abuse of the entire history of the blues.

This trip was not-so-good, it was a mixed bag of students ranging from those who couldn’t be bothered, to those with literally no interest at all, to those who were quite up for giving it their best shot.  Now setting a bunch of students off along the seafront – a place they have grown up around – and getting them to take interesting shots is no mean feat.

I tried my best to encourage, instruct and inform…but it seemed to fall, largely speaking, on deaf ears.  Eventually I got bored and frustrated.

LEAD BY EXAMPLE

Then, I thought: “Lead by example”.

So, instead of instructing and informing…I picked up my camera and just joined in.

Not sure if that method worked either – but thought you might be interested in the results none the less!

To be fair, making images on the seafront is not as easy it may first appear.  Besides some troublesome light issues – it is hard to frame anything that hasn’t already been shot a million times before.  Still, I was quite pleased with the results and enjoyed myself if nobody else did!

What I also found interesting was my inability to shoot in Black & White.  Many of our students photograph in B&W and I thought I might do the same – but I couldn’t do it!  Much as I used to love working in grayscale, I just can’t seem to do it anymore.  Guess I just see the world in colour and have little interest in photographing it any other way.

Enough chat – here are some pictures…cue music.

(by the way, I have decided to add an exciting bit of chat at the end of this post, which I shall entitle Geek Chat read if you like chat and your a geek.)

BRIGHTON BEACH BLUES GALLERY – (CLICK IMAGE TO VIEW FULL SIZE IN LIGHTBOX)

GEEK CHAT

The geek chat will be kept to a minimum – but there is an interesting additional tale to this set of photographs.  As you wont know…I have recently been brushing up on my Photoshop.  Undertaking the rather daunting and quite dry task of working through and array of manuals and books to hone my skills a bit better.  I have always blagged Photoshop and most of my image adjustment skills stem from some basics learned during an afternoon tutorial from Mark Power!

So I have been hitting the books and trying to do things properly.  For those interested, for an all round insight into many of Photoshops main features – set out in a structured and hands on approach, I can certainly recommend the official Adobe Photoshop CS5 Classroom in a Book.  It is very good indeed.

Anyway, I have also been trying to see what I can do with RAW.  For those who don’t know – RAW is a brilliant image format that does not use any compression and maintains the original information captured by a camera’s digital sensor.  This means after taking the shot, you can use a RAW conversion software to save your photos in a non-destructive manner, but better still, you can make changes to the core settings of the image like white balance, exposure, sharpness etc etc without damaging the original data or loosing any quality.  Genius.

I have also used Adobe Lightroom for several years now, but primarily as a filing system.  I sync Lightroom with my images folder on the computer so I can use Lightroom to view folders of images, re-group them, create collections and all that jazz.  I also use it to export images in different formats, resize them and so on.

Christ this really is getting dull!  Anyway, combine all those three things and what do you get?  The photographs above – that’s what.  I wondered what would happen if I did all my image enhancements and adjustments in Lightroom – without taking them into Photoshop at all.  Meaning I could work straight from the RAW files and then export them in a format and size ready to upload.  I think it worked very well – the photographs look, as the students would have said “sick”.

Of course, I think normally the thing to do would be to make the adjustments to the RAW files in Lightroom, then take the images into Photoshop for final tweaking and adjustment before exporting and resizing them.  I am still trying to figure out this whole digital work-flow thing and how to work with RAW images as though they were negatives.  Not sure I have got anywhere near to a solution yet, but this experiment was useful.

Love some of Lightroom’s features.  The straighten function is great and I really love being able to use a dropper to set the white balance on the image itself.  Also the system they have where you can drag on the image itself to adjust the curves and colour balance is genius and for me a much more instinctive way to work.

Think I might have to investigate further…more books perhaps!

I am officially annoyed on account of the travesty that is the ConDem government voting in favour of an increase in tuitioin fees.  However, enough banging on about it has ensued in my everyday life and I feel we all need to re-focus our  attentions on the other important issues of the week.

BROKEN BRITAIN IS A FROZEN BRITAIN

CAN'T SEE THE MILK THROUGH THE SNOW

So, we have had some snow then.  What a debacle and how amusing that one of the supposed power houses of the world is brought to its knees by a  bit of winter weather.  The news coverage has been superb entertainment.  Particular highlights for me involved the on location reporters standing on a street corner trying to make a story out of the fact there was a bit of snow and cars where driving quite slowly past them.  Genius.

What tickled me was when I was walking to work last Wednesday morning after the first light dusting of snow had hit the South.  The local news was full of travel chaos stories already and anyone would believe that we were all doomed.  As panicked motorists stood by the cars, head in hands – dreading the journey ahead…I walked past this lonely milk bottle, gently waiting to make someones breakfast – complete with its new hat of snow.  I then realised that whilst all these cars could not get anywhere due to the mildly adverse conditions, an electric milk-float had still delivered its milk in the very cold, very dark, very early hours.

Surely that sums it all up – a milk float can make it, but nobody else can!  God bless us all.

FROST. PARK. BENCH

HOW CAN YOU NOT LIKE SNOW?

Following such an epic natural disaster, it is inevitable that people chat about it and wish it away.  Many people wanted the snow gone down here in dear Brighton – but I was firmly in the lets have some more camp.  Snow Days are obviously brilliant as you don’t go to work, but I can’t remember the last time I walked around Brighton and there were people just hanging about in the streets, playing and chatting with strangers and generally running about in a childish delight at nothing more than a bit of exciting weather.  It gave me a warm feeling inside (or was that the constant supply of Whisky Mac!?!?).  Can it ever be a bad thing when something so small makes a great many people very happy and actually get on as a community?

YOU KNOW IT’S COLD WHEN…

FROST COMMUNITY GARDEN

Alas the snow has melted down here, but it has remained rather chilly and the frost has been a constant companion for at least a week.  I love frost and I love walking to work on a clear bright day when there is a deep frost covering everything in sight.  Whenever something happens that changes the everyday face of the routes and paths we tread so often in our  lives, it opens the eyes to something new.  For me at least, I can take a fresh look at things and relate to my surroundings from a new perspective.

FROST STRIPS

We walk through our environments with a slightly blinkered view I think.  Cover that space in frost or snow and we are forced to look at everything with fresh eyes, notice things that have previously gone unseen and get back to that state where our eyes are spoilt for choice at what to take in.

I can’t remember the last time I saw frost so deep that completely coats every visible surface whether it grass, cars, fences, pavements or benches!  The world has looked interestingly monotone, but infinitely interesting.

Whatever you say about the British weather, I for one can never really begrudge the cold and wet for we are privileged to get four very distinct seasons each year.  That means we get to look at and contemplate our environment in at least four different ways each year, I think the cold and wet is a price worth paying for such an aesthetic gift.

FIVE BENCHES

A brief topographical study of benches I pass on my way to work that have been enveloped by old cold Jack.

FROST BENCH 1	FROST BENCH 2	FROST BENCH 3
FROST BENCH 4	FROST BENCH 5

Long live these white cold winters!  I for one am a fan and hope they are here to stay!  Extremes make life more exciting.

Been ever busy with the Lomo, snapping the crap out of all and sundry.

Started delving into the world of Lomography as well, and my, it’s a big old world.  Seems that there are a huge contingent of obsessives sharing images thoughts and ideas – so for a world of fun, check out www.lomography.com and if you want to view my personal Lomo page – check out www.lomography.com/homes/ourworldmyeye

Been trawling through the piles of images I have and put together this set that were all taken during the University of Brighton 2010 graduate exhibitions.  Hope you enjoy.

Incidentally, the image ‘Ode to Star Trek’ was taken of a chap called James Rueben Stephens work – which was probably one of my favourite things in all the shows this year.  He created a sort of installation work of various paintings come illustrations which I can only describe as a satirical tribute to all things American.  A bit like a documentation of a road trip filled with the strange encounters of the deep American West, dodgy motels, Elvis impersonators and Evil Knievel!  It was amazing and impossible to describe!  Anyway, check out James Rueben Stephens at his website:

www.jamesruebenstephens.com

Nice.

Its brilliantly refreshing to see film being used so much again and a real love of the aesthetic for a very basic technology!  Enough mega-pixels, HDI and all that guff – bring on out of date, cross processed slide film!

As I get the films back, I have been picking out the images that are most interesting to me and slowly putting them into loose thematic sets.  You probably have already realised that, should you be a regular reader!  But, sometimes I feel the need to write something in these posts, even if it is essentially pointless!!!

On with the show.  My latest set is cunningly entitled…

LOMOFILE – THE URBAN DAYS OUT

Want to see more? Check out all the Lomofiles here.

FREE DOWNLOAD – following a request in the comments below, I have made a copy of the Spongebob Squarepants image available for download for desktops and the like.  To get it, follow the instructions below:

1) Enter the code OWMEBOBL into the box below
2) Press submit – this page will then reload
3) you will then see a downloadable link to get your file

Good luck and enjoy!

I recently received an email from my friend and peer Murray Ballard about a book he has produced with his partner Gabriella Rizzello.

Murray was in my year on the Photography degree at the University of Brighton as I was, and Gabriella also studied on this course.  Both are amazing photographers (check out their websites for yourself) who produce really beautiful and thought provoking images.

They are producing a self-published book to raise money for the charity Diabetes UK and are trying to get 150 people to pre-order it at a bargain price of £15.  If they meet this target, that will cover the production costs for a run of 500 copies of the book.  All the money from the sale of the other 350 books will then be donated to the charity.  To give a bit of background to this book, Murray says:

“My girlfriend, Gabriella Rizzello and I are self-publishing a photography book, One Week In Moscow, to raise money for the charity Diabetes UK.  The motivation for this project stems from the loss of Gabriella’s mother earlier this year due to complications of diabetes.
The book is now available to pre-order.  Purchase a copy before the 23rd August and you’ll receive a signed copy with your name printed in the back with special thanks.”

This is a great cause and also an amazing opportunity because it will mean:

1) You get to own a very exclusive book of amazing images, produced by two highly talented, and emerging talents in on the Photography Scene.
2) You will help raise money for this good cause.
3) You will own a signed copy of one of 500 of these books.  Given that Murray and Gabriella and destined to become renowned Photographers one day – it is basically an investment for your future as who knows what it will be worth one day!

What more reason do you need?

Please visit their site and support them:  www.oneweekinmoscow.com/

Yeah, I know what people are saying:

“He’s always banging on about car boot sales”

But what of it – I am a fan!  We all know that!  I highly advocate other people selling their tat to me at knock down superstore prices.  In fact, that’s how I can afford to buy things, without boot sales and charity shops – I would be scuppered!

Anyway, in my previous posts: Brighton’s Sunday Market is moving! & Brighton Car Boot Sale / Sunday Market…The Facts I have shared various pieces of invaluable information about Brighton’s best market, but I thought it was about time for some more interesting images.

So here is a little photo story from a recent visit to the sale, which reflects some of the variety of brilliant items one can find.

Enjoy and go visit yourself (details of where, when and how here).

TECH INFO – All shot on Nikon FG-20 on Kodak Royal Supra 200 film.

The BBC’s parties and issues pages – gives an overview of the main parties and what they stand for

www.whoshouldyouvotefor.com – take a quiz that will tell you what your political leanings are!

Find your candidates – www.politics.co.uk lets you search for your constituency and find who is standing and the stats on previous election results

UK polling report – find the latest poll information for your area

vote!

VOTE!

With the election just around the corner, I remain to be amazed by the number of people who tell me they are not going to vote, or someone they know is not going to vote.

I am sure everyone is almost at the end of their tether with politics – this election has been more in your face than perhaps any other I can remember.  And, as the polling day comes closer and the polls keep making the outcome more unpredictable, the parties are getting desperate to be the one to stick in your mind when you come to make a cross in a box on Thursday.

So what is it all about?  Why bother to get up of the sofa and vote at all?  Is there a point to voting and if you think they are all scum- why should any get your vote?  Even if you do decide to vote, then it’s not going to make a difference.

I have been on my high horse about this for a month or more, trying to convert the non-voting fraternity into coming out and putting their money where there mouth is.  In fact, putting their money where there mouth isn’t – because no vote means no say. With election day upon us in under 24 hours, I attempt here to sway any reader who is considering exercising their most futile democratic right – not to vote.

THE “HISTORY DICTATES YOU SHOULD” ARGUMENT

The history of Parliament is a long one, the origins in this country run back 1000 years or more and for the world as a whole, democratic ruling systems are numerous and ancient.  In Britain, parliament established itself to give the general population a stake in decisions that affected them to balance out the pure will of the monarch.  The ‘Glorious Revolution’ in 1688 led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy and the main control of the state turned to the elected government.  For less than 400 years we have had the right to choose who governs us based upon their values and policies.  A generation is generally considered to be around 20 years, meaning 20 generations have had this right.  Only 20 generations!  That’s nothing in the history of humanity.  Just 20 of your relations have lived in a democracy in Britain rather than a dictatorship.

REASON 1 – People living 20 generations ago had no right to have a say in how they were governed, and as such, were at the mercy of a monarch.  Not voting puts you in the same position as those people – being dictated to and at the mercy of a ruler you have no say in or influence over.  You are effectlivly electing to live in a dictatorship.

THE “PEOPLE HAVE DIED FOR YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE” ARGUMENT

Perhaps the most worn argument is the “millions have died to give us the right to vote”.  Of course this is true and I suspect many people dismiss it as it is a bit of a sensationalist argument – because it is!  If people die for your freedoms, then you owe it to them to vote.  It is a cliche, but there is undeniably an element of truth in that.  What is the point in us standing up for what we believe in, through World Wars and terrible suffering, if we then revoke our ability to have a  say.

However, I think more powerful is the right of women to vote.  It was only in 1928 that women were granted the right to vote on the same terms as men.  My nan lived at a time when women had less say in how they were governed than men.  For only 82 years have we as a country had a full and equitable say in how we will be run.  This time frame is too short to betray by a non vote.

REASON 2 – I am not sure there is a more powerful argument as to why we should vote than this.  Everyone knows the suffragette’s story and I will not regurgitate it here.  Needless to say, the fact it took until 1928 must be one of the biggest disgraces in our recent history.  To not vote is most certainly an insult to the suffragettes.

POLITICAL STICKER ON TRAFFIC LIGHT

THE “YOU CAN’T COMPLAIN IF YOU DON’T VOTE” ARGUMENT

I sincerely believe that by not voting you have no right to complain, for the length of that parliament, at how the country is being run.  If you opt out of being a part of that decision, then you effectively opt out of the right to moan.  The vote is one of the most powerful tools in our democratic arsenal to have a stake in the laws that will be passed and the decisions that will be made.  Granted there are probably some exceptions to this rule, but I think they are few.  One I can think of is if you live outside of society, independent and of your own means – then you earn the right.  You do not participate, impinge on or affect the system you would be voting in.

There must be other examples too, but generally speaking, if you participate in society (by that I mean – the welfare state, state provided services like refuse collection, health and policing, paying taxes and receiving benefits, using subsidised services of any kind etc) then like it or not, you are buying into the system.  We all have the power to step outside the system – live outside it either by the way we conduct our life or by moving to another country.  Other than that, whether from choice or necessity, you are part of it.  If you are part of it, you should express your view as to how it should be run, it is your responsibility as a cog in that machine.  What is more – then you can begin the joy or criticising it.  You have your stake and therefore earned your right to a say in what is done.

REASON 3 – If you participate in society, it is deeply hypocritical to not exercise your ability to say how it is run.  Like it or not, we are all part of it and so all partly responsible.  Voting enables you to have some influence, no matter how small.  If you haven’t stuck your head above the parapet and voted for someone, then what gives you the right to criticise any of them?

VOTE FOR CHANGE

THE “MY VOTE DOESN’T COUNT” ARGUMENT

Everyone’s vote counts.  Stating that a vote makes no difference is literally nonsense.  Of course, you are 1 in 46 million registered voters, but that is still a part.  Any colony based life form relies on its population all playing a part in the whole.  Strength literally is in numbers.  Look at the turn out and at the last election, 61.28% of registered voters actually bothered.  Suddenly you are 1 in 28,188,800.  These numbers are not huge – Labour got a bit over 9 1/2 million of the popular vote in 2005.  If another few million people bothered to have their say across the country, the face of politics as we know could be utterly different.  Just think, if the electoral turn out could get up to 70% then that would be not far off 5 million more votes being cast.  As it stands, four people in every ten that you walk past in the street are not going to express a view.  What does that say about us as a whole?

I guess the question I ask myself, is do those 4 out of 10 really have just cause and reason not to vote?  Do they have a sound argument to back up their decision?  If 4 in 10 bees in a hive stopped bothering to participate – the colony would soon collapse around itself.

REASON 4 – Whilst you are literally 1 in 28 million, you are still part of that equation.  Cliche’s are both frustrating, but also true – where would we be if everyone decided not to bother?  Currently 40% of us choose not to bother and that is a frighteningly large percentage.  8,250,000 people bothered to vote in the last series of Fame Academy – that’s about a third of the number who vote in elections, which is, frankly, a pathetic statistic.  Fame Academy is literally insignificant.  Who rules our country is not.

It is percentages like that which allow extremest to get into power.

FOX TORY

THE “NONE OF THEM REPRESENT MY VIEWS” ARGUMENT

The other point that non-voters often make is that none of the parties represent their views, so there is no point in voting for any of them.  To this, I would suggest that view is slightly ignorant.  Where in the world is there someone else, let alone a group of people, that you agree with entirely?  Diversity is what makes our society so interesting, productive and successful.  For a democratic system to work, political parties have to appeal to a large number of people, and, as such, it is highly unlikely and extremely unrealistic that one person will agree with every aspect of their manifesto.  If parties did not work in this way, then we would have hundreds of independent MP’s and no decisions would ever be made.  Unfortunately, having to appeal to several millions of people is the price you have to pay for the system of government we have adopted.

However, given the fact that you get one vote to state who you think is best disposed to make decisions on your behalf for the coming 5 years, is it really true that not one party or individual is even slightly better than the others?  Even if you don’t really like any of the candidates there isn’t one that is slightly less hateful than the others and therefore better to have in place than another?  After all, one of them will be elected and by not voting you are having no influence or say over that.

REASON 5 – Wouldn’t you prefer to have the person who is slightly less shit than the others in power, rather than the really shitty one?  Your taxes are going to help towards their 60 odd grand a year as it is, so you may as well decide who is most worthy of your hard earned cash!

IT MATTERS MORE THAT YOU DO…

JUST VOTE

Look, I think that is enough banging on about this.  You are bored, I am bored and you know I am right!  Above are 5 reasons against 5 of the main arguments why it is worth your while taking 5 minutes out of your day tomorrow to have a say.  Love it or hate it, this is the system we have and you really should be a part of the decision making it.  If you truly do not believe in any party, person or system – then go and spoil your ballot paper.  Those are counted up and still count as a statement if enough are spoiled.  Better still, have a vote and then stand for election yourself next time and see how many people agree with you.

One of the biggest debates in this election campaign is over whether to have a discussion and possible referendum on the political system we have.  That is a massive opportunity to affect the power of your vote – read up about what a system like proportional representation would have on Britain before you make your final decision.  For a quick way to illustrate the point, play with the BBC’s Election 2010 seat calculator.  Check out the percentage of the vote the Liberal Democrats would need to get a majority government!

How can you not be excited about an election?  It gets everyone talking and debating the issues that count.  This year, I have seen more personal messages and views in people’s windows than ever before – and that is a good thing.  Just ask anyone from a repressed political state who faces imprisonment for expressing their political leanings.

Before you say it, I know all these arguments are very basic and life is more complicated than I have stated above.  I know my arguments are simplistic and probably riddled with inaccuracy and contradiction.  I know there are millions of counter arguments to be made.  But shit, for the first time in a long while, the dissolution with politicians is really in the fore front of the public mind, and this election is your chance to comment on that.  Do not waste your chunk of power to have a say – get out there tomorrow and make your mark.

Remember – it matters more you do than for who (unless it is for the Tory’s of course!!!).

Just vote!

P.S – I promise this is my last political post for a while   Normal fun living service to resume imminently