As I mentioned in my previous post FIELD TEST – WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU GIVE A VERY SMALL CHILD A CAMERA TO PLAY WITH? I mentioned that I batch processed about a years worth of films after having delayed so for lack-of-financial reasons!  On one of the 35mm films, I found some shots taken when being a “responsible adult” on a school trip to London.  First stop was the Victoria & Albert Museum for a general peruse, followed by a visit to the Design Museum to see Super Contemporary alongside a Javier Mariscal retrospective.

As always, I have little or nothing to say about the exhibitions – if you were interested in that, you should have gone yourselves

But I did take a lot of photographs that day, which is much more interesting.  isn’t it?

SCHOOL TRIPS TO LONDON AND THE PAIN OF COACH TRAVEL

Coach Window (2010)

Taking a coach to London is generally a rubbish idea.  Nobody does it, apart from 1) old people on a day out, 2) broke people who are using Megabus and of course 3) school trips.

It is slow, uncomfortable and ultimately frustrating.  Why anyone would choose it as a method of transport is beyond me – when there is another means, take it!  That’s what I reckon.

Anyway, as I was on a school trip, there was little choice – but at least I had a camera for company and being one of the “responsible adults” I got to sit at the front under the watchful gaze of the vast windscreen, which provided almost constant entertainment from its reflection.

If it wasn’t for putting the bus driver off, who probably thought I was some kind of coach spotter, I would have taken many photographs of it.

Desgner Curtain (2010)

Floor // Foot // Shadow (2010)

THE DESIGN MUSEUM, LONDON

To be honest, I wasn’t that interested in visiting the design museum!  I went on the trip as it was a day out, generally speaking – I find graphic design a bit of a dull thing to view in a museum or gallery environment.

Ignorant I am sure – but I see design around me every minute of every day and it does little for me in this setting.  I am sure it is because I am missing something and I get why good design is artistic, important and clever – but it usually leaves me a little dry.

But, where there is dullness – there is always interest.  The eye wanders and spots a line, shape, shadow or colour and the whole trip has been made worth it.  Luckily, photography means the whole world is your museum and anywhere you find yourself, something interesting will find you.

JAVIER MARISCAL & SUPER CONTEMPORARY

Jazzy Paintings (2010)

Come on then – lets mention something about the exhibits on display.  First up, I can remember little or nothing about the Super Contemporary show!  I seem to remember there was a few interesting pieces of design in there, but generally – I wasn’t that bothered by it (see above!).

BUT – Javier Mariscal, yeah that was actually rather brilliant.  Whilst I was aware of Mariscal’s work, I had no idea what his name was or who he was!  I had simple absorbed his illustrations in various guises and various mediums.

Perhaps one thing most people might know his work from is Cobi - a cubist dog that was adopted as the mascot for the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.  Reports have it that Cobi soon became the most profitable mascot the games has ever seen.  Cobi went on to have his own cartoon!

All in all, Mariscal’s work was playful, colourful, highly diverse and highly prolific!  It was a joy to see and a bit like stepping into the mind of a slightly deranged child!  Brilliant.

Check out his work (http://www.mariscal.com/) as it really is worth some investigation and is colourful in a way only the Spanish seem to be able to pull off.

SKY V (2010)

Nice!  I love school trips.  Not only do I get to see art and get paid for it, it is also a great chance to go to our fair capital city and take photographs…and get paid for it!  Long live the rule of the technician.

Disco Is Dead (2010)

POST LONDON CLUB NIGHT BLUES

Went to Fabric in London at the weekend to celebrate my brothers birthday.

I used to go to Fabric a lot when I was younger, it was far and away my favourite venue.

This time round – I was shocked by the sheer number of people meandering through the corridors. It was packed, too packed.

Perhaps I am finally too old to appreciate such nights and should stick to smaller more descrete parties!

It was a good 3 hour journey back to Brighton, after having left the club some ungodly hour in the morning.  When I finally stepped back through my door at half 9 on Sunday morning, the first thing that occurred to me was to deface the DISCO stamp on my hand – as seen in this image.  I then took a bad photograph as evidence of my thoughts.

IN HINDSIGHT, I APOLOGISE – DISCO IS STILL A LIVING BEAST

Of course, in my decrepit state at that time of the morning, extremely sleep deprived and hang over kicking in – I did not consider the impact of my actions.

I would like to publicly state that Disco is not dead – it still lives and breathes with unfathomable soul and gusto.  It is simply insane missions to massive London super clubs that are dead!

GOD BLESS YOU BOO WILLIAMS – YOU ARE A DISCO KING

As way of proof, and to apologies to my peers, I would like to present you with a truly amazing Disco mix – courtesy of the truly amazing Boo Williams.  Needless to say, I love this mix more than my own mother (sorry Mum) and would happily stab a man to get a copy of each record Boo plays.

Come back on Boo and carry on playing!

P.S – if you don’t like this mix, then there is something wrong with you

LONDON FROM THE FRONT (2010)

Sometimes I like to look at whats in front of me and take photos of what everyone else is taking photos of.

LONDON FROM THE BACK (2010)

But often I prefer what is behind me and prefer to take a photo of that.

The moral of this story…

Sometimes I like what’s in front of me – but often I prefer whats behind.

P.S – Here is a quick joke for you: The photo above shows Our World My (London) Eye!  HA HA HA!

Show Studio 1 (2009)

SHOWSTUDIO – FASHION REVOLUTION – REVIEW

I made a posting on this before ‘SHOWSTUDIO – FASHION REVOLUTION – COMEDY CASTING’ – a brief one of me doing a video casting at the exhibition.  Thought this should be followed up by a more in-depth look at this show.

I must confess to not being the biggest knowledge on fashion photography.  I love some of it, but in the past have found a lot of the images out there quite bland, obvious and purely about commercial selling without having much creative flair to boot.  In recent years, I have tried to look at it with more open eyes and analyse exactly what is going on in this very creative side of Photography.  I do like fashion and when a photographer applies an original mind to this genre – the results are amazing.

Nick Knight is one of those fashion photographers that I guess everyone has heard of and quite rightly so.  He is no doubt a genius at what he does – his images are punchy, original and beautiful.  What is more, he actually manages to capture the essence of fashion and the clothing yet retain a creative approach to his images.  (And, incidentally, his non-fashion personal work is lovely – check out his work ‘Flora’).

Show Studio 2 (2009)

Not surprising then, when his SHOWstudio project took over the bottom floor of Somerset House for the Fashion Revolution show – it was an amazing and interactive place to visit.  Described by themselves as:

…a retrospective of nine years of online innovation, invention and creation.

This seems to give a good account of what you could see.  Following in the footsteps of the SHOWstudio website, the exhibition attempted to throw the usual expectations of fashion, art, photography and video on its head.  More like a full on assault of the senses with images, video, instillations and a whole host of interactive elements.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF SHOWSTUDIO

Established by Nick Knight in 2000, SHOWstudio was created as an online organisation, aimed at pushing the boundaries of how fashion is communicated.  It has pioneered fashion film and is one of the leading lights in this new medium and collaborates with some of the most influential and acclaimed figures of contemporary fashion, including John Galliano, Kate Moss, Maison Martin Margiela, Comme des Garçons and Alexander McQueen.  It has blurred the lines between fashion, photography, film and art.

For a full idea of what they do, check out the site at: www.showstudio.com

FASHION REVOLUTION

For me, there were a few stand out elements to the show which, for me, were the clear highlights and made this exhibition so unique…

NAOMI

Show Studio 3

As you first entered the exhibition, you were confronted by three huge monolithic sculptures of supermodel Naomi Campbell, created from a 3-D rendered image captured during Nick Knight’s Spring 2007 Naomi shoot.  A touch sensitive computer panel let you graffiti over these white body casts, creating anything from clothing to abstract shapes.  Naturally a high percentage of the contributions seemed to involve rude dawbings!!!  The figures could also be drawn onto via an online interface, so anyone in the world, provided they had internet connection, could graffiti Naomi and the results appear ont he figures in real time.

Check it here: http://www.showstudio.com/project/fashionrevolutionnaomi/

Show Studio 3 (2009)

CASTINGS

Show Studio 6 (2009)

You may have already seen my comedy casting in the previous post, before that, I recorded a “normal” one, before realising exactly what the casting was:

A small room contained a video camera where visitors were encouraged to do a casting to appear in one of Nick Knight’s photoshoots.  The set up was simple, with a computer asking basic questions and the sitter answering to camera.  These films were then captured and put onto the website for the world to view.  Obviously the results depend on the sitter and they range from interesting to dull and funny to shit!  I suspect my own effort is both dull and shit!  It’s worth looking through the films on the site, if for nothing else, just to see how people react in front of a camera in this situation.

Check it here: http://www.showstudio.com/project/fashionrevolutioncasting/

PERFORMANCE

Show Studio 7 (2009)

Perhaps the most inspiring and revolutionary piece at the exhibition was the opportunity to watch fashion shoots live.  The basic set up was a medium sized studio space, kitted out with all the expected equipment and at one end, floor to ceiling – wall to wall,  one way glass.  This meant you could see the photo shoot happening but they could not see you.  I was lucky enough to go near the end of the exhibition and see Nick Knight himself doing 100 portraits for ID magazine.  It was addictive viewing – like Big Brother but with substance!  Getting to see Knight’s working method, how his assistants worked with him and the general set up and feel of a top level photo shoot was amazing.

I was particularly suprised to see how calm the whole thing was.  From film and media – I kind of expected to see an Austin Powers type shoot, or like a scene from Blow up.  I guess the media stereoptype wins through as we are so unused to seeing fashion shoots live.  That’s where this part of the show really wins through and fills the brief of SHOWStudio so well.  It allows viewers to witness a true behind the scenes aspect of the world of fashion photography  readdress their stereotypes and perhaps start looking at this genre as a genuine form of art in its own right.

Show Studio 8 (2009)

All to often fashion photography is written off (as is fashion itself) as a true form of artistic expression.  For me, the live studio totally cemented my view that fashion photography is increadibly diverse, sersious and creative and deserves upmost respect.  Knight was a pleasure to watch work and a great inspiration I’m sure for anyone interested in getting into this field.

FURTHER READING

Sadly, this show has now stopped.  I kind of wish they could find a permanant venue and always offer people the opportunity to see the full range of SHOWstudio’s creations, as well as benefit from aspects like the ‘Performance’ Live Studio.

In the meantime, however, I urge you to check their website and see the full range of joy that is on there:

http://www.showstudio.com/project/fashionrevolution/ – Fashion Revolution site

http://www.showstudio.com/ – Show Studio site

Show Studio 10 (2009)

Show Studio 9 (2009)

Just a quick one to get you in the mood.

Went to London yesterday and had another gander at Nick Knight’s SHOWstudio exhibition @ Somerset House.  A whole host of photos and a review coming soon.

Been there a few weeks ago and they have a casting instillation, where a camera records you answering some questions – then, the most beautiful get called up to a photo shoot.

It happens that I turned 30 last week and so had a number of cardboard masks of my face lying around (again, images and story to follow!).  So, I thought my under 30 face should do a casting rather than my actual over 30 face.

Behold the results below.

To see the video on the SHOWstudio website and see more casting videos, visit http://www.showstudio.com/project/fashionrevolutioncasting/

I was recently checking out the Norman Parkinson exhibition at Somerset House in London.

These windows, blinds drawn, grabbed my attention as much as the fine images taken by Parkinson.  Thought they would make and interesting Typological study.

(Click on first image to bring up slideshow viewer)

NORMANS WINDOW #1 (2009)

NORMAN'S WINDOW #2 (2009)

NORMAN'S WINDOW #3 (2009)

NORMAN'S WINDOW #4 (2009)

NORMAN'S WINDOW #5 (2009)

NORMAN'S WINDOW #6 (2009)

LONDON GREYS (2009)

WHY IS LONDON SO GREY?

I guess this does not apply solely to London, but to a variety of British towns and cities – they are all constructed in grey tone.

Perhaps this is most noticable in London due to its immense size and the sheer number of buildings crammed into it.  I took this photo last time I was in London, eating lunch on some steps just opposite St James’ Park.

I have always been struck by the monotone look of the architecture and the inhabitants of our fair capital city.  Obviously the suit is the chosen uniform of the city and so a huge percentage of the population walk round in shades of black or grey - perhaps their tiee of if lucky, their shirt inserting an injection of colour.

But it all seems quite drab – more so on a winters day.  You can happily sit somewhere and be surrounded by different tones of grey, be passed by grey people and look up at the grey skies.

To its credit, London does OK for park spaces and tree lined streets – which give a welcome break from the singular vision.  Granted, you could argue the lights of Piccadilly are colourful – but really, that’s advertising and should never count.

Go to a city like Barcelona and you cannot escape colour.  The buildings are painted or even built in a wealth of colour.  Colourful public art fills the area and the people are an explosion of different shades.

Now of course there are exceptions to the rule in London or any other British city – but stop and look and you will notice how drab a lot of it can come accross.  Hannah often wears a variety of colours, more vibrant than the general populous of London and gets innumerable dirty looks for daring to splash some colour amongst the greys.

Is it that we are afraid to stand out or make our buildings shout out from their surroundings?

What I don’t get is that London is not a grey and drab place.  It has a huge personality and is filled with wonderfully creative and excetric people – perhaps we should begin to allow this to be reflected in our personal appearance and that of our architecture.

BLACK & WHITE PRINTING

Incidentally…

Not sure why you want to know this or there will be any interest, but you know – this is a blog, an online sketch book, some I am going to tell you anyway…

This is the first black and white print I have made in a long while – hence its not that well printed!  During the dark days (when my digital lens smashed), I returned to 35mm and shot some Black and White as I knew I could process and print it at work.

So, over the past month or so, I have processed a few of those films and done contact sheets.  Yesterday, I was trying to re-align and enlarger and thought it was the perfect chance to print one of the images to test the focus was even on the enlarger.  So here it is, for all to see!

I must say, it was great to work in the darkroom again.  Not done much of it in the past few years and its always a pleasure to have the smell of chemicals around you and be bathed in nothing but red light. (Does that sound perverted!?!?).

LETS TALK MORE ABOUT BLACK AND WHITE

Shall we?  Do you want to?

I am not sure I do – perhaps another few posts should be dedicated to this topic.

But to tease you – I am really not sure its for me these days.  I like the printing and all, but the results are never as pleasing to me as colour.  I do like Black & White street photography, but the world is in colour and that’s how I like to capture it…generally.

Perhaps I will address the B&W v Colour issue in more depth soon.  Perhaps not.