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 ~~~

Whilst I am very far from being religious and very far from holding any sort of faith at all, I am fascinated by religion and churches.  I think my lack of understanding and personal belief make the world of religions a curious place and churches a strange and alien world to enter.

In my photographic enterprises, I have done a few projects on religion and churches to try and understand peoples faith and beliefs better. I have never really nailed it, but continue to pop into churches wherever I see them and sometimes take a photo if the mood takes me.

Usually a Church is a church is a church and apart from the usual architectural appeal they do not really jump out as being something different.  However, when I came upon a very unlikely looking church in Tintern – I couldn’t believe what I saw.  I say Tintern, but technically I think it is in Brockweir just outside Tintern!

THE MORAVIAN CHURCH

SEAL OF THE MOVARIAN CHURCH

Greeted by a rather kitch picture of a lamb holding a flag – this was one church that had to be investigated further.  The lamb is the symbol of the Moravian Church, which I must confess to not having known anything about prior to stumbling across this strange little church.

With roots going back to the 1400′s the Moravian church is an evangelical protestant movement which focuses its practices on simple doctrine placing importance on unity and piety. Apparently with a worldwide congregation of 850,000 it is not a huge movement – but none the less one that seems to have a congregation in humble Brockweir and a splattering of churches in the UK

It seems to be a rather open church, happy to accept anyone of Christian faith to actively participate in its community.

I have done a bit of research trying to find out more about them, but there isn’t a great wealth of information as far as I have seen – however, they do focus their practises around  simple statement know as The Ground of Unity.  Here is an extract:

With the whole of Christendom we share faith in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We believe and confess that God has revealed Himself once and for all in His Son, Jesus Christ; that our Lord has redeemed us with the whole of humanity by His death and His resurrection; and that there is no salvation apart from Him. We believe that He is present with is in the Word and the Sacrament; that He directs and unites us through His Spirit and thus forms us into a Church. We hear Him summoning us to follow Him, and pray Him to use us in His service. He joins us together mutually, so that, knowing ourselves to be members of His body we become willing to serve each other.

Any clearer?  No, not sure I am either.  The church itself was a strange place – felt more like a cross between a scout hut, someones house and a country chapel

MORAVIAN CHURCH BROCKWEIR (2010)

The church was rather plain really, quite protestant in its decoration with nothing particularly fancy.

However, what was always there was the lamb staring at you from the centre of the wall above the altar.

It made a strange but perhaps slightly less oppressive sight than the usual Christ on the cross that is usually in its place.

MORAVIAN CHURCH BROCKWEIR, WALL DETAIL (2010)

It never fails to intreague me how very many different religions there are as well as how very many denominations and variations within that religion.  People’s thirst for spirituality is something that I suspect I will always be fascinated by but also utterly perplexed by.

I happened upon this old photograph yesterday and it’s summery glory made me long for loosing my Long Johns.

PICNIC BUGGY (2010)

I then happened upon this old photograph which made me more angry because the bastard weather doesn’t even have the decency of descending into the depths of proper and exciting snowy glory.

SNOW DIGGER (2011)

Anyway stop moaning it is only 5 days in, here is to a happy new year regardless!

Long live January and thank you for all your dedicated reading in 2011.

P.S – How British is this post, starting a new year moaning about the month, the weather and the dark!

Part of my core being rebels against the Picturesque.  As an aesthetic, I find it false, imprisoning and rather obvious. Instead, my eye is often drawn to that, which some might deem as ugly or a visual blight.

Industry falls nicely into this category and is something that I find rather visually appealing. Removing any thoughts of capitalism, destruction of the environment or the retreating countryside – it has a beauty in its formal, bleak and constructed nature, sometimes virtually approaching a macabre aura surrounding it. Factories, power stations, refineries, car parks – I love them all.

As mentioned in the past – everything is and can be beautiful if gazed on in the right way (see my post I never saw an ugly thing in my life).

So to our story for today. The other week I was driving along in the Mach when I almost veered off the road in excitement, as out of the left of my peripheral, the huge edifice of an abandoned power station loomed into glorious gaze.  Distractions such as this are a danger to me when I am driving as I desperately try to peak a glimpse whilst maintaining full driving capability.

On this particular day, there were three fold of such distractions: 1) an enormous wind farm in the distance 2) a small glimpse of Thanet Earth (Europe’s biggest Greenhouse) and 3) an abandoned power station.  To say I was in visual heaven would be an understatement.

Now, you might think as a Photographer I would screech to a halt, leap to attention and start snapping. But no. No my mind works in a very singular manner – I was driving to somewhere to achieve a particular goal and therefore to deviate off this would be unthinkable.

Luckily enough for me, the Good Lady Hannah was sitting beside me and began her semi-regular torrent of persuasion that I should not exist in such a one dimensional brain space and act with the spontaneity that graces the great and good. A marginal tussle of stubbornness occurred after which I relented and parked up in a questionable lay-by.

Hurrah for GLH is all I can say because as luck would have it, I was armed with my old steed – the Mamiya C3 Professional. This was my first ever medium format camera – a beautiful twin lens, square format beast that served me well for the best part of 18 months.  Recently, I have cracked the old girl out once more for a new project I am a working on, to be revealed at a later date. Needless to say for now, the project is Black & white, medium format and Square – hence I was well prepared for this chance encounter.

So I shot a few rolls and was very pleased I did, because the Power Station looked as good on film as it did through my peepers and the side window. Below are a few of the more interesting shots.

As a brief side – please forgive the slightly poor quality of the images, but they have been scanned from negs at not the greatest resolution on a rather dusty neg scanner.  Also they were shot on a fairly old film which I suspect had started to deteriorate – but it is all I had!

ABANDONED POWER STATION AS SHOT ON THE OLD STEED

The sea has always appealed to me and whenever I am in its presence I feel grateful and contemplative.

Perhaps because it is one of the few features on the planet that truly gives you an idea of our insignificant scale in comparison to the greater picture of nature.

Perhaps because the land is safe and familiar and the sea is unknown.  On land Human kind can dominate, in the sea we would drop several rungs on the food chain.

More likely, I think it is the movement that I enjoy – the sea is never completely still and is a constantly changing picture that will never appear the same from one second to the next.

My new drive to work involves and early skirt along the side of the Hastings shore line and a constant battle between concentrating on the road and the sea in equal measure.

The other morning the sea mist was out early and created that effect where you cannot quite tell where sea ends and sky begins.  I reckon that is my favorite of all sea views and fills me with a strange desire to start swimming toward the invisible horizon to see if it can ever be reached.

But…that would be stupid and, despite the rumours and accusations – I am not a stupid man.  So on this particular morning, I just Photographed it instead.

SEA WITH NO HORIZON i (2011)

SEA WITH NO HORIZON ii (2011)

 HIROSHI SUGIMOTO ‘SEASCAPES’

Photographing the sea is hard however as I am always reminded of Hiroshi Sugimoto, who, in my humble of humblest has made the most beautiful images of the sea that anyone is likely to take. As a result, I feel for me to photograph the sea in any serious manner is a pointless pursuit as I cannot conceive of a way in which to do it any better or even any different for that matter. Scrub that, I fail to see how I could even get close to something resembling his images.  His series of black and white photographs entitled ‘Seascapes’ are now one of the first things I think of when contemplating the ocean.

Rest assured, if I won the lottery tomorrow (or any day for that matter), one of the first things I would do is purchase one of Sugimoto’s seascapes and hang it proudly on my wall so I could bask in its glory each and every day.  Simple, technically perfect and beautiful.

Maybe Sugimoto’s comments on his Seascapes project say it best, and so I will leave you with those as well as a few of his perfect photographs. Notice if you will how every detail has been perfectly considered, right down to the horizon line always falling in the exact same spot in each image.

Water and air. So very commonplace are these substances, they hardly attract

attention―and yet they vouchsafe our very existence.

The beginnings of life are shrouded in myth: Let there water and air. Living phenomena

spontaneously generated from water and air in the presence of light, though that could

just as easily suggest random coincidence as a Deity. Let’s just say that there happened

to be a planet with water and air in our solar system, and moreover at precisely the right

distance from the sun for the temperatures required to coax forth life. While hardly

inconceivable that at least one such planet should exist in the vast reaches of universe,

we search in vain for another similar example.

Mystery of mysteries, water and air are right there before us in the sea. Every time I view

the sea, I feel a calming sense of security, as if visiting my ancestral home; I embark on a

voyage of seeing.

HIROSHI SUGIMOTO, AEGEAN SEA PILLON, 1990	HIROSHI SUGIMOTO, BALTIC SEA RUEGEN, 1996
HIROSHI SUGIMOTO, LIGURIAN SEA SAVIORE 1993	HIROSHI SUGIMOTO, NORTH ATLANTIC CAPE BRETON, 1996

So given the new move to new terratories I thought it would be apt to break my visual silence with a couple of images from my first explorations of what Hastings has to offer.

INTERLUDE – visual silence?  Is that physically or metaphysically possible?  Can one have silence in relation to something that does not intrinsically pocess sound in the first place?  Perhaps my scentence should have read: visual blindness?

ROOF TOP VIEW FROM FUNICULAR RAILWAY (2011) - Is it sad that at the tended age of thirty something I find the prospect of a ride on the Funicular railway mind numbingly exciting? Well...I do - you get a great view of Hastings old town too!

Entering the heady realm of living in a new area is a bizare experience for me – as someone who generally sees the world as a series of photographs, I find that the more familiar I am with an area so the more micro the images become that I see around me.  Brighton is a firm example of this as I knew its streets and buildings rather well, after 10 years of enveloping myself in its dirty glory!  Instead of seeing new vista’s of interest, I would see a new stain on the floor, a interesting coloured brick in a wall or a comic item discarded amongst the pavement debris.

So starting to place foot onto virgin pavement in Hastings, I have suddenly found the visual stimulous has become more macro again as the whole environment and landscape is new and unfamiliar.  This is exciting. I am, you could argue, excited. So much so that I am contemplating embarking on yet another project (to sit nicely alongside the myriad of mounting projects I have started but yet to finish!), which is soley about my initial exoploration, inspirations and sightings in, around and of Hastings.

BE PREPARED FOR A HASTINGS RELATED PUN FEST

Perhaps, through this series of photographs, I could visually conquer Hastings (1) and battle (2) with a new set of influences and images. You could even argue that I am already finding new potential images are hurtling towards my eye like an arrow (3). The potential for visual exploration is boundless and, Will_I_Am  (4) excited.

Sorry.  No really, I am sorry.  I have brought shame upon myself – BUT in self defence, I felt the need to erradicate all Battle of Hastings related puns out of my system so they will never have to grace the pages again! I understand that it is no good apologising to you know, as, for you at least – it is too late.  You have already suffered at the hand of my obismal efforts at comic whit.  But, I hope you understand the mental need I had to get through it early on!  I particularly wish to express shame for pun 4 – which, even for me, was sub-standard!

DAY IN THE PARK (2011) - Arguably my first official Hastings Fun Day involved the annual park gathering. Bunting and deck chars festooning a park are the best way to spend a sunny weekend!

That is it …a small and pathetic relay of Hastings related images to wet your whistle before the onslaught begins!

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)

As regular readers may know, I am rather interested in societies and cultures – particularly how they can be represented visually and then subverted.  I find it interesting what people choose to photograph or make art about when looking at representing their country or local area and how their chosen subjects are riddled with the visual language of that culture.

Sometimes these signs and messages are really obvious and it is impossible to miss their reference, but when it gets really interesting for me is when their references are subverted in someway or the history of a culture is used within an image to suggest all manner of message and meaning.

PERFECT ENGLISH SUMMER (2010)

CREAM TEAS & THE ENGLISH COUNTRY GARDEN

Behold example number 1 – a normal photograph of a normal holiday scene.  You know the situation – you are camping in the country and venture forth on a walk along the river.  You happen across a cafe selling  cake and it would be rude and impertinent not to enter the establishment and partake in the fine English tradition of afternoon tea.  To commemorate the occasion, you take a quick snap of the wares you are soon to enjoy.

Take this image outside of the personal context and display it to others, however, and meanings come forward to them too. The classic tea pot reflecting the fine summers sky, a plate of scones and Jam can mean but one thing – cream tea.  Behind the table is a hint of a traditional cottage garden.

The photograph screams of everything that we associate with an English summers day and it takes on the meaning of representing summertime as well as the traditions and history of our tea drinking heritage! Give this image to a critic and no doubt they could bring into it colonisation, slavery (thinking tea plantations here!), Indian rule, Gandhi, perhaps the potteries and so on. Of course, you are probably thinking I am being excessive – but these meanings are what you would get taught on an art degree! Whilst we may then be quick to dismiss such readings into a photograph or any piece of art – there is always a truth in these signifiers and always a value in at least acknowledging them.

THE PHONEBOX (2011)

DESIGN CLASSICS – THE RED TELEPHONE BOX

Now please cast your eyes onto example number two, which should be situated to my right >

A phone box – the humble red, classic phone box. Again an everyday sight – perhaps not so much these days since they have been replaced by more modern booths and generally superseded by the mass ownership of the mobile phone, but what greater sign of British design is there than the red phone box?

Alongside the London Bus or black cab, it is probably one of the first things many people around the world might identify as being British and is still a predominant sight in the capital. This in itself is interesting, the decision by the London councils to keep the traditional boxes because they have become something that visiting tourists might expect and look for.  Growing up in this country, no doubt we are desensitised to the image of the phone box because we have seen it so much – but go to London and you will see countless visitors photographing themselves in front of them.

Objects like the red phone box feature on many toursit souveniers and it is the branding of a place in this manner which can be really interesting to explore. The photogaph here can again be looked at in a different way.  The phone box is shabby and unclean – the door missing and the floor piled with litter. It looks dirty and tired and run down.

Presenting an image like this can then start to take on a wider meaning about the state of British society – broken Britain as illustrated through a shabby version of one of the iconic symbols of the country. You can tell the photo is taken in London from the stone work and hints of the architecture in the background and a phone box in poor condition sitting in the streets of London becomes a sign of the current economic and political climate.

READ MORE INTO THINGS!

Whilst these two examples are exaggerated and I have picked two photographs and run away with the potential meanings they might contain, it is an interesting illustration into how the visual symbols of a place can be used and then exploited to create a metaphor or illustration of another point.  Whilst I think analysis and critique of art can be taken to far – it is also this deep analysis of imagery and culture done by critics which is a valuable part of the art making process and enables us to reflect upon our surroundings in a more interesting and informed way.

Yeah alright – calm down.  You haven’t even heard my reasoning yet…

Given that we are basically in June, I DO now feel it is now acceptable to mention snow!

Earlier in the year when snow was everywhere, it felt too cliched and obvious to mention it or do a post relating to it!  If i had done it then, you would have been so bored of the snow, it might of annoyed you.  So June, being bang in the middle of the year seems far enough away from the last snow to get away with talking about it and far enough away from new snow to keep it interesting!

You know us at OurWorldMyEye – we always have you’re interests at the forefront of our mind!

There’s-now logic in there!!!

So during the snowy downpours earlier this year, I kept noticing the patterns that appeared on the windows of cars after a light dusting had taken place.  The windows formed their own landscapes with peaks and troughs, highlights and shadows, paths and rivers running through them.  I started to photograph a few of them as out of context thought they were ‘quite interesting’ to look at.

THE SNOW WINDOW LANDSCAPES

There is something rather appealing about taking small pieces of the world like this, out of context and viewing them as  world or landscape in their own right.

Following on from my post the other day reviewing the exhibitions – DAY TRIP TO DE LA WARR PART i – TOMOKO TAKAHASHI & ANTONY GORMLEY – this post promises to be an all round simpler affair.

For those unaware of it, De La Warr was built in 1935 and a fine example of Art Deco architecture and (according to my Wiki sources!) one of the first public modernist buildings in the country. Sitting down the coast from me in sunny Bexhill and originally commissioned by the 9th Earl De La Warr, it has been used as both a public space and a military building during the war. The pavilion gradually fell into disrepair and lay dormant for years until it was refurbished and re-loved and open again to the public in 2005.

Since then, it has become a great arts centre in the South featuring both performance and art. However, you do not need to just go there for that as the building is absolutely stunning.  Art Deco beauty at its finest – it is the sort of building I would die to live in! Makes you feel rather Poirot!

Anyway, without further a do, I present below some photos I took when I was there – I suspect they do not do it justice, but will perhaps prompt you, dear reader, to pay a visit yourself! Also in my typical fashion, the are only of the staircase! Strange you might think, but NO I would reply – for it is a very lovely staircase!

Behold…