So here we are, post election excitement – I have been at rest since the madness of the polls and feeling temporarily uninspired to write anything…which, I can now firmly blame on the Tories!

Anyway, I promised the political talk would come to an end and so it shall – instead, lets move onto experimenting with very small children (something else the Tories are into…sorry!).

I think, perhaps, I should start again.

MY DISCOVERY OF SEVERAL RANDOM FILMS

So…I recently spent about a billion pounds on getting a large quantity of film processed.  Films that I have taken over the past year or so and have not had the funds to process (tragic huh?).  So in a fit of idle rage and partial madness – I took them all in a few weeks back and got the lot processed and scanned at once.

It was an exciting haul – full of surprises and forgotten gems.  For anyone who doesn’t stock pile films and get them developed in one swoop months and months later…I highly recommend it!  Every image is a nice surprise as you have no recollection as to what was on any of the films.  I had the delights of several medium format films I took in Greece, my first efforts with the Lomo Mini Diana camera and even a couple of random 35mm shot through my Nikon FM.  Marvelous.

Three photos initially confused me when I looked at them, until my memory banks kicked in and I remembered what they were all about!  A few months back…perhaps at the dying end of last summer, Hannah and I met my sister and nephew in Preston Park for a picnic and general jolly.  I was armed with various items for personal entertainment – including of course a host of cameras.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU GIVE A 1 YEAR OLD TODDLER A 35mm SLR CAMERA TO PLAY WITH?

As I was thinking of new an interesting ways to amuse my then, 1 year old nephew, Noah – it occurred to me that one is never to young to learn photography.  So my lesson began and I greedily forced him into taking his first every photographs.

Noah's First Photos - Attempt 1

ATTEMPT 1

So we were just warming up here and to be fair, young Noah had no idea what the hell was going on.

Still – I think he got quite a good portrait of his ear and how he managed to get the interesting blue to purple fade in the left of the frame is beyond me (edge of his finger perhaps?)…but I like it.

I discussed the merits of depth of field and focus with him – he spluttered a few noises back and we tried again.

Noah's First Photos - Attempt 2

ATTEMPT 2

OK, not bad – a definite improvement.  I like his composition, good awareness of colour, perhaps his focus could have been a bit more centred – but overall, not a bad effort.

Think it kind of says something about a lazy day in the park.

Nice job.  However, I felt a chat about visualising his images before he shot might help and we discussed how you can bring meaning into an image by being more selective about what you shot and really aware of what you put in and out of focus.

Noah's First Photos - Attempt 3

ATTEMPT 3

YEAH!

Check that puppy out.  Now tell me if I am wrong, but that is a genuinely great photo!  Taken from Noah’s point of view, I think it comments on the relationship of mother and son.

The ever watching eye of the mother gazing over the childs shoulder – mirrored by the ever gazing eye of the camera.  Susan Sontag would have a field day with this one.

So, what do you reckon?  For a 1 year old – I think he shows much promise!  Next lesson, I will move him onto Medium Format and see how quickly he can master that medium!

Remember kids – you are never to young to start learning new and complex skills!

Following on from my previous post about this “Can You Guess What It Is Yet?” I Have another for you.

In fact, as its quite a hard one (I think) – here are two clues.

Can You Guess What It Is Yet - Clue 1

Can You Guess What It Is Yet - Clue 2

I do, I wonder it all the time. In fact, I am near obsessive about trying to get a glimpse of what others are snapping.

Actually, this also relates to my previous post SOMETIMES I TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS OF THINGS AND CANNOT REMEMBER WHY – but applied to other people rather than myself!

We have spoken about my nosiness before – and I have forced the view that any photographer worth their price in salt should be nosey. Nosiness = interesting images!!!

Anyway, my obsession means that whenever I walk passed someone with a camera in their hand, poised framing a shot – I have to maneuver myself near to them so I can try and get a view of what they are shooting. This is not a flawless system, sometimes social ethics mean you cannot stand over some-one’s shoulder and inspect what they are looking at. So more often than not, I get to a safe distance and take an educated guess at what they are taking an image of. But – I never know for sure.

Perhaps this desire comes from the fear that they are taking an interesting shot of something I have not seen or thought about. It’s basically photo envy.

What Is He Photographing? (2010)

WHAT WAS THE CHAP IN PRESTON PARK PHOTOGRAPHING?

The other day, I was wandering through Preston Park – the morning sunlight, the frosted ground and the emerging buds shouted of Spring. I was content. Then…there to my left was the chap pictured, in full crouch position taking a shot. I was distressed, not only was I running late so could not properly investigate, but my position also meant I could not really tell what he was doing. All I knew is he was crouching and looking at a beer can atop a bin. I walked on by, concerned at what I might be missing.

THEN…the day passed by uneventful and soon it was morning again, and I was trudging my well worn path to work, through the park. Remembering my distress of the morning before, my eye idly glanced to the spot I had seen the chap the previous day. Low and behold, the can was still on the bin. I saw my chance, I could actually attempt to re-create the shot my predecessor had already snapped.

A SOLUTION TO ALL MY WORRIES

Armed with the photograph from the previous day still on my camera, I zoomed in and inspected the lads pose and position. Then – I guessed at what he might be thinking in terms of depth of field, focus and composition – and shot the shot. Joy brimmed up as my torturous ordeal came to a satisfying conclusion. I had managed to exactly see what someone else had taken a photograph of. Well – almost, I still don’t know what exactly he was shooting – but I had a pretty good idea.

Perhaps I might adopt this approach and try to re-create any photograph I ever see anyone else taking! best give up my job.

Anyway, here is the result…

Beer Can On A Bin (2010)

Preston Park Bowling Pavilion (2010)

Sometimes I take a photograph of something and I cannot remember why, when I look at it again.

I know there is always a reason at the time I shoot it. But more often than not, this reason escapes me by the time I look at it again.

Still – I sometimes like them.  Sometimes I Don’t.

It’s funny how something can strike you enough at a given moment, to stop and take a picture – but moments later, you cannot fathom what those reasons were.

Well, well, well. Here we are – putting photos of a sunset up. Does life get any more predictable than this?

At first, all I could do was take out of focus images of people!

Many a year ago – I swore never to take another photo of a Brighton sunset. When I first moved down here and was a regular beach front sunset frequenter, I would take endless rolls of film of the sunset. Occasionally they came out looking A-OK, but generally, they just looked like every other sunset photo in the world. More over, they were quite dull – once you have seen one image of a Brighton sunset…etc…etc…etc

Anyway, to this pledge I stayed true and strong. partly, this was because I started going to the seafront less, partly because I had genuinely bored myself of taking the same photo of the sunset over the crusty pier!

WHAT BROKE THE SILENCE

To be fair, there were a lot of interesting people on the beach that day...

So a few weeks back, Hannah and I took a stroll with the dog to the beach. It was a nice day – first in a long while and the air smelt of spring. Armed with a couple of hip flasks of smooth and warming whisky mac we set off and established ourselves on the beach as the sun was beginning to think about going down.

Because it had been so long since my last sunset seaside visit – I forgot how amazing the colours could be. Before I knew it…there I was, camera in hand…finger poised over the shutter…my mind saying NO but my heart saying YES. So – I decided to fuck with my rules and take some photos anyway! Glad I did really, it kinda re-sparked my love for Brighton beach when the sun is setting and the winter skies make the colours go insane.

Long live sunsets – I sincerely hope when I retire that I dedicate my final years to watching it go down every evening.

The colours were too good...the urge hard to resist!

The white backdrop of the seafront buildings glow as the sun sets

Fine - there it is, there's your bloody sunset.

In my defence…check out the crazy tuft of cloud on the left of this image. Watched that piece of cloud form and then fade for ages.

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!

One of the mysterious and alien codes on the ground of a building site!

WHY ARE BUILDING SITES SO INTERESTING TO LOOK AT?

Have we ever discussed my love of the humble building site?

It runs deep – especially when cranes are involved.  Heavy machinery is always exciting, but when it involves construction – my fascination knows no bounds!

Like with anything one knows nothing about, it is always interesting to ponder what things mean.  Building sites are full of secret items. codes and symbols that I do not understand and therefore want to.  Usually, I imagine in my mind that they represent something far more interesting than reality permits.

Still, perhaps that’s the secret of my fascination.

The fence contains its own mysteries...

It has been a subject of interest since reading the John Constable quote “I’ve never seen an ugly thing in my life blah blah blah”.

Anyway, this is another set of images that fit into that category.  Taken during a stroll on Brighton beach the other day, where I was stopped in my tracks by the amazing rust on the old pillars from the West Pier.  The colour, patterns and texture are amazing.

One thing that particularly interests me about subject matter like this, is it is absolutely unique.  No two patches of rust can ever be the same – or the chances of them being the same must be horrifically minute.  Every bit of rust you see is a unique and elaborate work of art.

Actually – this isn’t my strong point by any means – I have a pop knowledge of it, but I wonder if Chaos Theory comes into play when looking at rust?  And if you looked closely enough at parts of rust, would it be a fractal? If you are a mathematical expert and have any comments on that, then great.  If not – then pretend I sound really intelligent and know all about Chaos and Fractals and how they inter-relate to rust.

Rust on Brighton Beach (2010)

Rust on Brighton Beach 2 (2010)

Rust on Brighton Beach 4 (2010)

Rust on Brighton Beach (2010)

Rust on Brighton Beach (2010)

Can you guess what it is?

THE CULTURAL MEMORY OF AN IMAGE

Hmmmm, not sure that title actually says anything of worth.  In fact, it sounds a bit like university art wank speak!  Although perhaps that would be more like:

Can we analyse the signifiers of an image to determine its relevance on the cultural and visual memory of the populace.

Oh yes – university wank speak lecturer…here I come.

The point of this post is a brief one.  Was looking at some images the other day, like this one to your right.  It reminded me of a topic I have looked into / thought about / tried to explore a fair bit in the past, which relates to how we remember things visually.

EDITING THE WORLD

In particular – how much is loaded in the ‘language’ of an image that gives us clues to its meaning or what it is.  Its like the fairly well known fact that when we first see an abstract image, we will often liken it to a face – as that is one of the most common visual references to us as a species.  Hence seeing faces in clouds or rocks…or perhaps seeing Jesus in a bagel!

The example image here is very easy, but the question is – what is this a picture of?  If we could zoom out and see more, what would we see?

Based on the fact there is not actually that much information in the photograph, if we can guess what it is an image of, what does that tell us about our integral understanding of visual clues – how they are processed and stored and referenced in society etc.  How do we learn these references and how are they then used by artists or anyone else in everyday life.

Think on!  I guess it interests me due to the process’s of editing that I have banged on about in the past.  Photography is the editing of the world but how minimal can one get in that editing whilst still letting another person know exactly what the image is of?

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.