THE DREAMBOATS COLLECTIVE.

TJ Proechel

Four American photographers have got together to form 'The Dreamboat Collective'. They are all talented and their work is great, but I do find it all remarkably similar in content and style. If it where here in the UK I couldn't really see the benefit (Yes, I have thought of similar things myself), but being that all four of these talents are thousands of miles apart (but in the same country), it could work out very well.

I like it when photographers do such things as a 'collaboration' and wonder how they came to have the idea, and may be also if they wrestle for jobs and fight over who's going where. I think it takes a certain kind of person to do this and having seen my fair share of petty photographers threatening to leave agencies, 'If they take on that photographer' (usually because they are jealous and threatened), its nice to see when it works well. In fact we only need to look at the early days of Magnum, F64 and The Doyley Doo Dogooders to see such 'collaborations' and how great they can be.

PRESENTS

Marcus Doyle


The House Martin and the Cinema

Taken from work produced for various projects over the last decade

Diemar/Noble Photography, London is proud to present: Marcus Doyle
‘The House Martin and the Cinema‘
Beginning to work solely with a Large Format View Camera ten years

ago, his work is both visually breathtaking and incredibly detailed.
Doyle has exhibited in London, Paris, Belgium, Germany, Los Angeles,
New York, Chicago and Switzerland. Many of the photographs
selected for this exhibition have never been displayed in the UK before.



The exhibition displays the breadth and versatility of Doyle’s oeuvre,

from intimate interiors to epic landscapes.


Doyle’s photographs evoke a deep connection with his surroundings
and concern with the effect man has upon the environment. His
commitment to the image is well known, as Doyle often waits hours or
even days to capture a scene preferring only to using available light,
often through long exposures. His style is self-assured with bold
compositional choices and has an ambient quality rendering images
that almost ‘breathe’. Doyle’s palette is a vibrant one. Just as a painter
uses their brush to encapsulate a scene, Doyle draws out the colour in
the places he chooses to photograph instilling it with atmospheric
verve. This has earned him a worldwide reputation for exquisite prints.
Doyle was the first photographer to – in a concentrated way – do long
exposures of three hours or more at night. Due to such long exposures
often people have passed through a scene whilst the aperture is open,
yet are not captured in the image. However, their presence is felt
within the photograph regardless.

Doyle’s largest series to date is titled ‘Urban Sprawl’. It began in his
hometown of Carlisle in Cumbria. The work explores the interaction we
have upon the landscape as cities encroach further into the
countryside effecting the environment for better and for worse. So far
‘urban Sprawl’ has taken Doyle across Europe and America, back to
the UK and around its very edges, along the coastline.


At the onset he started out in black and white. His conversion to colour
came about as a result from a trip to Iceland. He felt that he could only
do justice to the Icelandic landscape through colour photography. This
began his long-standing practice of primarily using colour.


Intimate domestic settings are sharply observed, turning the everyday
into something extraordinary. His passion for beauty is recorded
through Doyle’s lens and finds it in the most unexpected places. A
dead bird on a windowsill, the frost on a wheelbarrow, or a diner at
dusk all become magically transformed into delicate, idyllic scenes.

Doyle does not research or scout his locations. He travels blind and
when he comes across a place of interest, he goes by his instincts to set
about photographing it. Interestingly, once the he has taken the
photograph Doyle never returns to that location. After extensive
traveling, his return to the UK cemented his belief that, “Everything I
need is right upon my doorstep.”

His book ‘Marcus Doyle: Night Vision – Intimacies of an Unblinking Eye’
with an essay by Matt Damsker, will also be available.


Exhibition dates 11th March – 17th April 2010
Gallery hours 11- 6 Tuesday through Saturday


Private View 10th March 6.30pm

Diemar/Noble Photography is located at 66/67 Wells
Street, London W1P 3PY
Telephone 0207 636 5375
www.diemarnoble.com


Diemar/Noble Photography was founded by Michael Diemar,
photographic consultant and lecturer, and Laura Noble, artist, curator,
writer, and photographic consultant, and the author of The Art of
Collecting Photography.

For further information, images and interviews please
contact :

Press@diemarnoble.com

CHECK IT OUT!

THE SEARCH CONTINUES.

After 551 posts since the birth of the b-mode way back in the eighteenth century I have to admit to having a little trouble finding other photographers landscape work that I like. The main reason is probably due to me trying to find mostly British photographers and although there are millions (a fair few covered here already), most of them don't really float my boat with a lot of rehashing going on of better images created by better photographers.
If I was a fan of totally natural landscapes, (think chocolate box, office calenders and Joe Cornish) I would be blogging 24/7 and then some. But I'm not, and although there may be some talented guys out there with technical skills beyond rocket science I see no real talent in repeating what's gone before be it a mountain pass, a pebble on the beach or a squirrel in a tree with big ginger nuts..
So today I leave you with an image taken in what is probably one of the least natural and unlikely landscape places on Earth, a motel in Fresno USA.
Did someone actually design this building and paint it pink?
Whats with the sparse palms in the background?
And why on earth would you go there?

For me a photograph needs to ask questions, not answer the obvious..

TRY STICKING A DIGITAL BACK ON THAT..

170-year-old Daguerreotype camera goes on sale

WestLicht Photographica Auction will auction one of the first Daguerréotype cameras ever produced. The wooden sliding-box camera was made in Paris in September 1839 by Alphonse Giroux

The camera, which was produced a few weeks after the first public announcement of photography, will be auctioned on 29 May in Vienna. It was discovered recently after having spent decades in private ownership in northern Germany. 'The outstanding original condition of the 170-year-old apparatus is remarkable,' says the auction house.

Starting price is €200,000. However, WestLicht Auctions expects to break the world-record price of €576,000 for a camera. The Daguerréotype will be on display at he WestLicht Museum until the auction.

Morocco 2001

Well this is what my accounts look like, a complete car crash. But like the car crash above on that fateful day in the Sahara Desert I pulled myself free without a scratch and carried on.

Tips and hints for getting a good landscape

Exclusively for Times Online, three of the UK's leading landscape photographers give advice

David Ward

"Many see the subject as the most important element of a photograph, and the light falling on it as a secondary concern. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Learning how to match subject to lighting, and vice versa, is the most critical part of landscape photography. We all need to learn how to work the light."

Top five tips for working the light

1. Think about the colour of light – is it warm from early or late sun or cold shade light from a blue sky? Do you need to filter it or leave it as it is?

Landscape photographer of the year

Here are some of the winning and commended entries from the first Take a View competition

Leaders in the field

Landscape photography has suddenly become fashionable and we revisit the work of the genre's greatest exponents

2. Think about the size of the light source – is it a point source (the sun for instance) producing strong directional light? Or is the whole sky the light source (cloudy, or a clear sky when the subject is in shade) giving soft almost directionless light?

3. Think about the height of the light source – how does it affect the shadows on the subject?

4. Think about the direction of the light – is it lighting the best side of your subject?

5. Think about how all these things together will affect the way your subject looks!

Charlie Waite

"Light must be studied though its behaviour can never be predicted with total precision. For example, the beautiful warm evening light that bathes the landscape in a mantle of amber is usually thought of as characteristically Mediterranean; but the same light can be found in northern Europe. Despite many claims to the contrary, every region in the world will have its share of ravishing light."

Top five tips for working the light



1. Without a camera, look at the way in which light interacts with different surfaces. Perhaps set up a simple table-top still life where it is possible to move the light source from one position to another.



2. Become obsessive about light and take every opportunity to observe its behaviour in conjunction with every conceivable surface.



3. Set aside a special time for your photography and make images of a landscape setting in different lighting situations. Study and analyse your results. Define as best you can why the lighting does not seem to have been successful.



4. Make repeated visits to a favoured location and work tenaciously to produce an image that matches your previsualized ideal.



5. Tolerate as few compromises as possible and, when they are unavoidable, be aware of what they were, why they were allowed and where they have sullied the image.





Joe Cornish

"While landscape provides the subject matter, it is light we record and interpret. Light defines space, reveals texture, sculpts form, controls colour, and above all ignites an emotional response. The sky is our studio, our theatre, and we must learn to act upon its gifts of light."

Top five tips for working the light

1. Buy a spot meter and learn to use it properly.

2. Realise that the cycle of the seasons has an enormous effect on the position of sunrise and sunset, and learn to anticipate the effect of the sun’s path through the course of the seasons.

3. Try and respond emotionally to light. But be scientific enough to do your response justice by getting the exposure right!

4. Use a tripod. Most light interesting enough for a landscape photo can’t be hand-held anyway, and most photographers compose their pictures better with a tripod than without.

5. Get out more. But take fewer pictures.

Marcus Doyle

1. If you see a scene that you have seen photographed before, don't blatantly copy it and get a mind of your own.

2. Although you may of heard many times before,' Its not the camera its the photographer', remember that its balls, otherwise Ansel Adams would of used a Lomo. However, just because you have a digital Hassalblad doesnt mean your any good..

3. Don't think just because you print it big it will make the image better. If its crap, its crap. Also don't think because its big you can sell it for lots of money. If you plan to sell work and show it on the web, that print better be better than that tiny scan.

4. Its impossible to replicate the grandeur of a landscape on film, or on a monitor. So don't think you can, your working in 2D.

5. Don't think you are the greatest photographer in the world, you are not, your not even close.

6. This competition is pointless and the prizes are naff..

7. I will never be able to be a course leader for Light and Land, well not now..

8. I added this section myself and it was not published in The Times.

I wouldn't say that I am a xenophobe, but....

I'm not a terrorist, I'm a moody git.

After Saturdays shenanigans in town regarding the Mass Photo Gathering I soon realised that I cannot stomach being around photographers as a whole. With people shouting out silly comments, waving Canons in the air and taunting the police (and that was just me) I became quite sickly at the sight of it all. As much as I believe in what they are doing I really don't think it will do much good. May be its because I have never been bothered by the Cops as a lot of these guys have, or may be I am just a miserable git.. Of course this is no reflection on an single photographer, just groups of them. It used to be the same back in the day when the AOP awards night was something to talk about. I could never get out of there quick enough.

I have often remarked on here how territorial one can become once armed with a camera, the slightest whiff of another wide angle and tripod I become a photographic beast, stomping around like a moody toddler shouting things like; "Get your own landscape!" and "This is my Island, get off!" But if you see me, dont be put off, come and say hello. And then get lost...

I know the snow is well gone but I have just got round to doing this one. No its not a high plains prairie house its another toilet in a local London park. I trust none of you are thinking I am some kind of pervert. Truth be told I am fascinated that toilets are made to look so inviting, again no puns please.
It was actually snowing quite heavily throughout the exposure time, so much so I looked like a snowman at the end of it!

TIME TO STEW..

As my world renowned beef stew simmers and I ignore the onset of a toothache, I continue to research (and justify) my next project. Lately I have felt the darkness looming trying to persuade me to get a 'proper job' but that's usually after speaking with people who just don't understand why I do what I do (usually people who hate their job, and their life) .
I am now at the point where I don't directly know anyone in a similar position to myself. I am not sure if this is a good or bad thing and often wonder what my grave stone might read.

HERE LIES MARCUS DOYLE. NOT RICH, NOT POOR, JUST KIND, HANDSOME AND A BIT MOODY.
or
HERE LIES MARCUS DOYLE. DISAPPEARED AFTER HIS MINI TEN YEAR RETROSPECT..

Few understand my quest, including me sometimes, but theres an old saying in the Doyle family which goes;

A DOYLES NOT A DOYLE WITHOUT TROUBLE AND TOIL..

RIOT........

Photographers to gather in London for street photography rights

More than 1000 photographers are expected in Trafalgar Square on Saturday to defend street photography rights and call for the government to repeal anti-terrorism powers that have been been used against photographers

The campaign group I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist has called on photographers to gather on 23 January in Trafalgar Square in London. 'The use of Stop & Search without grounds for suspicion has been ruled illegal by European Court of Human Rights,' say the organisers. 'This ruling from Strasbourg comes as thousands of photographers are set to gather in London on Saturday 23 January to take mass action to defend their right to photograph after a series of high profile detentions under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act.'

They add: 'Our society’s visual history is under threat of extinction by anti-terrorism legislation. Section 44 of the Terrorism Act has in effect ended the confidence of the citizen to engage in the act of photography in a public place as photographers, artists and illustrators, amateur and professional are harassed by police invoking terrorism legislation to stop and search them. The act of documenting our street scenes and public life, our built environment, whether iconic or not, is now considered to be an act of hostile reconnaissance and could result in the detention of the image-maker.'

Already, more than 1400 photographers have pledged to attend the event, which will kick-start at noon. BJP will be there to report with regular updates on the 1854 Twitter feed.

For more information, visit the event's Facebook page.

dfsfs

Wolf row photographer stripped of award

By Vicky Shaw, Press Association

A stunning image capturing a wolf leaping over a gate has been stripped of first place in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition after judges found the animal was likely to be a "model".

The winning entry, by photographer Jose Luis Rodriguez, beat thousands of entries to scoop the prize in October last year, receiving praise for its "fairytale" quality.

But an investigation was launched after suspicions were raised that the picture might breach competition rules.

Rule 10 says that photographs of animal models may not be entered into the competition and that images will be disqualified if they are entered in breach.

A statement from competition organisers said Mr Rodriguez strongly denies that the wolf is a model.

Owned by the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine, the long-running contest is billed as an international showcase for the best nature photography.

Louise Emerson, from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition office, said today: "It saddens us to confirm that after a careful and thorough investigation into the image, the storybook wolf, the co-owners of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine have disqualified the winning entry of the photographer Jose Luis Rodriguez.

"The judging panel was reconvened and concluded that it was likely that the wolf featured in the image was an animal model that can be hired for photographic purposes and, as a result, that the image had been entered in breach of Rule 10 of the Competition.

"The judging panel looked at a range of evidence and took specialist advice from panel judges who have extensive experience of photographing wildlife including wolves.

"They also considered the responses to specific questions put to the photographer Jose Luis Rodriguez."

The £10,000 prize money was never awarded to Mr Rodriguez, but he did receive a £500 category winner's cheque, which organisers said they had agreed he could retain in lieu of royalty payments.

They said first place would not be re-awarded as judging is always done "blind" so that an objective choice can be made about the winner.

Ms Emerson continued: "Wildlife Photographer of the Year is the world's most prestigious photography competition of its kind.

"Any transgression of the competition rules is taken very seriously and if entries are suspected of breaching the rules they are disqualified.

"Jose Luis Rodriguez's image will be removed from the exhibition and tour.

"Mr Rodriguez strongly denies that the wolf in the image is a model wolf."

I really don't give an owls hoot about wildlife photography, but found this quite interesting, and a little funny.

Lets say the Wolf is a model, or what is more likely an image of a wolf taken from somewhere else. Who cares. I am guessing the judges are just embarrassed they didn't realize the image has fishy written all over it. I think an image of a Werewolf would of been much more convincing and fun..

Hey Roddy, if you used a telephoto (or at least make it look that way) you may have stood a chance. No one gets that close to a Wolf in the wild. I could go on and say the Wolf is not positioned far enough over the fence, or animals jumping like that show up all kinds of muscle and movement dont looked stuffed, or why is a lone wolf jumping a flipping fence. But I wont.

I guess the real problem it how do you prove it..

BEHOLD THE WORLDS MOST RENOWNED PHOTOGRAPHER YOU HAVE NEVER HEARD OF..

Isn't it strange how so many photographers are 'World Renowned' or 'Award Winning' photographers and yet I have never heard of them.
Its almost as bad as those newspaper supplements stating; Here are ten of 'The Best Photographs In The World' which is probably a filler for that important piece of news that someone else has already run..

The only other profession I can think of which prides itself on similar nonsense is the realm of the Award Winning, World Renowned Chef. With his award winning sausages and knife skills, his chain of cafes are known to all..

Such a load of old toot..

Did I tell you my father is the was the World Champion Cumberland Wrestler..

"The surest way to remain poor is to be honest."
Napoleon Bonaparte

REVIEWING THE SITUATION...

Recently I was given a choice regarding some exhibition prints that need-a-doing.

So, do I,

Have the loan of an Inkjet (or Giclee which is French for nozzle and doesn't fool me) printer, great big thing, all for free and capable of producing huge prints.

Or,

Continue with the expensive tried and tested C Type print which I have always used, know it works, and will last a fair old time.

Now dont get me wrong, I wouldn't blame anyone for going with the Ink Jet. I was very tempted myself and spent far to long reviewing the situation. But regarding exhibition prints, well it just has to be the traditional C Type.
As time goes on these decisions become harder to make, but hopefully it will pay off for one such as I who believes its so much nicer to receive a letter than an email...

Put it another way, If I was offered a state of the art digital watch for free or an Omega for a fiver, I'd go with the Omega (and please don't tell me its just a watch)..

I seemed to have lost the ability to make sense..

Invitation to the Private Viewing of:

Yvonne De Rosa 'Crazy God'

20th January

6.30 - 8.30pm

Please RSVP by Monday 18th January 6pm

rsvp@diemarnoble.com

We look forward to seeing you

Diemar/Noble Photography, London

Diemar/Noble Photography
66/67 Wells Street
London
W1T 3PY
www.diemarnoble.com
Tel:+44(0)20 76365375

A LITTLE BIT OF A WIM.

Drive Thru. Gila Bend. Marcus Doyle

Lounge Painting # 2, Gila Bend, Arizona. Wim Wenders.


It took me hours to find somebody
who could open up the lobby
of the old "Stout's" hotel on Main Street in Gila Bend.
It had been closed for years already.
That painting over the Coke machine haunts me ever since.
It's the dream version
of the perfect beginning
of a road movie.
Wim Wenders

I had been on the road for fourteen hours and was on my last leg of a two week trip which had taken me as far as Atlanta on the i20 freeway. I was five hundred miles from California and decided to stop over in Gila Bend. Exhausted I pulled into the Space Station Motel in my dusty V8. As the sun began to set I headed up Main Street with my camera excited by the prospect of new imagery and the thoughts of arriving home the next day. The Drive Thru was the only place open, and so after stocking up on supplies, and Bonnie's Ice cream, I made a single exposure and headed back to the Space Station.
Marcus Doyle

I tire of people constantly redoing images, it bores me to death..

When we were doing the edit for my show in March I thought it might be good to pop in a few images from my Salton Sea series (look here if you want to see). Its been quite a while since my day trips to the Salton and the sad truth is that I have never really exhibited the images as a whole even though there's a few popular ones with the lovely print buying people I call income. Usually I have no problem with going to, and finally, showing work from places usually over run with photographers. But the Salton Sea is different in so much that I regard it as being over photographed. In fact if I see another image of that flaming decayed caravan I will pop a nut (just google the salton sea).. It doesn't help that 90 percent of images I see from the Salton are utter pants and made with no real thought process or good usage of light and composition.
It does not matter how good an image is, if someone else has done a crappy version of it your impact is ruined and that is the very reason why most of this body of work will not see the light of day. There was even a point a few years back when I was offered a book deal on my Salton series, but there where just too many images (including books) of the place everywhere, but lets not go there..

I tire of people constantly redoing images, it bores me to death..

THE MORE OPINIONS YOU HAVE THE LESS YOU SEE.
WIM WENDERS.

Nadav Kander

R.I.P. Dennis Stock

Jimi Smoking by Gered Mankowitz

The Little Black Gallery is proud to announce its first show of 2010 IN COLO UR which runs until 13 February. IN COLOUR is an exhibition of mixed colour photographs by Bob Carlos Clarke, Marcus Doyle, Douglas Kirkland, Iulia Filipovscaia, Chris Levine, Gered Mankowitz, Annabelle Nicoll, Paul Plews, Alistair Taylor-Young, and Vivian Van Blerk. The Little Black Gallery, 13A Park Walk, London SW10 0AJ Tel: 020-7349 9332 / 07778-788735. www.thelittleblackgallery.com Opening hours: Tuesday-Friday 11am-6pm, Saturday 11am-5pm.

Theres a great little video made by Alec Soth here. Might make something similar myself in a couple of years...

I MAY NOT BE THERE YET, BUT I'M CLOSER THAN I WAS YESTERDAY....
ANON

After a bit of a break from the business of blogging, I like many others I might add, have come to the realization that its not all its cracked up to be. The only real purpose it seems to have is;
To create an outlet to vent spleen, tell a story of how I managed to lock myself in somewhere, make me realise just how many numpties are on the planet, and may be fill in that half hour before dinner when there's nothing on the TV.
Someone told me I had terrible grammar the other day which is very true and not in the least insulting because like Jerry Maguire 'I'm not a writer' and tend to type what I am thinking which to me is what a Blog is (let us not confuse Blogging with writing). But one thing I do have is dedication. If I say I am going to write a Blog, I will write it (at least for a long enough time as to make it worthwhile). I will not just have a go. Its the same with photography, especially nowadays in the realm of Pixel and Plastic when everybody thinks they can be a photographer.
And so I have decided to tell the world through this mighty blog that I am sticking to my guns. I am going to continue to shoot film, produce archival C Type Prints and basically continue my art as I started it, as a purist looking for nice things to make photographs of so people can admire them and perhaps put them on there wall. If theres litter in the shot I will pick it up, if the lights not right I will wait, If someone else has shot it I will walk away.
If any of these stop, then so will I.........

Speleothingy..

Have a look at Kirill Kuletski's Speleotheraphy here and then read the statement. Its fascinating and you will never guess what the images are about, unless you know what Speleotheraphy is, which you wont..
His other work is worth a look too although it never gets going as there are only a few images in the sections (never a good thing ongoing or not).

Winter is nature's way of saying, "Up yours."
~Robert Byrne

Photojournalist: one of the worst jobs in 2009

(via 1884 blog)

The Wall Street Journal has published its list of the 200 best and worst jobs in 2009. At the top of the list is Actuary with a top-level salary of $161,000 and software engineers, who can hope to earn $129,000. Photojournalists, on the other hand, are way down in that list, coming in 189th position with a starting salary of $16,000 and a top-level salary of $60,000.

Only 11 other positions are considered worse than being a photojournalist. They are: Butcher, Mail Carrier, Meter Reader, Construction Worker, Taxi Driver, Garbage Collector, Welder, Dairy Farmer, Ironworker, Lumberjack and Roustabout...

Bloody knew it...

SLOWLY THE FLAKES BEGAN TO FALL.....

When I was a fluffy haired nipper at school I was given an GCSE examine in English Literature. It was an essay type think where you had to start with a given sentence and then write your own storey. It went something like this;

"SLOWLY THE FLAKES BEGAN TO FALL."

Of course everyone in the class wrote some snowy epic fairy tale, that is apart from me. I had been miniaturized by the Evil Doctor Peanut. and those flakes, well they where giant Corn Flakes (of course) as I negotiated my way through the bowl of full fat milk I had fallen into after escaping from a giant mouse.
I received a very low mark. In fact it could of been an F. So much for encouraging people to think for themselves and be creative...

If I was to be given the same brief now it would go something like this;

Slowly the flakes began to fall and I realised that no one would be at work so I had a day off making big snow balls and watching my dogs destroy them...

FAVOLOSO..

I have always wanted to photograph an abandoned institutionalised building like an asylum or a hospital of some sort. I am not quite sure why I have always had such a fascination with such places besides the obvious beauty-in-decay and sheer wonderment of discarded possessions.
I was chatting with Yvonne De Rosa this afternoon and talking a little about her work Crazy God which you can look at here (although the book has it in its entirety, so you may wish to purchase it..)
Simply put the work is fabulous. So much so I see no need for me to pursue such an endeavour myself.
Its nice to talk with other photographers and share insight with there work, a bit of show and tell if you like. What I found most interesting is that all of the Grazy God work was shot on 35mm which creates a sense of spontaneity I could not achieve on large format, refreshing to say the least. Its a haunting project and well worth a look.
Yvonne will be having a solo show at DiemarNoble on the 21st January.
Will remind you all nearer the time...

Anyone can be confident with a full head of hair. But a confident bald man - there's your diamond in the rough.

A DECADE OF DOYLE..

So the good news is that I have been asked if I would do a show in March (or there a bouts) the idea being to show a selection of work showing my immense scope and diversity within the landscape medium. But my friends this is no easy feat mainly due to the fact that I have accumulated a fair about of images over the years.
After some liaising on the subject it came to light that this would in fact be a ten year retrospect, a decades worth of work in fact. So to pick out ten or more images representing what I have done is no easy feat. Do you go with favourites, ones with stories behind them, ones for saleability, big ones, little ones, fat ones, thin ones, and the list goes on. This is where a gallery can really prove its worth being able to view the work without bias and with fresh eyes. After all (as published here not long ago) people don't necessarily see what I see when they look at one of my images.. its a bit like the olden days when I used to pick out models for test shoots just because I fancied them rather than for there ability to look good on film. The same goes for images where I just pick out the ones I like with a stuff you attitude. Self editing is rarely a good thing and the reason Editors where invented. Above is a good example of what I am talking about. Of the two images I would go for the top one. Why? Because it takes me back to The Salton Sea where I spent a lot of time. This image fills me with warmth and I just love the colours and the obscurity of a single lamppost in the middle of nowhere, I also like the fluke of that weird cloud for which I have no answer. The Wallpaper shot on the other hand (chosen by the gallery) just reminds me of some old living room from the 1950's and as much as I like it, it doesn't hold the creative juice I normally go for.. However, in sale terms and popularity the two images are pretty much equal. This is a good example of how you need to think if you are going to go the gallery route, its not so much about what you like, its what the public like...
Anyway looking forward to seeing what the gallery come up with although I am hoping for a little Doyley-do-as-you-do input as well (naturally).

You heard it hear first on the B that is Mode.

TWO THOUSAND AND TEN. WHAT THEN.....

Now that the longest two weeks of the year are over, you know the ones where people try to persuade you to eat and drink until you are sick and then spend the whole year telling you to cut back, and Granny still recovers from that Ginger Wine and Sherry Baby Sham cocktail, while people still argue what to call what is now TWENTY TEN whilst nursing their broken bones from drunken icy falls while trying to start a diet, give up smoking and try to be nice to people. I thought I would get back to the only place that makes sense. Here on B-Mode I continue to face lives challenge as a freelance Fine Arty-Pants photographer writing whatever I like. The Festive Spice candles are in the bin, the cards are in the recycling, and the presents, well I can't even remember that because like my uncle Les all I get these days is a Biro with my name on it or a voucher for WH Smiths... I have taken this last fortnight not as a Holiday, but as a time of reflection and preparation. The lenses have been cleaned, the camera serviced, the notebook filled, and the long Johns warmed on the radiator.
Don't wait up, I may be some time..