Joshua Dudley Greer.

Joshua Dudley Greer's American History series is quite fascinating, simple and informative, with some beautiful imagery. The project really works well, although as you will see, a fair amount of informative text is necessary to make the project what it is.
Its always interesting to look at images like Greer's without the text as the images simply don't work as well, but that's my point here. With work like this the text is So important I wonder what category I would put them in and although it could be said that 'every picture tells a story', I have to wonder what stories these images would tell without words, but I guess the same could be said for any image ever made without a title. I have always liked the idea of an image just being created to please the eye (fine art photography I guess) without need for a caption or title leaving the viewer to interpret the image in anyway they choose, but people will always want to know something about the image so its far from an ideal, personally speaking.
The series reminds me of Joel Sternfeld's 'On This Site' which are represented in a similar fashion as is the work of Taryn Simon and her Hidden and Unfamiliar series. These are two bodies of work I really like, just like this one.

Photofusion receives continued support from Arts Council England

Photofusion is delighted to announce its inclusion in the ACE National Portfolio with secured funding until March 2015. As image-making and lens-based technology continues to rapidly evolve, presenting almost limitless opportunities for photographers, the ACE investment is a valuable contribution towards enabling Photofusion to provide innovative, high-quality facilities that continually address and support the creative, technical and critical development of a photographer?s practice. Alongside maintaining a gallery, picture library, professional studio, digital suite and analogue darkrooms, Photofusion?s focus over the next three years will involve progressing the artistic excellence of early career photographers, expanding our exhibition production services and developing our portfolio of engagement programmes in the local community. ACE funding of £150,893 per year (an estimated 25% of our annual income) will provide a secure basis to maintain our facilities, invest in partnership-building and a platform to generate further income so Photofusion can continue its commitment to support photography in the UK. I was rather delighted to hear this news regarding Photofusion , even though I did say the place had the smell of fish from the adjacent market. On a selfish note it means that at least I can still continue printing C Types from film based media in this digital revolution era. It is sad that so many Art based budgets and grants have been slashed considerably. But that's what you get when government's don't give a hoot, not just about Art, but about peoples jobs and livelihood. As for the Art's council, well they wont give me nothing, probably because when they ask on the grant application, 'Who you intended audience is?' I always put; "Friends, family and may be a neighbour.." But at least I am honest.

Taco. 2010

Now for something completely different.

Now the editing process is complete on the By Coastal project (yes I know I didn't bother coming up with a new title, but I did try, but may I say how pleased I am with the way it looks). It's time for the really boring bit of scanning, colour balance, lay out, etc, blah, blah, blah. The 'What Next' question has arisen a few times and I have a fair few ideas, some of which I have mentioned here on mine and yours favourite blog. I have been feeling the itch to go out and try something completely different giving myself a bit of a break from the old landscape. But this can sometimes strike disaster as I have seen in the past.
I once knew a fella who made magnificent Black and White landscapes photographs on enormous hand built cameras, we are talking so big you would need a truck to move them, or in his case a big fat jeep with the vechical itself acting as a camera support. One day the photographer in question somehow got access to a State Prison in the USA. It was the kind of place the worst criminals in America spent the rest of their lives (Albert Watson done a similar project in San Quinton with Death Row inmates). The images were shot on a 10/8 camera using colour film and lit using flash. Although the pictures where good. There were so far removed from what he was known for that no one could get their head round why he had taken them, or indeed that he had taken them at all. I have to admit to being a bit miffed myself, and there my friends is the problem. Its a bit like an actor changing to a music career, but why shouldn't they, they are after all entertainers and probably trained to sing at drama school.. Photographers are the same, most are more than capable of shooting something completely different than what they are known for, but the minute they do, people get a bit upset. Its just one of those stupid things we humans tend to do. We don't like change, especially when it comes from someone else..
May be I will go off and shoot a series of nudes in black and white... How could you I hear you cry, well actually that's what I used to do...

Caiston on sea 2011.

I am pretty much done with bland Iceland landscapes as much as I am done with Smoggy pics of China. Having said that, I like Stephen Vaughan's work and it is probably the best I have seen in the lets go to Iceland category. I stood and stared at the big lump of ice picture for a long time when I seen it in the Photographers Gallery print room (won't be doing that any more).

This is in no way a criticism of the work because its excellent. There's just an awful lot of whimsy dull cheap versions of this place called Iceland.

Heres hoping the fishy smell from Brixton market will only add to the atmosphere on the opening night.

NEXT EXHIBITION
STEPHEN VAUGHAN ULTIMA THULE
Private View: Thursday 7 April, 18:30 - 21:00 Exhibition Dates: 1 April - 27 May
The exhibition takes its title from Ultima Thule, a term used in ancient history to describe the mysterious northern frontier, representing a distant unknown region at the extreme limit of exploration and discovery.
Following in the footsteps of the Greek explorer Pytheas, who travelled to Iceland and the Arctic Circle 2,300 years ago, Vaughan revisited this landscape with his large format camera, making richly detailed, monumental studies of this otherworldly region. His images of volcanic fissures, shifting tectonic plates, vast glaciers and steaming, sulphurous pools, also connect Pytheas' ancient voyage of discovery to the present day and the persistent human urge to explore unknown territory. More info...
Ultima Thule is an Impressions Gallery touring exhibition.
Gallery Event
Date: TBC Entry: £5.00 / £3.50 Photofusion members More information regarding this event will be circulated nearer the time.

Retiring an old friend...

There's something quite sad about retiring a camera. Once that box is in the loft, it might as well be in the ground.. Today I lay to rest the mighty 10/8, lovingly wrapped in bubble wrap along with a knackered Pentax 6/7 I was meaning to get fixed, but never did. Up there amongst the cobwebs and insulation I found a space next to the Pelicase of Hassleblads and a box containing a Contax G1 a T2 (good cameras, not robots) and a vast selection of lens caps. In this day and age I see no point in trying to sell something that was bought for hard earned cash for a few pounds and perhaps a bag of sweeties, neither will I pretend to one day resurrect these wonderful tools like someone who thinks they could run just as fast as they could when they were eighteen. Besides 10/8 film costs more than a car and I haven't used the beast in two years..

I am pretty sure that we have all heard a tale of someone finding a suitcase full of cameras in someone's loft. But I do wonder if finding a Digital Canon 5D Mark II will be the same as a box of Hassleblads, a suitcase of Leicas, or a mighty Toyo 10/8.

Green Tricycle. MD

George Tice

News & Press

BP Carson Refinery, California 2007, American Power, 2007

Mitch Epstein named winner of Prix Pictet Growth

The winner of the third cycle of the Prix Pictet was announced by Kofi Annan, Honorary President of the Prix Pictet, at the Passage de Retz, Paris. American photographer, Mitch Epstein, was awarded the prize on 17 March 2011 for his series entitled American Power.

The annual Prix Pictet Commission was awarded to American photographer Chris Jordan. This cycle of Growth will be working with Tusk Trust in Africa which will focus on supporting the Nakyprat Conservancy, a new community-led initiative in Kenya.

Well deserved and nicely done.

WORKING TITLES...

I have always struggled with titles for regarding my work, in fact its something I would rather not have to contend with. I have been asked why I am not more creative in my titles, but for me, calling a landscape 'Celestial Morning Glory' or 'Forgotten In Time My Misty Fair Eyed Maiden', is something best left for the local camera club. My Titles tend to be what you see; 'Red Chair', 'Yellow Chicken', 'Pink Pushchair', you get the idea. But this isn't just me being lazy as titles like these makes work easy to remember, to archive, and to dig out when a request is made, book titles however are quite different, like an exhibition title they have to generate intrigue, stay with the viewer, and above all sum up the work on display. Unlike an exhibition, a book will be around for a long time so it has to be right.
My first book Night Vision is not the most original of titles, and in fact only around 60 percent of the book is in fact shot at night, (the book was edited and given a title (not by me) then the writer loved several images so much that we put those in even though they were taken in the day time..). But the title has stuck and I still exhibit and present work from the Night Vision series.
So the time has come to title this latest body of work. I started calling the project 'By Coastal' some time ago as it was by the coast and a play on words which most people seen as having some sexual connotation even though it referred to the Bi- Coastal living in LA and New York with the spelling 'By' and not 'Bi'. I may just stick with this title as it does after all summarise the work rather nicely. 'The Coastal Project' is another title I could go with although I am reluctant to use 'The' in a title and 'Project' for that matter. You see its not that easy...
Anyhow, whatever its called, the only person its going to bother is me.

Several dozen or so Fish Suppers, vast amounts of strong tea, sand in my sandwiches, and enough wind in my face to produce power for a small city, it's now time to make sense of all those images.

“I am playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order.”

Eric Morecambe

Approaching Storm. Coachella Valley USA.

Corrinne Vionnet

A delicious ongoing series called 'from Rhone Glacier to Lake Geneva' made by Corrinne Vionnet can be seen here.

It's a long road
When you're on your own
And it hurts when
They tear your dreams apart
And every new town
Just seems to bring you down
Trying to find peace of mind
Can break your heart
It's a real war
Right outside your front door I tell ya
Out where they'll kill ya
You could use a friend
Where the road is
That's the place for me
Where I'm me in my own space
Where I'm free that's the place
I wanna be
'Cause the road is long yeah
Each step is only the beginning
No breaks just heartaches
Oh man is anybody winning
It's a long road
And it's hard as hell
Tell me what do you do
To survive
When they draw first blood
That's just the start of it
Day and night you gotta fight
To keep alive
It's a long road ...

THE END.

I had always intended Lands End to be my last destination for the Coastal project and on Thursday morning I finally made it there. In my mind there seemed to be something oh so very final about such a place just from the name alone and having arrived there I felt like I was on the edge of some kind of abyss.
Looking out to see with the wind in my whiskers all I could think of was getting a shot before the sun broke through the cloud and ruined my day (I never shoot in bright sunny weather). The wind was particularly strong and the usual fighting with the Darkcloth as it flaps in my face and tries to blind me continued throughout my manic ten minutes while trying to produce something worthy of the Doyle label (image above not mine by the way). I did feel a slight relief, and a certain finality, in what is to be my last outing with regards to the Coastal Project, but I think it had to do more with not getting sand and salt water in my eyes and having to drive hundreds of miles on Britain's daft roads any more. Having said that, it was a good way to call it a day..

Like any natural wonder in the UK that has stood for thousands of years Lands End has been commercialised to the full with its overpriced car park, entry fees, tacky shops and as always a children's playground. I am always baffled, and admittedly a little fascinated, by the ruin that man brings upon the natural Earth stripping it bare of natural resources only to re-apply them in the form of a tourist attraction for something which was already there.. And there lies the idea for my next project...Stay tuned.

joel-meyerowitz "The photographer was a guy named Robert Frank"

"The photographer was a guy named Robert Frank..." from Olivier Laurent on Vimeo.

~ If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story. ~

Orson Welles.

THE END IS NIGH...

I plan to set out tomorrow with what I hope will be the final leg of my Coastal Project, or whatever I end up calling it. I have spent almost four years on this baby and its time to pull out all the stops and nail this little bugger. There will be no celebration, fireworks, or champagne, just a sigh of relief and perhaps a sticky bun and a cup of tea.
On my last outing to the Salton Sea, which was my most epic project up until now, I stood on the shore waiting for the sun to set, released the shutter (see left) and knew my work was done. It was quite an emotional experience and like a reading book, I really didn't want to finish it. The Coastal Project however has been quite different and far more difficult to produce work both appealing and interesting while fulfilling my own wayward brief. I really don't think that I will have the sense of emotion and completion I had when finishing the Salton series, but I suppose that's one of the joys of photography in that each day/ project has a different ending.
Of course the work will not end there as the mammoth task of editing, scanning, colour balance, proofing, titles, dating, written word, dummies and all the rest will take a good few months. Only then will I know if it is truly finished.

MORE FROM THE SHORE..

Water Tower. Caiston On Sea. 2011

Pub. Caiston On Sea. 2011

"This country is so difficult. I've been a photographer for 40 years, it's so painful. It's painful place to be a photographer."
Brian Griffin.
More here.

David Leventi.

All images David Leventi.

Beautiful, and precise. David Leventi's Opera work is quite something. But dont stop there, his New York work is also cracking.

Nadav Kander interview.

Nadav Kander Image.

There's a very interesting interview with Nadav Kander over on the Conciousness blog. Upon reading the piece I was struck by how difficult the project was in terms of access and making the images, something you are simply not aware from looking at the work.

BEST CHIPPY IN CALIFORNIA..

Green Frog. California. UK 2011
Blue Door. California UK. 2011

Holiday Park. California UK. 2011
Chippy. California UK 2011

Door to door it usually takes around twenty hours to get to California. Last week it took me about two and a half. I did not have access to some kind of rocket ship, neither did I travel through time. I was in fact working on my coastal project here in the UK. I have to be honest I would never of thought of going there had it not been for the name of the place (a bit like going to Twatt in Scotland), and as quirky and wonderful as I found it to be I am not sure if this is because it actually was, or because I just thought it was all because this tiny area of Britain was called California.
Looking back on the images its plain to see the place is 'off the radar' and a real jem for the likes of I. Stupidly I never made any images looking out to see because I really could of been in sunny California USA and it would of been a good mind bender, but a chippy in California is a good enough play along for me...