Drinking my Raspberry, white chocolate and cat sick frappe with the sun gently warming my smooth white dome, you may be fooled into thinking I have taken too many Lemsip tablets. But the truth be told, I am indeed Stateside in the land of my contemporaries. It is always an inspiration coming here and I am often reminded of my big four favourites; Meyerowitz, Shore, Misrach, and Joel Sternfeld.
I still stand by my statement made long ago that these guys couldn't shoot for toffee in places other than the USA. But the work they did shoot here is by far my most inspiring. Often made without restraint, big budgets, or a particular strict brief.
But let's put inspirational photographers aside for a moment and talk about the changing landscape (no pun intended) of photography, in particular that thing they call Instagram. This is something no one saw coming. These images, mostly shot on phones are made in the thousands every day. A lot of the time it's just ordinary folk documenting their lives. At first I hated the idea, but this my friends is photography whether I or anyone else likes it or not. People are taking interest in their surroundings and shooting anything that interests them, and, just like my Fab Four, they do it free from restraint with their own unique view of the world.
Here's something to think about for the new year; I bring a big fat camera to America, my wife brings an iPhone. She uses Instagram, I use film. Guess who gets the most satisfying set of images?
Of course it's me. But I bet I fooled you....
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A photographic journey of images, inspiration and a little dedication..
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