Nice little 'Night Photography' workshop session last night.

When teaching I don't often have a camera with me, something I often regret and end up using my phone which is not the best example to set when you are trying to teach the ethics of long exposures..

 I have always enjoyed the transformation of places at night time and although it been a while since I pounded the dark pavements with the big camera (especially in the UK), its something I will always return to.

Plans to create the photographic equivalent of the Frieze contemporary art fair were announced on Thursday, with a new annual event hoping to tap into an explosion of interest.
Photo London will bring together 60 galleries for five days at London’s Somerset House with the aim of creating “the best photography fair in the world – bar none,” according to Michael Benson, one of the driving forces behind it.
As well as commercial galleries there will be a programme of public events, talks and installations including a display of hidden treasures from the V&A’s vast photographic archives.
The aim will be to create a “campus-like” atmosphere for those already interested, but also, said Benson, “to utterly transform the photography audience here in London, to bring in audiences who would usually run screaming from a gallery and are even more likely to run screaming from an art fair.”
London has established itself as a world centre for photography. The Photographers’ Gallery, for example, moved to a bigger purpose-built space in 2012 and is thriving. Galleries such as the Barbican and Tate Modern hold many more major photographic shows than they used to.
Benson said a fair with this ambition and on this scale could not have happened ten years ago as there was less appetite. “In the UK we ignored photography for quite a long time,” he said. “When Paris was having its photography moment we were having our Britart moment – I seriously think we kind of just ignored it. And then all of a sudden, and I don’t know who the genius behind it was, but someone said we’ve neglected photography for too long.
“Various appointments were made, museums started taking it seriously and prizes started being located here.”
Benson’s company Candlestar is also behind the annual Prix Pictet prize which rewards photography which explores issues of sustainability. “We had the final at the V&A in May and had 1,400 people turn up to the opening. There is a huge audience for photography.”
On top of that, he said, there is a growing number of art collectors who are now looking to buy photographs.
A committee of curators is due to meet in the next few weeks to choose the 60 galleries which will be invited to set up stall at Photo London.
It will be a photographic equivalent of London’s Frieze art fair, but it will not feel as “overwhelming” as Frieze does, Benson said, and it will not be a grid of competing stalls.
The aim is to become the best in the world although organisers know they have some way to go in becoming the biggest, with Paris Photo opening next week – now in its 18th year with 143 galleries. “Paris Photo is the king,” said Benson.
The public programme of events in London – including tours, talks, music, screenings and symposia – will be funded by the LUMA Foundation, a Zurich-based non-profit organisation. Across the river at Tate Modern, a parallel photography book fair is also due to be held.
• Photo London will open to the public 21-24 May

From the Guardian.

There was a time when Paris Photo, LA Photo, and San Francisco Photo were my main staple in regards to selling my own work. Sadly those days are no longer for me and again sadly London Photo will be a fruitless event for the likes of I.
What I do hope though is that it will bring something which is much needed here in London; A fine array of photography from around the world.
This one looks to be a fine event, I just hope the turnout is a good one..

The Syngenta Photography Award announce its forthcoming exhibition at Somerset House, London. It will run from March 11 to April 10, 2015.  Centered on the theme of 'Scarcity-Waste', the subject of this year's competition, the exhibition presents around 90 works by 42 photographers from 21 countries.

Among them will be photographs submitted by the six shortlisted finalists: Mustafah Abdulaziz, USA; Richard Allenby-Pratt, UK; Rasel Chowdhury, Bangladesh (Professional Commission); Stefano De Luigi, Italy; Camille Michel, France; Benedikt Partenheimer, Germany (Open Competition).

 

Now in its second edition, the Syngenta Photography Award is an international competition which aims to stimulate dialogue and raise awareness about significant global challenges through photography.

 

This exhibition will highlight some of the most thought-provoking and powerful responses to the 'Scarcity-Waste' theme - one of humankind's greatest challenges. Ensuring enough land, food and water for future generations has become a fundamental social, political and environmental issue of our time. The photographers not only illustrate the 'Scarcity-Waste' theme, in striking and ambitious ways, but have also taken on the role of courageous advocates, showing deep concern for our environment.

 

Curated by Candlestar, the exhibition is divided into themed rooms. The first two rooms illustrate the pressures on the world today due to factors such as population growth and the increased demand on resources. Latvian photographer Alnis Stakle's Shangri-La is of a dimly lit building site for a skyscraper in Shanghai, representative of the growth of China's population. In another room addressing issues such as poverty and mass consumption, Garbage City: Cairo, Egypt by Italian photographer Francesca Remorini, captures a group of children belonging to the 'Garbage people' community in an overcrowded slum settlement on the outskirts of the Moqattam Hills. The slum's inhabitants recycle a staggering 80 percent of the garbage collected from Cairo's residents - an activity that is central to the local's economy.
 

Exhibiting photographers: Mustafah Abdulaziz; Sutanta Aditya; Richard Allenby-Pratt; Miguel Angel Garcia; Pedro Armestre; Lasse Bak Mejlvang; Mandy Barker; Shavkat Boltaev; Tomas Chadim; Louis Cyprien-Rials; David Brunetti; Carlos Cazalis; Philippe Chancel; Rasel Chowdhury; Sudipto Das; Souvid Datta; Frank Day; Stefano De Luigi; Bénédicte Desrus; Marcus Doyle; Liz Eve; Hossein Fatemi; Marco Garro; Michael Hall; Weicheng Hua; Riadul Islam; Christopher Klettermayer; Kai Löffelbein; Camille Michel; Pierpaolo Mittica; Wilton Miwa; Benedikt Partenheimer; Susana Raab; Claudio Rasano; Francesca Remorini; Suthas Rungsirisilp; Gregg Segal; Dean Sewell; Toby Smith; Paul Smith; Alnis Stakle; Jan Staller; Jamey Stillings; Pétur Thomsen; Olaf Unverzart

 

The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony at Somerset House, London, on March 10, 2015, attended by the shortlisted photographers and leading figures from the world of photography, arts and culture.

The exhibition will also be accompanied by an online gallery to coincide with the winner announcement on March 10.

 

www3.syngenta.com/global/photo2014/en/home/Pages/home.aspx

Shore The Revamp Tramp..

The images in Winslow Arizona, which Stephen Shore shot in a day while revisiting Winslow, Arizona, where he made his seminal work American Surfaces, are presented unedited, in the order that he shot them, making it an improvisational work. 

 Two things went through my mind when I spotted this book ealier today. The first was, oh goody a new stephen Shore Book. The second was; its never a good idea to revisit a place where you made your best work and try and do it again.. In a day...

I came across Shores this book today and starting from the back (as I always do with books) read Shores afterword.  I was intrigued that Shore swaped his 10/8 Deardoff for a Nikon DX3 (lets be precise here) to do this particular work but claims the thought process and technique, ie, one shot editing as you go, was the same. Something I do not believe for one jiffy.
The images are dull, tiresome, and basically look like the work of an aspiring student trying to emulate him.  I for one don't buy it, and wouldn't by it.

 You can wrap it up and package it how you like but that won't make it any better..

I was always told that if you had a great holiday somewhere you should never go back thinking it will be as good..

Hard copy..

Super Car Wash. Palm Springs, CA 2014

Having some images from the Virtual Water Project printed up today courtesy of Metro Imaging and the Royal Photographic Society/ Photographic Angle. 

Its been a while since I sat in a photographic lab and watched someone tweak my images, an almost magical experience to someone who only uses a photoshop healing-tool now and again to remove bits of dust..

Will be great to see the final images printed up rather than on screen.