Quite Photography and Donuts.

'Donut' Mojave.

The Mojave Desert is a wonderful place, full of mystery and abandonment. I can get there in less than an hour (depending on the traffic and my mood) and it is a place I have frequented often in the search for a little bit of quite photography. I often find that places that may first appear to have very little photographic content often end up having the most as you have to look a little harder..

Although not the most striking of images I made this just before standing on a nail, an abandoned nail attached to a scrap of wood, so I thought I should post it. Having said all that, this image is a good example of the many man-made scars that litter the American landscape. The desert road, the dirty great pylons, and of course the Donut (Doughnut in English), a term, if you are not familiar, where some divvy pulls the handbrake in their car and skids around like a twit to form a 'donut' shape.
I guess the dramatic sky also adds a little something extra which makes me wonder that this may actually be quite a fine image..


"Not just of something, but about something.."
John Darwell.

Toilets of America

What shall we talk about...

When I first started talking about my work I read a lot of interviews with other photographers. I have always been interested in a photographers approach to their subject and enjoy hearing what makes them passionate about what they do and all that jazz... The best thing I ever heard was that, most photography students, and people starting out, get an idea and think they have invented the wheel or something.. That quote tickled me, and still does, every time someone tells me they have a great idea for a photography project (holds breath)...

I am pretty sure that when people photgraph their food and post it on social media they don't realize it was something Stephen Shore was doing 40 years ago except his social media was a museum. And as for selfies, folk were doing them when the camera was first invented.

On a recent Visit to the Getty Museum I seen the beautiful work of Richard Learoyd, made with a modern day camera obscura. The large scale colour prints have a fine quality to them, but its no more that a re-harsh of something done over a hundred years ago.

My point here is that nothing is new these days, just a re-run of what gone before. I don't have a problem with it, just don't tell me it's original..