TODAY I AM POPULAR AND POTLESS..

Look what I found..

I came across an ad for a photographic lab the other day, as you do, and noticed an image by Steve Harries, as you do. Then I found some of his work online, as you do, and have to say its rather nice.
The only other comment I would make is that (regarding the landscape work) it bears a fair bit of resemblance to quite a few other photographers in particular the work of Dan Holdsworth. Night photography, in this case, is always a tricky one because everything is lit the same as other night shots that use whats available (ie. street lamps) so a lot of the time the work has a similar feel to other photographers working in the same medium.

Personally I am forever being compared to other photographers who also creep around at night damp from the moist night air...

May I direct your attention to The Manchester Photographer Blog here regarding the Expiration Notice project (dated 12th Jan) which is a brilliant idea and open to all those photographers over 35. It would seem that there has been little response this end (UK) which is a shame because organizing these things takes a lot of time. I bet you all entered the crappy AOP open though...

PENCIL ME IN..

I am hoping you all got a new diary for Christmas so you can mark the date of my up coming London exhibition North Shores. The show is set for the 18th March at the Getty Gallery and I will of course post more details nearer the time.
To quote some famous art critique;

"Doyle is a truly wonderful person and his handsomeness is almost as great as his work. I always wondered where he went off to at night with that big camera and now I know.."
S. Doyle (mother)

Above is an image I made for the North Shores project off the baron coast of The Isle Of Jura where I was marooned for four days due to bad weather. It never made the exhibition edit because every time I look at it I feel sick.

Return to The Salton Sea..

It would seem that my last trip was one of great nostalgia as I frequented quite a few places I had been before. Among these was The Salton Sea, a place I spent every Thursday for six months while living in California. As with the Bonville Salt Flats of Utah, mentioned in my last post, the Salton Sea is one of those places photographers flock to and there where few times I was there when I never seen some impostor with a camera.
It had been some three years since last visited this stinking hole, but what kept pulling me back where the few moments of magical light which transformed the 'stinking hole' into a photographers paradise. The Salton is one of those places (like so many others) that cannot be summed up in a few hours in the middle of the day. Anyways I had a wonderful time wondering around the old haunts and although I took a couple of shots It was more about the memories and feelings I had for the place having spent so much time there. I have no idea if other photographers do these kind of things, if they do not, maybe they should.....

SALTY AND FLAT..

Rather than whaffle on about my short time in Utah recently I thought I would copy and paste the below section from Andrew McAllister's blog before I make my point..



Images from my trip out there earlier this week. Part of my photo education was looking at the work of Richard Misrach at the Akron Art Museum and in books. Through his work I was introduced to another very beautiful and at times disturbing side of the west. A side not seen in the work of Ansel Adams and his followers or the colorful commercial photos shot almost exclusively in dramatic light or the golden hour that we see on posters and post cards. Photographing around the salt flats was like a pilgrimage of sorts. A beautiful place for sure. With so many images and commercials taken there what can I possibly expect to take away from it that is original? Wile I love photographing in the west that is a constant question.

While I agree with Mr McAllister in part, I think his statement of not being able to take away anything 'original' (regarding himself) from a place like the Bonville Salt flats (or any other place in the USA for that matter) is a bit of a thin statement.
I do get tired of people, in particular photographers, making assumptions like these as they only strengthen such a false statement. Personally I have never been put off by taking a camera somewhere that has become a mecca for photographers (such as the Salt Flats of Utah). In fact it makes me all the more determined. This is not to say that I will copy what has gone before, thats just pointless, but I will look for my own take on a place and therefore will produce an 'original' image. Richard Misrach was not the first photographer to photograph the Salt Flats, but he has certainly produced some of the finest images of the place. I am sure he wasn't put off by his predecessors who had also captured the flats in depth.

Anyway, I made some images of this salty wonderland myself and I rather like them, so watch these spaces... Also check out The Worlds Fastest Indian with Anthony Hopkins if you have not already done so, brilliant..

The Cold And The Bold...

Back from my ventures abroad I had about an hour of great enthusiasm (as you do when you get back off holiday). Now thats gone I thought it time to write and 'Get It On' as they say Stateside.

All I have heard since my return to the land of the grey sky is how cold its been, and how cold it is. Well my friends of the painted light this is nothing...
I happened to be in Montana (USA) over the festive period and decided one evening to venture out into the great open wearing only a few thin T Shirts and a rain proof jacket. People called me crazy but as a Northerner who would wear a muscle vest in December while going for a night on the town (what a pratt) I thought nothing of it. And so armed with my camera I stepped into the icy landscape like a new born Polar Bear. Now as you may know I have traveled a little and been to some cold places, but nothing had prepared me for the cold I was about to endure. First off was the lack of sensation in my feet, then it was my legs, then my torso, then the tears in my eyes which froze like little diamonds. My right hand stuck to the leg of my Gitzo tripod but as I couldn't feel it it wasn't so bad when the skin came off. Finally the shutter on my lens froze, although I should point out that I was still able to use the camera by way of placing the lens cap on the lens and counting out loud (one frozen arse, two frozen arse etc..). I wont mention the chill banes which followed but I will say I lasted for about an hour by jumping up and down and doing push ups in the snow. Call it commitment, call me crazy. Its that thing a photographer has when nothing can stop them, and if you are wondering just how cold it was -40 degrees C.
And yes I am crazy.....

More snow and adventures to follow when the jet lag and hunger subside.