Winter is nature's way of saying, "Up yours."
~Robert Byrne

Photojournalist: one of the worst jobs in 2009

(via 1884 blog)

The Wall Street Journal has published its list of the 200 best and worst jobs in 2009. At the top of the list is Actuary with a top-level salary of $161,000 and software engineers, who can hope to earn $129,000. Photojournalists, on the other hand, are way down in that list, coming in 189th position with a starting salary of $16,000 and a top-level salary of $60,000.

Only 11 other positions are considered worse than being a photojournalist. They are: Butcher, Mail Carrier, Meter Reader, Construction Worker, Taxi Driver, Garbage Collector, Welder, Dairy Farmer, Ironworker, Lumberjack and Roustabout...

Bloody knew it...

SLOWLY THE FLAKES BEGAN TO FALL.....

When I was a fluffy haired nipper at school I was given an GCSE examine in English Literature. It was an essay type think where you had to start with a given sentence and then write your own storey. It went something like this;

"SLOWLY THE FLAKES BEGAN TO FALL."

Of course everyone in the class wrote some snowy epic fairy tale, that is apart from me. I had been miniaturized by the Evil Doctor Peanut. and those flakes, well they where giant Corn Flakes (of course) as I negotiated my way through the bowl of full fat milk I had fallen into after escaping from a giant mouse.
I received a very low mark. In fact it could of been an F. So much for encouraging people to think for themselves and be creative...

If I was to be given the same brief now it would go something like this;

Slowly the flakes began to fall and I realised that no one would be at work so I had a day off making big snow balls and watching my dogs destroy them...

FAVOLOSO..

I have always wanted to photograph an abandoned institutionalised building like an asylum or a hospital of some sort. I am not quite sure why I have always had such a fascination with such places besides the obvious beauty-in-decay and sheer wonderment of discarded possessions.
I was chatting with Yvonne De Rosa this afternoon and talking a little about her work Crazy God which you can look at here (although the book has it in its entirety, so you may wish to purchase it..)
Simply put the work is fabulous. So much so I see no need for me to pursue such an endeavour myself.
Its nice to talk with other photographers and share insight with there work, a bit of show and tell if you like. What I found most interesting is that all of the Grazy God work was shot on 35mm which creates a sense of spontaneity I could not achieve on large format, refreshing to say the least. Its a haunting project and well worth a look.
Yvonne will be having a solo show at DiemarNoble on the 21st January.
Will remind you all nearer the time...

Anyone can be confident with a full head of hair. But a confident bald man - there's your diamond in the rough.

A DECADE OF DOYLE..

So the good news is that I have been asked if I would do a show in March (or there a bouts) the idea being to show a selection of work showing my immense scope and diversity within the landscape medium. But my friends this is no easy feat mainly due to the fact that I have accumulated a fair about of images over the years.
After some liaising on the subject it came to light that this would in fact be a ten year retrospect, a decades worth of work in fact. So to pick out ten or more images representing what I have done is no easy feat. Do you go with favourites, ones with stories behind them, ones for saleability, big ones, little ones, fat ones, thin ones, and the list goes on. This is where a gallery can really prove its worth being able to view the work without bias and with fresh eyes. After all (as published here not long ago) people don't necessarily see what I see when they look at one of my images.. its a bit like the olden days when I used to pick out models for test shoots just because I fancied them rather than for there ability to look good on film. The same goes for images where I just pick out the ones I like with a stuff you attitude. Self editing is rarely a good thing and the reason Editors where invented. Above is a good example of what I am talking about. Of the two images I would go for the top one. Why? Because it takes me back to The Salton Sea where I spent a lot of time. This image fills me with warmth and I just love the colours and the obscurity of a single lamppost in the middle of nowhere, I also like the fluke of that weird cloud for which I have no answer. The Wallpaper shot on the other hand (chosen by the gallery) just reminds me of some old living room from the 1950's and as much as I like it, it doesn't hold the creative juice I normally go for.. However, in sale terms and popularity the two images are pretty much equal. This is a good example of how you need to think if you are going to go the gallery route, its not so much about what you like, its what the public like...
Anyway looking forward to seeing what the gallery come up with although I am hoping for a little Doyley-do-as-you-do input as well (naturally).

You heard it hear first on the B that is Mode.

TWO THOUSAND AND TEN. WHAT THEN.....

Now that the longest two weeks of the year are over, you know the ones where people try to persuade you to eat and drink until you are sick and then spend the whole year telling you to cut back, and Granny still recovers from that Ginger Wine and Sherry Baby Sham cocktail, while people still argue what to call what is now TWENTY TEN whilst nursing their broken bones from drunken icy falls while trying to start a diet, give up smoking and try to be nice to people. I thought I would get back to the only place that makes sense. Here on B-Mode I continue to face lives challenge as a freelance Fine Arty-Pants photographer writing whatever I like. The Festive Spice candles are in the bin, the cards are in the recycling, and the presents, well I can't even remember that because like my uncle Les all I get these days is a Biro with my name on it or a voucher for WH Smiths... I have taken this last fortnight not as a Holiday, but as a time of reflection and preparation. The lenses have been cleaned, the camera serviced, the notebook filled, and the long Johns warmed on the radiator.
Don't wait up, I may be some time..