Don't you know who I am..

It seems to me in photography (and perhaps lots of other things too) there is a constant repetitiveness regarding photographers. Mention the 60's and its Bailey, Vietnam and its Don Mucullen for example. Then there's the pioneers, Ansel Adams, Edward Weston and perhaps Irving Penn. Names everyone knows, and of course today it is no different with the same names mentioned and shown in the same magazines and in the same galleries. Of course these chappies have there place, but what bothers me is how much work is on par with, and very often better than these repeaters but never gets as much, if any press at all. Take for instance Stephen Shore. I love his work and of course without him colour photography like mine may not exists. But he wasn't the only one doing colour in the 70's. Adam Bartos and John Humble are just two photographers with equal clout image wise, but sadly few people are as familiar with these names as with Shore the mighty pioneering, silver haired photographic genius that is.
I have always found it interesting how a photographer can climb the social ladder. Sometimes they are pioneers like Weston and Adams, sometimes they are simply the best at what they do, and sometimes there work is far from worthy but the right people have placed them there.

Its a weighty topic and too vast for me to blog here. Just thought I would throw it out there.

Andy Sewell.

Andy Sewell.

I never had much time for Andy Sewell's The Heath, although I did admire the tackling of what I considered to be a rather dull subject of a scruffy park I used to live next too. The work just didn't stimulate me visually, but that's not to say it is not good work. Sewell's Another Country, on the other hand, is just an orgy for the senses and I love it. Still ongoing, I look forward to seeing the finished project. It's really quite something and an excellent portrayal of a certain kind of Britishness. The work is consistent and fresh and on par with The Heath in that Sewell is not afraid to make images of the everyday mundane.

I used to carry a small camera everywhere, but regrettably that doesn't really happen much now. It is true that I slate cameras-on-phones often, but sometimes you just have to.. (see above).

'Why hasn't anyone made a camera with a phone attached?'

CAIRO DIVIDED.

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A MEGACITY TURNS
ITSELF INSIDE OUT

THE PUBLICATION

An unique text and photo essay explores Egypt's sprawling metropolis as it undergoes one of the most dramatic transformations in its history. Released as part of a new project bringing writers and photographers together on in-depth works, it is available for free in a one-off newspaper format - order details are below.

For fourteen centuries, Egypt’s capital has risen within a pair of stubbornly-persistent natural boundaries – the Moqattam clifftops to the west, and the Saharan desert to the east. Now for the first time Cairo is bursting its banks, sending boutique villas and water-hungry golf courses tumbling into the sand dunes, and reshaping the political and psychological contours of the largest megacity in Africa and the Middle East.

Amid an uncertain tide of political change, the controversial ‘satellite cities’ project is dramatically transforming peripheries into new urban centres and consigning old focal points to a life on the margins. Against the backdrop of national revolution, photographer Jason Larkin and writer Jack Shenker collaborated for two years to produce ‘Cairo Divided’, a free hard-copy publication exploring the capital’s rapidly-mutating urban landscape.

THE AUTHORS

Jason Larkin is a documentary photographer and part of the Panos photo agency in London. Previously based in Cairo, his career has seen him shooting for international periodicals across the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia. His work has been recognized with multiple awards, including the prestigious PDN Arnold Newman Portraiture prize. He is currently based between London and Johannesburg - http://www.jasonlarkin.co.uk.

Jack Shenker is a London-born writer who has reported from across the globe, with work spanning Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Gaza and the Mediterranean. Since 2008, he has been Egypt correspondent for the Guardian, and his coverage of the 2011 Egyptian revolution won the Amnesty International Gaby Rado award for excellence in human rights journalism. He is currently based in London and Cairo - http://www.jackshenker.net.

English-Arabic translation provided by http://www.industryarabic.com.

HOW TO ORDER

Hard copies of ‘Cairo Divided’ are available at no cost beyond postage and packaging fees. If you would like to order the publication in bulk for hand-out at your institution please contact Jason Larkin directly.

Go here for the original site.

Not a bad idea that.

A MATURE STUDENT AND THE KINDOM OF THE LEATHER SKULL

Since I decided to do my MA project based around childhood memories (not the soft focus fairy type images mind you) I have been busy searching the windmills of my mind for ideas and inspirational thoughts of my past. The train ride North, with a third off, was an excellent place to begin my simmered broth of memories.
As soon as I arrived at the old folks house I was up in the loft like a squirrel, sifting through the countless bags of tatt-slash-potential photo fodder. After a bit of rummaging and wiping away of cobwebs, I stumbled upon the above; My sisters first pair of shoes. Most will see a lovely soft leather shoe, but not I. All I seen was a little skull staring at me, ready to bite my toes or nibble my finger. For a long time my Mum told me; "Denee be daft.." But after showing her this image she finally changed her mind (only took thirty years).
Why my mother kept this kind of thing is a mystery to me, but I'm certainly glad she did..

‘We don't take pictures with our cameras. We take them with our hearts and we take them with our minds, and the camera is nothing more than a tool.’
Arnold Newman