Scott Conarroe

I was intrigued by the work of Scott Conarroe, in particular his By Rail series which is quite beautiful. What intrigued me more however was the explanation of his technique and his thoughts on the process;

I use long exposures for a number of reasons. The pragmatic explanation is that they are necessary in the subdued light and deep depth of field I like to work with. Conceptually, I like that scenes change continuously while I photograph them, that they look different at the beginning of an exposure than at the end. Long exposures increase a photograph’s autonomy because the truthfulness of its negative doesn’t portray a specific instant that appeared a certain way, it portrays a compilation of moments blended together; they underscore the camera’s roles of abstractor and editor as well as recorder. And long exposures introduce an element of chance into the precision that view cameras are capable of.

I try to complement twilight with streetlamps and other electric highlights when I’m able; I like projecting tension between the vast shifting romance of a sunset and the arbitrary on/off nature of light bulbs. And, yes, I’ve probably invested in these rhetorical positions because I like how dawn and dusk look in photographs. The painterly effect you describe has to do with latitudes of light. I generally work with sky that’s about as close to dark as it is to bright; when the tonal transition from sky to landscape is less abrupt than we are accustomed to seeing in photos the sense of visual unity is greater. I suppose it is slowness and deliberateness in the process that comes across as painterly.

The shortest exposures in By Rail are Streetcar Stop, New Orleans LA (It was maybe 15 seconds, the length of time the streetcar stops when only a person or two get on early in the morning) and Boaters, Kalamalka Lake BC (probably a second or two). The longest exposures are fifteen or twenty minutes: Canal, Cleveland OH and Cul De Sac, Hawthorne CA are among them.

THE LIZARD WITH THE HUMAN HANDS..

The fact that there is no 'C Type' colour printing paper to be had in the whole of London, and traditional labs and hire darkrooms are threatening closure through lack of business, and the rising cost of film (when you can get it) keeps going up, and the rising price of petrol means your better off walking to Scotland, and the London Gallery scene is pants, and I am a miserable bald git. I managed to get several days of printing leisure to catch up on my back log of By Coastal images. I had a sudden urge to get things going after a few whiffs of similar style project rumours and in the words of Indiana Jones just before he picks up that little fat gold fella in the cave; 'Thats what scares me!" But that's always the case in these circumstances and as I have said before;

SOMEONE'S EITHER DOING IT, HAS DONE IT, OR IS THINKING ABOUT DOING IT!

But I am fairly confident about this one and the project is well under way now. One of the reasons I started the now famous B Mode was for reasons like this and the fact that I can not only keep a record of what I am doing, but I can also out anyone who tries to pretend they just happened to think of going to that certain place and 'ripping one off...'

The worse case of, shall we call it, 'project clash, oh balls' was an old college friend of mine who took to photographing those yellow signs they put up in London when there's been an accident, or someone gets stabbed, or worse, I'm sure you know the ones. This friend of mine took to the streets at night armed with an RB67 looking for the hints of yellow under cover of darkness. As the project took hold my friend became obsessed with these signs and produced some cracking night shots with the tell tale sign somewhere in the frame. On more than one occasion he had ventured into the shadiest parts of London fighting off thugs and dodging dirty needles and the occasional pellet gun. He was halfway through the project and really excited about what might become of the finished product when the worst thing happened. (No he wasn't captured and held ransom by some spotty teenage posse holding their cap guns sideways). One cloudy Wednesday morning, there on the centre pages of the British Journal of Photography, thirty or more black and white images of yellow street signs, of murder, and all bran and rape. The images where disgustingly bad, but it didn't matter, the damage had been done, his wonderful coloured project of yellow murder, murdered. That was fifteen years ago and my friend has not done a photographic project since...

Anyway, here's two (above) from the By Coastal project to be getting on with. Theres not really a story to go with them, well there is, but I have already written too much. I call them Carousel and The Lizard With The Human Hands.

THE QUEST CONTINUES.....

Its not Alcatraz, its Brighton.!

Its that time of year again...

Shortly after my last London show a month ago I decided to step away from the British gallery scene for a while. My work will still be held with galleries here and will be available for viewing, but I'm not even thinking about having another show for at least eighteen months. The market place here in London is abysmal at the moment and I cant help comparing it to how it was five years and even ten years ago (which was better but still naff compared to Europe and the US). Its like trying to sell sick in a bag and all its done is leave me out of pocket and as bitter as a lemsip.
I have said it before and I will say it again;
'People in the UK don't buy photographs, they buy big TV's and ready meals.'
The inventor of photography, that is to say Great Britain, which has given birth to some of the worlds greatest photographers may well be interested in its history and all those 'golden oldies' as well it should. But its not so interested in its future. Sometimes I think people here don't even know Contemporary photography here exists..
I could go on, but I would rather be out taking photographs and getting in a mood..

My photography will never stop, but the UK exhibitions just might.

Thomas Kneubühler

I stumbled upon the work of Thomas Kneubühler by accident today but enjoyed his Electric Mountain series of which you can see here. I see a fair few images of ski resorts and although four or five would probably have done it for me, I do like them. I love the quality of snow lit by artificial light, its a bit like eating an ice cream at the cinema. Not so sure about the video bit mind (you will have to have a look), a little unnecessary and of poor quality as far as I am concerned. But until I produce my very own High Definition video I should shut my face.
I should point out that his other work does leave me cold, and there not snowy..

'I am not interested in an objective view of the world; I am interested in a painterly
view.'

Andreas Gursky

Vincent Fournier.

Vincent Fournier is simply brilliant and his work rocks. The Big Space series on his website is as epic as it is out of this world and I would urge you to spend some time there.
It seems to me that French photographers are never publicised much here in the UK.(Do we still not get on with the French's ?) Personally I see them as a bigger threat than that Düsseldorf lot and those clinically perfect Swiss types with all their fresh air, glaciers and nice cameras. We need only to look through history for evidence of their greatness, with the likes of Robert Doiseau, Henri Cartier Bresson I invented the decisive moment even though its all staged and I never wanted to be a photographer anyway, Jaques Henry Lartigue I am only six years old and my photographs are ace, and of course Brassai although technically he was Hungarian.
They are out there my friends and they are good....