BIBLIOGRAPHY OF REVIEWS

Since it’s release in October 2009 there have been several reviews of We English. Here is a bibliography of the views to date with links to the associated websites or a pdf to download. This list will be periodically updated:

We English reviews & press-

The Saturday Telegraph, “Voyage in search of England,” March 06 2010, Davies, Lucy. (online)

Source, “Away from the shopping centre,” Winter 2009/2010 – Issue 61, Fletcher, Jane. (pdf)

Photo-Eye Magazine, “We English Book Review,” January 18 2010, Bradley, Sarah. (online | pdf)

Ag – The International Journal of Photographic Art & Practice, “Green and pleasant land,” Issue 58/Winter 2010, Badger, Gerry. (pdf)

Visura Magazine, “We English: Simon Roberts,” Issue 07/Spring 2010. (online | pdf)

Photo-Eye Magazine, “The Best Books of 2009,” (We English selected), December 31 2009. (online | pdf)

The Telegraph, “Photographer Q&A with Simon Roberts,” January 07 2010, Davies, Lucy. (online | pdf)

Lens Culture, “Photography as Visual Anthropology in Russia and England,” (video interview), 30^th December 2009. (online | pdf)

The Guardian, “Something old, something new: the year’s best photography books,” December 28 2009, O’Hagan, Sean. (online | pdf)

The Sunday Telegraph, “Pictures of the Year: The Photographers’ Choice,” December 27 2009, Parr, Martin. (online | pdf)

The Arts Desk, “Photography 2009: Favourite Books,” December 23 2009, Steward, Sue. (online | pdf)

The Wall Street Journal, “Lenses on the World,” December 12 2009, Woodward, Richard. (online | pdf)

The Guardian, “Christmas Roundup: Photography Books,” December 12 2009, Hone, Prudence. (pdf)

New Statesman, “Picture Book of The Week – We English,” December 07 2009, McClelland, Rebecca. (pdf)

Digital Camera, “Documentary landscape photographer Simon Roberts,” December 2009, Harris, Geoff. (pdf)

Professional Photographer, “We English at South Hill Park,” December 2009. (pdf)

GUP – Guide to Unique Photography, “A Growing Optimism,” 022: The Russia Issue/Winter 2009, Lempers, Shinta. (pdf)

Fotograf, “Portfolio – Man and His Land,” Number 13, Volume 8/2009, Kubacakova, Marketa. (pdf)

Royal Photographic Society Journal, “A place called home,” Volume 149/December 2009, Land, David. (pdf)

The Drawbridge, “First Love,” Issue 15/ Winter 2009, Simpson, Millie. (online | pdf)

The Online Photographer, “An Interview with Simon Roberts,” November 20 2009, McWhinnie, Ailsa. (online | pdf)

The British Journal of Photography, “Now the time returns again,” November 18 2009, Hamilton, Peter. (online | pdf)

Newsweek Japan, “Picture Power – We English,” November 11 2009, Kataoka, Hideko. (online | pdf)

Coast Magazine, “Beach Reads – We English,” Issue 44/November 2009, Gogerty, Clare. (pdf)

Hotshoe International, “Hot Books – We English,” October/November 2009, Clifford, Katie. (pdf)

ARTmostfierce, “We English @ Klompching Gallery,” 7^th October 2009, Natal-San Miguel, Ruben. (online | pdf)

Conscientious, “Review: We English by Simon Roberts,” October 30 2009, Colberg, Joerg. (online | pdf)

Blue Filter, “Book Review: Simon Roberts – We English,” October 20 2009, Cockerham, Michael. (online | pdf)

The New Yorker, “Goings on about town,” October 26 2009, Aletti, Vince. (online | pdf)

Time Out London, “We English: Book Review – 4 Stars,” October 22 2009, Moss, Chris. (pdf)

NRC Weekblad, “Een Laatste Toevluchtsoord,” October 10 2009, Steketee, Hans. (pdf)

The Independent on Sunday, “Book Review: We English,” October 04 2009. (pdf)

Flak Photo, “Weekend Series – We English,” October 03 2009, Adams, Andy. (pdf)

BBC News Online – Viewfinder, “The English at Leisure,” October 01 2009, Coomes, Phil. (online | pdf)

The Independent, “This is England,” October 01 2009, Duguid, Hannah. (online | pdf)

Creative Review, “Landscape as Portrait,” The Photography Annual/October 2009. (pdf)

1000 Words, “Book Review: We English,” Fall 2009/Issue 06, Clark, Tim. (online | pdf)

Montage, “Under Review: We English,” Issue 119/Autumn 2009, Korchien, Diana. (pdf)

Ahorn Magazine, “Simon Roberts – We English,” Issue 4/Fall 2009. (online | pdf)

Professional Photographer, “We English by Simon Roberts,” September 29 2009. (online | pdf)

Photo District News, “Photo of the day,” September 25 2009, Ching, Darren. (online | pdf)

Design Week, “We happy few,” September 17 2009, Stones, John. (online | pdf)

Foto 8, “Simon Roberts on We English,” September 14 2009, Lane, Guy. (online | pdf)

ARTmostfierce, “The Most Happening Shows in NYC so far are…,” September 12 2009, Natal-San Miguel, Ruben. (online | pdf)

What’s the Jackanory?, “Mad dogs and Englishmen,” (Video interview), September 10 2009. (online)

Photo Radar, “We English documents the nation at leisure,” September 08 2009, Davies, Amy. (online | pdf)

Eluxury, “Full English Snap-fest,” September 04 2009, Ledger, Stephen. (pdf)

Lens Culture, “Photo Book Review – We English,” September 2009, Casper, Jim. (online | pdf)

Go See, “We English – from personal identity to the beauty of banality,” Issue 38/September 2009, Schmidz, Frank. (online | pdf)

DU – Das Kulturmagazin, “Der schone Alltag,” Issue 799/September 2009. (pdf)

Noorderlicht 16, “Human Conditions,” (Festival catalogue), September 2009, Melis, Wim. (online | pdf)

Ag – The International Journal of Photographic Art & Practice, “The English at Play,” Issue 57/Autumn 2009, Dickie, Chris. (pdf)

Reciprocity Failure, August 2009 (online | pdf)

Guardian Weekend, “Homeland Security,” August 22 2009. (online | pdf)

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SOURCE MAGAZINE

There is a review of We English in the current issue of Source (Winter 2009/2010) by Jane Fletcher under the title ‘Away from the Shopping Centre’. You can download a pdf here.

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LEISURE AS A NATIONAL MIRROR

There is an online showcase of We English entitled ‘Leisure as a National Mirror’ on today’s New York Times Lens blog, with a short article by Nadia Sussman.

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WORLD PRESS PHOTO AWARD

A series of twelve photographs from We English has just received 3rd Prize in the Daily Life Stories section of this year’s World Press Photo Awards. Congratulations also to my former assistant Laura Pannack who won 1st Prize in Portrait Singles.

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THE ART BOOK

There is a review of We English in the current issue of The Art Book (Volume 17, Issue 1, February 2010), written by Guy Lane.

You can download a pdf here.

“True to his word, Roberts’ pictures are unmistakably his own. Photographed in colour with a tripod-mounted 5 x 4 plate camera, they exhibit a disciplined compositional restraint, a richness of palette, and – often – a wealth of narrative incident…..His intent to mine the country’s overlooked moments – the trivial and the quotidian – is made good.” Guy Lane.

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GREEN & PLEASANT LAND

There’s a review of We English by Gerry Badger in the current issue of AG Magazine (Issue 58/Winter 2010).

Under the title ‘Green and Pleasant Land’ Badger writes: “We English is a complex body of work – photographically simple in one sense, but imagistically complicated, with many different inferences, not all of them immediately appearance, so one can be grateful for the book’s size, which enables one to see much of the detail in the pictures. Whether it can be considered as art or documentary, I don’t care – the so-called painterly aspects of the work interest me the least. What does interest me is that Simon Roberts has produce an intelligent and persuasive vision of our contemporary English mores – a Tony Ray-Jones for the 21st century.”

You can read the full review by downloading the pdf here.

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PHOTO-EYE MAGAZINE REVIEW

Here is a review of We English by Sarah Bradley that has just published in Photo-Eye Magazine:

Simon Roberts produced the images for We English during a year visiting popular recreational sites across England. It’s an intriguing way to investigate a country, one which served my family well when living in England while I was 13 (we actually visited some of Robert’s locations). It’s served Roberts well, too. Documenting his countrymen beach combing, pheasant hunting, visiting car boot sales, hiking and spending afternoons at the lake, Roberts’s images are landscapes of English leisure, both natural and social.

Quite simply, the images are beautiful, though perhaps not immediately revealing – their beauty can encourage the clumsy habit of overlooking what they contain. The best of these photographs are remarkable in the layers that Roberts’s has managed to capture – environment, group and individual. And truly the three inform and shape the others.

We English, by Simon Roberts. Published by Chris Boot, 2009.

The 86 photographs in the book depict an array of interactions with the outdoors. Though sometimes sparsely populated, the effects of human use are visible in every image, ranging in severity from the scars running up green hillsides to the garish architecture of seaside Black Pool – all causalities of joyful use. But while are landscapes molded by the activities of the masses, they are enjoyed by the individual, and Roberts’s large-format images are detailed enough (and the book’s printing sharp enough) to look at the individual. This is really where Roberts won me over; tiny black specs in the sea become surfers, a mother takes a picture with her child, a kid sits alone in contemplation among the crowd. Each figure is fascinating, an individual acting within the group.

We English, by Simon Roberts. Published by Chris Boot, 2009.

This edition does a wonderful job of presenting Roberts’s images. Even so, I feel like there’s more to this work. The book ends with an essay by Roberts which reads like an engaging artist’s talk, referencing and explaining not every image, but those that serve as speaking points in the evolution of the project, providing a personal, logistical and sociological context. I wish this text had been longer – Stephen Daniels’s introduction is an informative history, but I’m not convinced it was the best set-up for Roberts’s work. I’m interested in hearing more from Roberts on this project – and I’m curious to see what he does next. —Sarah Bradley

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LOVE OR LOATH?

I enjoyed this post by Michael Cockerham over on Blue Filter, which went up this afternoon (and here are the links to Photo Eye and their review of the best photo books of 2009, along with “Bollos” on Amazon)-

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RGS LECTURE SERIES

I’m going to be giving two lectures in the coming weeks as part of the Royal Geographical Society’s regional lecture program.

Lecture title: Motherland, Homeland – A photographic journey through Russia and England.

Lecture description: Unravel the stereotypes and identify what connects people with places and landscapes. An unflinching, unbiased exploration of what it means to be both Russian, and English, today.

The first is at the King’s Lynn Arts Centre on Saturday 23rd January.

Saturday 23  January, at 20.00
Regional Theatres Programme
Venue: King’s Lynn Arts Centre, 27-29 King Street, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, PE30 1HA
Tickets: RGS-IBG Members and one guest £8 (quote membership number) Box Office (01553) 764864 or book online.

The second will be at the Darlington Arts Centre on Tuesday 9th February.

Tuesday 9 February, at 20.00
Regional Theatres Programme
Venue: Darlington Arts Centre, Vane Terrace, Darlington, DL3 7AX
Tickets: RGS-IBG Members and one guest £8.50 (quote membership number) Box Office Telephone: 01325 486555 or online.

You can find out more on the Royal Geogarphical Society’s website here (for King’s Lynn) and here (for Darlington).

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PHOTOGRAPHY AS VISUAL ANTHROPOLOGY

Here is a video interview I did recently with Jim Casper at Lens Culture as part of his ‘Conversations with Photographers’ series where I discussed my approach to making Motherland and We English.

Casper introduced the interview with the following: “British Photographer Simon Roberts chooses to embark on long-term, in-depth visual studies of people and the places they live. He describes his work as socio-documentary photography, which when viewed as a whole, can be seen as a rich, subjective source of visual anthropology of contemporary life.”

Simon Roberts: Lens Culture Conversations with Photographers from Jim Casper on Vimeo.

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