Here it is, a pile of contact sheets that represent the fruits of my labour from the past six months. Amongst the few hundred frames I’ve shot (about 1500 to be precise), I now have to tease out a coherent selection of photographs. I’ve had a quick scan through them and I’m trying not to let the wave of ‘contact-sheet depression’ set in. It usually does, and although short lived, it can be quite overpowering! I’ll set them aside for a few days and come back with fresh eyes.

In the meantime, I thought it might be interesting to briefly outline how I normally edit my work. I’ll do this using my first book, Motherland, as a case study. I’ve also pulled out some quotes from other photographers who discuss their approach to editing.

To produce Motherland I shot just over 5000 frames during the course of my year traveling across Russia (for the techies among you, I used a Mamiya 7 camera with Kodak Portra 220 film). Every three months, on my return to Moscow to get a visa extension, I had the film processed and contact sheets made. This enabled me to do some editing during the course of the journey. It also allowed me to evaluate how each stage of the project was developing, what themes were emerging and work out what I needed to be looking for during the next stage of shooting. Critically, it also meant I could check that the camera/ lenses were working properly and that the film hadn’t been fogged by some Soviet-era airport security scanner.

On my return to England I made a wide edit of 500 images from the contact sheets. This selection of images I scanned on an Imacon and then made larger contact sheets. These sheets were then spiral bound into a book. Here are a couple of pages from the book-

Over the course of a few weeks I would return to the photographs marking those images that I was most interested in. I’d start with a small cross in the top left corner with a yellow chinagraph-

Then finally mark the definitive photographs on all four sides-

After a couple of months I gradually (and somewhat painfully) whittled the 500 images down to the final book edit of 153 photographs. This was done with the help of some editors, most notably Chris Boot, my publisher. It was critically important that I had an external eye (and someone I trusted and respected) to help with the editing. I was too emotionally attached to the photographs and in several cases wanted to select images that just weren’t strong enough or didn’t fit as a whole.

The final stage was to prepare the 153 scanned photographs, getting the colours correct and doing some slight cleaning up in photoshop. They were then turned into CMYK files for the printers. I also made 10×8 prints of all the photographs which were used for colour matching at the printers.

With regards We English, the editing process will be made slightly easier as the 5×4″ negative is a lovely size to preview, which means I won’t have to scan as many images. Time is also on my side. The book won’t be going into production until Spring next year. I’m envisaging there will be about half the number of photographs in the book than there were for Motherland. 

 

Other photographers discuss their approach to editing-

These quotes are taken from the book Image Makers, Image Takers by Anne-Celine Jaeger.

Mary Ellen Mark: “Editing is extremely difficult. It’s taken me a long time to learn how to edit. Teaching has helped me with editing. When I’m editing my own work, I do a first general edit. Someone in my studio then scans my edits and enlarges them to approximately 5×7. We place all the enlarged scans side by side which makes it easier to see which frames are the best. Then I choose the final edit.”

Martin Parr: “You usually have a hunch, but the great thing about photography is that it’s so unpredictable, so you never quite understand how and when a good photograph comes about. But when editing, I do contact sheets, then machine prints and then select from that.”

And when asked what makes one image stand out more than another, is it emotional or an intellectual reaction he answers: “It must be intuitive. If it were intellectual, I’d be able to explain what happens. That’s why I’m a photographer. I express myself visually, not verbally.”

Eugene Richards: “I pretty much know that a photograph is ‘successful’ or not when I take it. So when I’m home from an assignment, what I mostly do is go looking for those ‘successful’ pictures, hoping that I wasn’t kidding myself or that I didn’t screw up.”

Sebastiao Salgado: “I do a first choice from contact sheets and then do many, many work prints. From that, I then choose an average of six images per film. Then I reduce it down to whatever is needed for the magazine in question. I shoot about two to three hundred rolls of film, if I am away for several months.”

Rineke Dijkstra: “I scan the negatives and make them bigger so you can see them more. Then I might leave them for two weeks because you need distance to see them properly. It happens to me that I take a picture and I think it doesn’t work at all and then I look at it three years later and I think it’s a great picture. It’s probably linked to having something in mind and being disappointed that your expectations weren’t met.”

Rankin: “I don’t like editing so I always try to fob it off on to someone else, whether it’s a picture editor or someone in my office. You’ll be surprised what other people can bring to your pictures.”

Alec Soth: “At the beginning of a project I’ll have all these different pictures, because I don’t know what I’m doing and the themes haven’t emerged. The more trips I make, the more pre-editing goes on. I might see something that’s interesting but it won’t fit in. That’s when taking a picture becomes difficult. I think in terms of a book and try to assemble it in my brain. I might take couple of hundred and then edit that down into a series. In the end it’s about creating a mood.”

 

And a few paragraphs taken from On being a photographer – David Hurn/Magnum in conversation with Bill Jay.

“The myth is that the best photographers are the only ones who have the insight and ability to select the best images of their own work for publication or exhibition.

The myth arises because the photographer is often too close to the subject matter, invests the content with emotion which might not be present in the picture, and believes that in order to be ‘true to myself’ he/she has a special insight into the work. But the best editors of images are those who are capable of divorcing themselves from emotion when judging their own (or others’) work and assessing picture merit dispassionately and with a cold logic.

In the same way that writers are enhanced by a close relationship with a good editor, so a photographer can benefit from the insights of a good picture-editor.

Our advice to photographers is: find an editor you can trust, one who is working at the highest possible level of professionalism.”

Hurn and Jay finish with an instructive example of this myth-

W.Eugene Smith, who became a legend by resigning from Life magazine because he was not allowed full control over picture selection. When he was given the opportunity to edit his own work the results were disastrous, as epitomized by his Pittsburgh essay. He shot over 11,000 negatives in one year (1955), printed 7,000 proofs, and selected 2,000 images. The only publication willing to use the result was Popular Photography Annual, 1958. It used 88 images over 34 pages. Even on Smith’s terms, the whole project was a failure.

 

Posted in POST PRODUCTION | 22 Comments »

A reader of the blog emailed me today to suggest I looked at roadside memorials as part of the project-

“Dear Sir,

This may seem macabre but there is a whole book just waiting to be written whose subject would be the shrines which have sprung up on roadsides where a loved one has been killed in an accident. Some are attended more regularly than many a grave, with floral tributes frequently restored. Others have grown to iconic proportions with photos and the deceased’s number plate.

All have a tale to tell I’m sure. For starters, if it’s still there, look near the lay by on the A628 near Woodhead between Glossop and Barnsley (the Woodhead pass). It’s just before the lay by which is more like an old quarry entrance and has a snack bar trailer in it. The shrine is in a very dangerous section.”

Although not something I intend covering for We English, I think it’s worth a mention on the blog, especially following on from my post Death, Read All About It, last week.

During our travels we did come across a large number of roadside memorials marking the location of fatal road accidents. These shrines, marked with plaques, wooden crosses and flowers, are considered not only an appropriate but also an expected response to tragedy.

 

Roadside Memorial, Purley Way, Croydon

The card reads “In Loving Memory, Von – Always Remember You and Always Love, from Cary, Maggie, Chris, Ruth, Lesley and family.”

According to Brake, the road safety charity, while many local authorities are happy for small memorials to be placed at the roadside, some authorities object to permanent memorials, even small ones, and even go as far as restricting the length of time that flowers can be placed at the scene of a crash. Dr Una MacConville from the Centre for Death & Society at University of Bath has undertaken research into these ‘spontaneous shrines’, as she refers to them. She claims that these restrictions are for “health and safety reasons” and authorities are claiming they are acting on foot of advice from the police who fear the tributes, many near dangerous roads, could distract motorists. These restrictions have been considered “crass and insensitive” by bereaved families and road safety campaigners, some of whom feel these memorials are being removed in order not to draw attention to the death toll on certain roads.

One of the most interesting phenomenon related to roadside memorials has been the appearance of Ghost Bikes around England, and abroad. Ghost Bikes are small and somber memorials for bicyclists who are killed or hit on the street. A bicycle is painted all white and locked to a street sign near the crash site, accompanied by a small plaque. The first ghost bikes were created in St. Louis, Missouri in 2003, and they have since appeared in at least 62 cities throughout the world. 

 

Ghost bike, Brighton

James Danson-Hatcher, 23, was fatally injured when he was hit by a car travelling at about 60mph near a Brighton beauty spot. The accident happened at the junction of Saddlescombe Road and Devil’s Dyke Road, on the outskirts of Brighton, at about 5.30pm on April 5. Mr Danson-Hatcher, was riding home after a visit to Devil’s Dyke when he was hit by a Fiat Bravo. A recent inquest inquest into the accident heard Mr Danson-Hatcher, who had ambitions to be a professional photographer, was described by his family as a competent and experienced cyclist who regularly rode to Devil’s Dyke to cycle across the Downs. His father told the hearing cycling was his son’s main means of transport and leisure activity and said it was a “cruel irony” he died while on his bike.

As the Ghost Bike website quotes “the bikes serve as reminders of the tragedy that took place on an otherwise anonymous street corner, and as quiet statements in support of cyclists’ right to safe travel.”

Posted in MISCELLANEOUS, ON THE JOB | 2 Comments »

Although I’ve already mentioned Homer Sykes’ work in a recent blog post on Sir Benjamin Stone (Knight of the Camera) I felt his work on traditional British customs warranted it’s own post. 

Born in Vancouver, Canada, Sykes has been in the UK since 1954 and working as a photographer for over 40 years. It was while studying at the London College of Printing (now LCC) between 1968-71 that he came across the work of Sir Benjamin Stone. A discovery which provided the inspiration for his book ‘Once A Year – Some Traditional British Customs’ (Pub: Gordon Fraser, 1977).

 

Sykes has described his motivation for Once A Year in an interview on Luminous-Lint–

“I thought it would be interesting to re-photograph some of these customs and others I researched seventy years later, but not in a static way with a large format camera as he had, but in my own style, that I hoped would be a fusion of the American street photography genre that I loved, and had seen in MOMA in New York – Lee Friedlander, Garry Winogrand, Burk Uzzle, Robert Frank, and Bruce Davidson, (because of the way their images appear spontaneous, accidental and stylish) and that of the humanitarian reportage and documentary photography of the great Magnum photographers.

The project lasted 7 years, I travelled all over the country to take these photographs and covered about one hundred traditional events, that for the most part took place once a year. I tended to avoid folk club revival country customs, and those events that seemed to be more to do with town hall tourism than local history. As a young documentary photographer I was interested in the contemporaneity of the participants, the coexistence of ancient and modern, and of course of the documentary value of what I was doing.”

 

The Burry Man (Jacko Hart), South Queensferry, Lothian, Scotland

© Homer Sykes, 1971

The Burry Man with his helpers Billy Scott and David Scott in the South Queensferry Ex Servicemans Club taking a break from his perambulations of the towns boundaries (1971). 

There are reports from the nineteenth century of the Burry Man appearing in other Scottish locations when the fishing harvest was failing. The twentieth century Burry Man makes his perambulations of the town boundary on the date preceding the annual Ferry Fair. It is thought that this was once a fishing fertility rite, although these days it is associated with the local borough or burgh. The fair has been in existence since 1687, and now takes place during the second week in August. By 1971 nothing of what was once an eight day fair remained save the road race, run for a traditional pair of black boots.

It’s a beautifully photographed, tender and often humorous document. I’d love to get my hands on a copy. Unfortunately it’s out of print and a used copy will set you back £100. I think I’ll have to wait for the re-print!

For those of you who want to find out more about Skyes’ recent work, you can read an interview from 2007 on the Photo Histories website here.  

I’ll be interested to know what Sykes thinks of my attempt at documenting England thirty years later, especially given my choice of a “static” large format camera.

 

Posted in INSPIRATION, RESEARCH | 2 Comments »

As mentioned in my last post, here are a selection of headlines from regional and local newspapers collected during my travels. They come from a variety of free-sheets, daily and weekly newspapers. I’ve only quoted the main headline and not the subtitle. They are in date order.

Midhurst and Petworth Observer, “Academy twist as heads unite to back move”, 1^st May 2008

Reading Evening Post, “Body pulled from river”, 9^th May 2008

Gloustershire Echo, “Tracey had a heart of gold”, 14^th May 2008

Weston & Somerset Mercury, “Crimebusting vicars on call”, 15^th May 2008

Somerset Guardian, “Journey of terror”, 15^th May 2008

Worcester News, “Deep fried pigeon”, 16^th May 2008

Malvern Gazette, “Marriage made in heaven or recipe for divorce”, 16^th May 2008

Weekend Citizen, “Supermarkets’ food attacked”, 17^th May 2008

Western Daily Press, “Pinned down by card scammers”, 19^th May 2008

Western Daily Press, “£14bn deal secures west defence jobs”, 21^st May 2008

Burnham & Highbridge Weekly News, “Speedboat owner’s miraculous escape”, 21^st May 2008

Devon Journal, “Black Tuesday in north Devon”, 22^nd May 2008

West Somerset Free Press, “Aquasplash; Rescue bid falls through”, 23^rd May 2008

Dorset Echo, “‘Ghost Town’ fears over homes”, 26^th May 2008

Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard, “Polyclinic threat to GP surgeries”, 29^th May 2008

Salisbury Journal, “Super – surgeries plan angers GPs”, 29^th May 2008

Yeovil Times, “Avril aims to clean up mean streets”, 28^th May 2008

Newbury Weekly News, “Driver jailed for friends’ road deaths”, 29^th May 2008

Gloucestershire Echo, “Flat blaze victim – I’ve lost all I had”, 2^nd June 2008

The Advertiser (North Hampshire), “ProLogis plan thrown out, but appeal likely”, 3^rd June 2008

Saffron Walden Weekly News, “Plan to bring back police station cells”, 5^th June 2008

Melton Times, “New council HQ – two-year wait”, 12^th June 2008                                                

Herne Bay Times, “Goodbye Warren”, 12^th June 2008

Evening Telegraph, “Absent Wendy to be kicked out”, 12^th June 2008

Grantham Journal, “Victimised for being old”, 13^th June 2008

The Argus, “Rough justice”, 21^st June 2008

Kent on Sunday, “Say goodbye to family GP”, 15^th June 2008

Thanet Times, “Spy cam to trap vandals”, 17^th June 2008

Isle of Wight County Press, “Why can’t we have ferry subsidies?”, 20^th June 2008

Reading Evening Post, “River plunge tot critical”, 26^th June 2008

Oxford Journal, “Eco-town charm offensive”, 26^th June 2008

Northampton Chronicle, “Did u c incdnt in ur pk?”, 1^st July 2008

Harborough Mail, “Homes anger to reignite”, 3^rd July 2008

Hinckley Times, “This is the future”, 3^rd July 2008

Hereford Times, “Bulmers: ‘Faults beyond belief’”, 3^rd July 2008                                                

Coventry Telegraph, “Playground prowler tries to grab girl”, 4^th July 2008

Bridgnorth Journal, “Landmark row erupts”, 4^th July 2008

Express & Star, “Jobs to go at factory”, 5^th July 2008

Leister Mercury, “Grand Prize”, 5^th July 2008

Shropshire Star, “PM’s plea on food wasting”, 7^th July 2008

Macclesfield Express, “Man leaves £1million fortune to churches and charities”, 9^th July 2008

Crewe Chronicle, “Woman is held over death”, 9^th July 2008

Nantwich Chronicle, “Thieves strike at church”, 9^th July 2008

Echester Evening Leader, “City council workers to strike”, 11^th July 2008

Liverpool Echo, “Strike Chaos”, 16^th July 2008

Ellesmere Port & Neston Standard, “Future of £50m school academies plan hangs in the balance”, 17^th July 2008

Bury Times, “Three care homes may shut”, 17^th July 2008

Formby Times, “Post office survival bid”, 17^th July 2008

Southport Visitor, “Sex shame of top boss”, 18^th July 2008

Liverpool Post, “Region reaps benefits of Birkdale bonanza”, 21^st July 2008

The Bolton News, “Students ‘killed by meningitis’ on holiday”, 22^nd July 2008

Lancashire Telegraph, “Classroom pervert”, 23^rd July 2008

Longridge & Ribble Valley News, “Family mourns tragic mum”, 23^rd July 2008

Hebden Bridge Times, “Battle to recycle the waste”, 24^th July 2008

The Clithroe Advertiser & Times, “Head’s fury at new SATs blunder”, 24^th July 2008

Batley News, “Minibus death crash – driver questioned”, 24^th July 2008

Todmorden News, “Filmed up girl’s skirt”, 24^th July 2008

Wakefield Express, “Busted”, 25^th July 2008

Heckmondwike Herald, “Water baby”, 25^th July 2008

Nelson Leader, “Two die on way to a funeral”, 25^th July 2008

Burnley Express, “Tragedy of pregnant mum Claire”, 25^th July 2008

The Gazette, “Life in ruins after attack”, 25^th July 2008

Dewsbury Reporter, “We’ve got £1.2m to splash out”, 25^th July 2008

Evening Courier, “Taxi terror thugs caged”, 28^th July 2008

The Huddersfield Daily Examiner, “‘Dodgy Lodger’ back in the line of fire”, 29^th July 2008

Uttoxeter Advertiser, “Armed raid”, 30^th July 2008

Cheadle Post & Times, “Workers wait in fear as JCB jobs axe looms over”, 30^th July 2008

Yorkshire Post, “Mortgage squeezes prompts fraud warning”, 30^th July 2008

Staffordshire Newsletter, “Town’s new pool is closed within hours”, 31^st July 2008

Black Country Bugle, “Cutting the cost of living in the thirties”, 31^st July 2008

Buxton Advertiser, “NHS fears £8m gap in budget”, 31^st July 2008

Derbyshire Times, “Cannabis grower risks jail”, 31^st July 2008

Birmingham Mail, “Fury as gas staff run riot”, 1^st August 2008

Uttoxeter Post & Times, “Fears of economic crisis as employers deliver triple”, 1^st August 2008

The Sunderland Sentinel, “Boy racers face ban from the roads”, 4^th August 2008

The Sunderland Star, “Landslide owls vote, 7^th August 2008

Darlington & Stockton Times, “Appeal to blow opponents of caravan park”, 8^th August 2008

The Northern Echo, “Horror in the Alps”, 9^th August 2008

Evening Gazette, “Dad killed in freak crash”, 11^th August 2008

Whitby Gazette, “Bradley’s debt to Liz”, 12^th August 2008

Scarborough Evening News, “Girl, 6, held hostage in armed siege”, 13^th August 2008

Rydale Gazette & Herald, “Crisis talks planned on housing shortage”, 13^th August 2008

Peterlee Star, “SATS row goes on”, 14^th August 2008

The Whitehaven News, “OAP fined £80 for stubbing cig in street”, 14^th August 2008

Peterlee Mail, “New street booze bans”, 15^th August 2008

Sunderland Echo, “Drivers pay up”, 15^th August 2008

The Westmorland Gazette, “Tory leader pledges to support hospital”, 15^th August 2008

North West Evening Mail, “Secret millionaire lived in 75K flat”, 16^th August 2008

Lake District Herald, “Action taken over acrobats ‘cheeky’ town centre act”, 23^rd August 2008

The Visitor, “Coroner’s plea after hit-and-run tragedy”, 27^th August 2008

Morpeth Herald, “Thieves strip undies shop of entire stock”, 28^th August 2008

News & Star, “Power cut will cost thousands”, 28^th August 2008

The Whitehaven News, “Is Sellafield hand over under threat”, 28^th August 2008

Northumberland Gazette, “Green light at station”, 28^th August 2008

Morecambe Guardian, “Battling granny goes to the High Court”, 29^th August 2008

The Westmorland Gazette, “Damsons in distress”, 29^th August 2008

The Newcastle Journal, “Builders shelve 1,000 projects”, 1^st September 2008                                               

Northumberland Gazette, “Braid is saved”, 4^th September 2008

The Berwick Advertiser, “Report claims climate change could cause havoc”, 4^th September 2008

Pocklington Post, “Man on trial for robbery at shop”, 4^th September 2008

Kent on Sunday, “Repossessions on the up as credit crunch hits home”, 7^th September 2008

The Press, “Stadium dream in jeopardy”, 8^th September 2008

Evening Chronicle, “Miracle Escape”, 8^th September 2008

Lynn News, “Pupil power to back appeal”, 9^th September 2008

Cleethorpes Life, “Why is Teresa Basset turning back the clock?”, 10^th September 2008

Telegraph & Argus, “Drugs addict terrorised elderly in homes”, 10^th September 2008

Yorkshire Evening Post, “Top solicitor theft charge”, 10^th September 2008

East Riding Mail, “Savaged”, 10^th September 2008

Driffield Times, “Our agony”, 10^th September 2008

Grismby Telegraph, “Our kids are ‘bone idle’”, 10^th September 2008

Boston Standard, “Judge socks it to repeat offender”, 10^th September 2008

North Norfolk News, “Traders victory”, 11^th September 2008

Sevenoaks Chronicle, “Area must have more play parks”, 11^th September 2008

Brighton and Hove Leader, “Enemy at the gates”, 11^th September 2008

Posted in RESEARCH | 1 Comment »

Wherever possible I bought a copy of the local newspaper in all the places we visited in order to explore the context within which my photographs were taken. More about this in a later post. For now, I want to talk about how visual media has become integral to our exposure to representation of death. 

As with much of our mass media, the negative story often helps sell a newspaper. These were two headlines I came across on newspaper billboards in recent weeks, one from Berwick upon Tweed and another from Cumbria.

 

They reminded me of a project I worked on a few years ago called ‘Death, Read All About It’. I became interested in how we witness death daily, but at a safe remove, on the news and in the newspapers, where anything too challenging is excised in the editing suite. The school photograph of the murdered child, the mangled metal of the crash with none of the carnage – these homogenised accounts of violent death, like fictional death in films and books, reinforce distance from ‘natural death’.

Over the course of a year I photographed newspaper billboards, mostly around London where I was living at the time, which dealt with the subject of death. With all these headlines the topic of death, often described in grizzly soundbites, was used to sell our daily news. Headlines such as: “Man’s Head Cut Off In DLR Train Horror”, “Baby Savaged To Death By Dog”, “Victim of Black Magical Sex Killer” and “Shallow Grave Woman Battered To Death.” In some cases, we are also tempted by the fact that photographs are available: “McVeigh Ready to Die – Pictures”, “Child Victims Of Suicide Bomber – Picture” and “Hanratty Body Exhumed – Picture.”

I collected forty-nine headlines and created a composite the shape and size of a newspaper billboard. My intention had been to the place them in Evening Standard billboards around London, however, I got cold feet, worried about being prosecuted!

Here is a small version of the composite-

 

The aim was to explore how death is portrayed as entertainment, as sound bites and soap opera. This interplay between private and public experience often confers a false sense that we are sharing the drama of death in other people’s lives, while in reality we are completely insulated from it. 

Posted in MISCELLANEOUS, RESEARCH | Comments Off on DEATH, READ ALL ABOUT IT

Although a convert to life on the road, with another baby on the way, it’s time to sell our home of the last five months. If you want more details/photographs, give me a call.

TALBOT SWIFT CAPRI 520 GXL, 1993

£9750.00 ono

 

49,000 miles, 5 Speed Manual, Diesel, 2+2 Berth, Overcab Bed, Side Kitchen with Oven, Grill, 4 Burner Hob, Sink, 3-way Fridge, Rear Washroom with Cassette Toilet, Shower, Hand Basin, Wardrobe, Leisure Battery, Mains Hook Up, Zig Unit, Hot Water, Heater, 3 x Lapbelts, Carpets/Upholstery Good Condition, Sunblind, Rear Ladder to Topbox, Bike Rack, Tow Bar, TV Aerial, 6 Month Warranty.

ps. I’ll supply some new hubcaps!

Posted in MISCELLANEOUS | Comments Off on ONE CAREFUL OWNER!

While I’m not generally a fan of photography compendium’s, I recently picked up Image Makers, Image Takers by Anne-Celine Jaeger and found some of the quotes to be quite revealing. The first section of the book is broken up into interviews with photographic artists, working within the disciplines of fine art, documentary, fashion, advertising and portraiture, where they are asked about what inspires them, the balance of technique and gift and the process of artistic creation. The second section has picture editors, curators, agency directors and art book publishers interviewed about what they look for in an image.

 

Here are some of the quotes-

William Eggleston is asked “How do you decide if something is worthy of being captured?”

“I never know beforehand. Until I see it. It just happens all at once. I take a picture very quickly and instantly forget about it. Not for good, but for the time being. Suddenly I just feel like I have to take a picture. Sometimes I’ll leave the house with a fully loaded camera and end up with nothing. It’s just about being there. Anywhere. Even the most uninteresting, ugly or boring places can for an instant become magical to me.”

William Eggleston quotes Garry Winogrand-

“When someone asked him why he took pictures, Garry said, ‘Because I want to see what something looks like when it’s photographed.'”

Stephen Shore is asked “Do you need a philosophy to do great work?”

“I would call it ‘intentionality’. Sometimes I meet young artists and it becomes clear that for some the main motivation is getting a show in Chelsea. It strikes me that this is very different to the way it was for me, which was that I wanted to understand photography and the world and myself. To do that, I produced work. The work that was shown was like a by-product, but never the purpose of my photography. The thought process doesn’t even have to be conceptual or intellectual. It can be visual, or a layer of thought that’s wordless. I’m always exploring some question or other, but it may not even be formulate as such. I believe the work produced by most established artists, was produced as a by-product of their personal explorations.”

Eugene Richards is asked “Do you see yourself more as a photographer or a journalist?”

“I go out into the world as a photographer, but I were to tell the truth, if I could become a very fine writer, I wouldn’t need to take photographs any more.”

David LaChapelle is asked “Do you think you can learn a way of seeing?”

“I think you either have it or you don’t. If you have it, you have to discipline yourself to prove it.”

Alec Soth is asked “Are you ever in the situation where you think I’m not sure that was in focus but you have to let it go?”

“All the time. It’s the bane of my existence. I miss pictures all the time. It kills me. But I’m technically better now and I also shoot more film, so I have better odds. I also have this problems that I try to get too much into a picture. I have to remind myself that photography is about limitation. It’s about not having everything there.”

William Eggleston is asked “What goes through your mind when you are framing a shot”?

“Nothing really. It happens so fast. I compose very quickly and without thinking, but conciously. I take a picture instantly and never more than one. Sometimes I worry about the picture being out of focus, but I take the chance. A long time ago, I would have taken several shots of the same thing, but I realised that I could never decide which one was the best shot. I thought I was wasting a lot of time looking at the damn near identical pictures. I wanted to discipline myself to take only one picture of something, and it didn’t work out, that’s just too bad. But it’s pretty much always worked.”

Martin Parr is asked “What are you thinking about, for example, when you are taking a picture in New Brighton of a young mother and kids eating chips opposite an over-flowing dustbin?”

“I’m thinking, ‘Here’s a family on their day out and the litter is spewing over because it’s a bank holiday weekend.'” (!?)

Posted in MISCELLANEOUS | 3 Comments »

Having pulled into Brighton on Monday morning my first stop was to Spectrum where I picked up all my film. As I mentioned in a previous post, I’d been sending back batches of film from the road each week for processing. 

So it was a huge relief when Tim (pictured) presented me with a rather large pile of negatives, which I now have to pore over during the coming days. However, I’m reassured that after a quick scan through, they’re looking good. Now the hard work really starts – editing!

Posted in POST PRODUCTION | Comments Off on MEET TIM

I’ve just received details of an exhibition of photographs by Sir Benjamin Stone which are going on display in Centenary Square, Birmingham, from 20th September – 30 October 2008.

‘Knight of the Camera’ marks the first major display of images by the renowned Victorian amateur photographer, Sir Benjamin Stone, in his home town of Birmingham for almost a century. It follows on from the exhibition and publication project A Record of England: Sir Benjamin Stone and the National Photographic Record Association which was shown at the V&A in 2006 (more information below).

 

The exhibition is being organised by Birmingham Library, where Stone’s archive is held, and will include over 100 of his most iconic images - from Parliament, customs and festivals and others such as his previously unseen photographs of the Franco-British Exhibition in London, 1908. Interestingly the exhibition will also include a ‘Legacy’ section revealing the influence of Stone’s work on subsequent generations of British photographers such as Homer Sykes, Daniel Meadows and Anna Fox. It’s being curated by Pete James who is head of Photographs at Birmingham Central Library and has undertaken extensive research on Stone’s collection for many years.

 

A Record of England: Sir Benjamin Stone and the National Photographic Record Association, 1897 -1910 

In July 1897, in a flourish of publicity, Sir Benjamin Stone – Birmingham industrialist, Member of Parliament and passionate, almost obsessive collector, announced the formation of the National Photographic Record Association. Its prime objective was to make a record of England for future generations, to foster “a national pride in the historical associations of the country, or neighbourhood, in family traditions, or in personal associations.” Over the next 13 years, Stone and his amateur supporters deposited their photographs at the British Museum. In 2000, these were moved to the V&A. This book examines Stone’s central role in the project and presents over 100 of his photographs, many of which have never been published before. It also charts the history of the NPRA and points to its legacies within photography.

 

Ripon Pageant. Guild of Woolcombers Group. Ripon, Yorkshire, England 1906 © Sir Benjamin Stone, V&A

The NPRA was part of a much wider photographic survey movement at the end of the 19th century, covering British archaeology, geology and ethnography. The idea of photographic surveys survives to this day, operating at many levels, from local camera clubs and community projects to the National Monuments Record. While there are strong elements of nostalgia in the NPRA,  it was also dynamic as our Victorian ancestors, like us, used photography to project what they valued about their past into the future.

You can see a selection of images from the V&A exhibition here.

You can read a biography of Stone here.

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After lunch yesterday, Mum pulled out some old photo albums from bygone holiday’s in the Lake District. Nothing like family nostalgia on a Sunday afternoon.

 

On the subject of lunch, I was surprised by how many of our family photographs seemed to be centred around food. Such us eating ‘Roonies’ meat pies by Lake Ennerdale (the best pies in England reckons Mum) –

 

Snacking on the summit of Anglers Crag-

 

Or barbequing on the shore of Crummock Water –

 

My Dad was a keen amateur photographer and this is one of my favourite shots from the album, captioned:

“Wastwater at 6pm, Brrrrr”

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