On Photography

Strangers I, II & III.

“What is a face, really? Its own photo? Its make-up? Or is it a face as painted by such or such painter? That which is in front? Inside? Behind? And the rest? Doesn't everyone look at himself in his own particular way?” Pablo Picasso On a bright summer’s day in 2009 in Manchester and the city was bustling with activity. I was out with my camera looking for moments, fractions of a second that are extraordinary: mining for the tiniest fraction of time that alludes to a story. The streets must be paved with such flashes of inferred meaning, thousands of moments more…

February 25, 2012 By admin at 2:04 pm

Filed Under: Exhibitions, On Photography, Projects

Stop The Legalisation Of Theft: Stop Clause 43

The Digital Economy Bill introduces powers to cut your Internet connection if you're caught illegally downloading films, music or software. In addition it makes it possible for companies or individuals to use your photographs or artwork without your permission and without paying you a fee. Currently if someone found one of your images on the web they could not use it commercially without your consent. But, Clause 43 of the Digital Economy Bill puts an end to this. "Orphan Works" is the term used to describe photographs or other artwork files that have no "traceable" more…

March 25, 2010 By admin at 11:31 am

Filed Under: On Photography

I’m a Photographer not a terrorist

Photographers protesting in Trafalgar Square

Yesterday (23-01-10) saw the "I'm a Photographer not a Terrorist" protest in Trafalgar Square. The mass protest was in reaction to a series of high profile detentions of photographers under section 44 of the terrorism act. The event was peaceful as hundreds of photographers took photographs of each other taking photographs... of each other: A mass meta-photographic exercise. Unfortunately there did not appear to be any speeches or rallying, although maybe the proliferation of so many images may help to spread word of the cause. But such a gathering does highlight the more…

January 24, 2010 By admin at 2:56 pm

Filed Under: On Photography

Capa’s ‘falling soldier’ – debate continues

The debate is recindled again as a Spanish academic gives new evidence to suggest Capa's photo is faked. Guardian article here ...and the debate continues. Much the same as with Dorethea Lange's 'Migrant Mother'. I find it interesting how history can focus wider debates on to a finite point in history. As if our whole trust in the reality of the photograph resides on whether Capa's photo is real or not. Although its probably more of an investigation into the photographers scruples than the nature of the photograph. There is no doubting in my mind that Capa was a more…

June 23, 2009 By admin at 10:13 am

Filed Under: On Photography

In photographs we trust

Consider: we trust photographs as pictures of reality but in reality they deceive us through pictures photographs can be easily accessible and simple to understand but at the same time they can have a complex 'text' or inferred reading we know how to appreciate the aesthetic of a photograph but only through 'borrowed' concepts from other non-photographic art forms A digital photographer "creates" using a independent mechanical/electrical process that does not (necessarily) need the photographer to create anything - merely press the shutter release These more…

June 22, 2009 By admin at 4:57 pm

Filed Under: On Photography

The photograph and the immediate aesthetic

The photograph as an object or virtual object is a powerfully attractive sight. The allure of a photograph is what i define as its 'immediate aesthetic': the initial pleasing effect the image causes in the viewer. The immediate aesthetic is important, now more than ever, as it is used to attract the viewers attention to the image - a valuable commodity of any photograph as we are constantly bombarded with visual images - especially considering the thumbnails we are presented with on the web. But to merely look at the immediate aesthetic as the nature of the image is more…

June 22, 2009 By admin at 4:13 pm

Filed Under: On Photography