Prime Objective Blog

Hit The Baby, Natasha!

2010-01-27T09:00:00+00:00

Last year I was commissioned to take press shots for Hit the Baby, Natasha! a reworking of Russian playwright Anton Chechov’s 1900 play Three Sisters, staged by Walsall-based theatre company The Happiness Patrol.

I didn’t get to see the show but did get to photograph some of the incredible puppets created by artist Caroline McDowell, a few of which can now be seen on the Arts Council website...

Talking Energy

2010-01-26T21:03:00+00:00

Back in October I worked with energy company E-ON on their Talking Energy project.

I was on camera duties for the Birmingham Vox Pop shoot - filmed around the famous Bullring shopping centre. A few months on and the Talking Energy video wall is now online promoting discussion and debate on the issue of future energy resources and climate change…

First day with Panasonic GF-1

2010-01-26T11:42:00+00:00

Just before Christmas I treated myself to a new and portable little camera, the Panasonic GF-1! It’s a fantastic camera that comes with a 20mm 1.7 lens - great for shallow depth of field and low light! Plus it shoots fantastic video HD video…

Here’s a short test video I made after my first outing with the camera…

They noticed wrong!

2010-01-14T20:26:00+00:00

This morning a friend contacted me with regards a seminar they’d been putting together on creatives who’d had their ideas and work ripped off by other ‘creative’ people.

During their research they stumbled upon a website called youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com, a blog site dedicated to naming and shaming those who blatantly steal other peoples work and call it their own.

One of the first posts they spotted was related to the BDE 2010 Brand Identity, a photographic logo I helped create with TAK! design and Dance Exchange back in April 2009.

The author of the post DBNI Industries claims that my work and the concept of TAK! design was a rip off of his own photographic work. He even claims that my photography isn’t even a photograph! Stating it contains computer generated graphics or swirls placed over the image of a dancer…

How wrong could he be! Time to set the record straight…

BDE 2010 - Light Logo

2009-12-09T13:00:00+00:00

Back in April this year I worked with TAK! Design to create a logo and brand identity for British Dance Edition 2010, a bi-annual dance festival showcasing the freshest work within the British dance scene…

Online contemporary dance zine Article 19 were on the shoot to document our experimental logo production and created a really nice making of film…

The Woods

2009-12-08T12:24:00+00:00

A couple of weeks back I shot a short promo video for ‘The Woods’, an experimental performance piece by artist and director Jane Packman.

The Woods from Jane Packman on Vimeo.

Jane has been developing ‘The Woods’ project further this year with performers and audience in Highbury park, Birmingham. She’s devised a performance which takes the audience on a journey through the park and the lives of three totally individual yet related characters all with differing lines of connection to each other.

The show takes place at night but due to time and light constraints we shot our video piece in daylight… I’m really looking forward to working more with Jane once the performance has been fully developed and hope to make a more complete film, with the characters in full costume and possibly shooting in a day for night style…

Shocked into Abstraction

2009-12-07T14:54:00+00:00

My latest artist video doc for the Ikon gallery is now online…

This time I got to spend a week following the installation of artist & writer Matias Faldbakken.

His exhibition Shocked into Abstraction features a mix of appropriated objects including a wall of Marshall speaker cabinets, a burnt out car and his own home made pedal pumping video!

Take a watch of the video to hear Matias discussing his work and if you watch to the end you’ll see the artist creating a unique wall painting in his own destructive style…

TG Collective

2009-11-14T11:15:00+00:00

A few weeks back I went on a little road trip around Devon with the fantastic TG Collective, an incredibly talented gypsy jazz band, heavily influenced by the music of Django Reinhardt.

My task was to film them performing at their live gigs and also shoot footage of them performing in interesting outdoor locations around Devon.

They’ve just uploaded one of the location videos to their Vimeo page...

As you can see we decided to keep it really simple with just one locked off shot and let the music do the talking…

Enjoy!

The Friday Prefab Photo…

2009-11-13T15:51:00+00:00

Just spotted that the lovely chaps at Created in Birmingham chose to feature my Prefab Tom portrait on their regular Friday Photo slot....

The City Sings!

2009-11-12T17:18:00+00:00

Back in September a group of trumpet players and singers descended on Chamberlain Square in Birmingham for a Flash Mob choir event called The City Sings.

I worked with a small camera crew to document the City Sings event at Artsfest…

Themselves in Utah…

2009-11-12T16:24:00+00:00

Just came across this simple yet brilliant performance music video from Anticon heroes Themselves…

Themselves - “Oversleeping” in Utah from anticon. on Vimeo.

Prefab Portrait in Colorado!

2009-11-06T13:05:00+00:00

Tonight sees the opening of the Portraits exhibition over at the Centre for Fine Art Photography, in Fort Collins, Colorado. My Prefab Tom work was selected from over 2,500 submissions by Mary Ellen Mark, one of the most respected and influential photojournalists of our time.

The show consisting of 52 unique portraits runs from today until the end of November in the main gallery space at C4FAP

Russian Artist Docs

2009-10-27T10:57:00+00:00

I recently completed two new video docs for the Ikon Gallery, giving an insight into two independent Russian artists Semyon Faibisovich whose paintings are constructed from mobile phone images taken around his home town of Razgulyai…

and artist Victor Alimpiev. Both can now be seen on the Ikon website...

I recommend a trip to the gallery to see both shows and in particular the incredible video work of Victor Alimpiev which I found both mesmerising and slightly disturbing with intricate choreography set against a backdrop of nothingness…

Jump right in at the deep end…

2009-10-08T11:43:00+00:00

Just came across this music video for Feet of Courage by Nancy Elizabeth… Really like it! Inspired to try and make my Merman film again…

Nancy Elizabeth - Feet Of Courage from Leaf Label on Vimeo.

Beatniks in Cornwall

2009-10-01T14:23:00+00:00

Just came across this fantastic 1960 Alan Wicker TV documentary when looking up guitarist Wizz Jones… Beatnicks outlawed in Cornwall.. How times have changed!

Sony Z5 - Slow Motion Test

2009-09-24T13:53:00+00:00

I recently moved into an office space at The Custard Factory and now share a space with the fabulous 7 Inch Cinema and Flatpack Festival crew!

They just uploaded a quirky slow motion clip I made whilst testing out the slow motion capabilities of the Sony Z5 HDV video camera. It’s a pretty cool function on the camera allowing you to record 200fps in bursts of 3, 6 and 12 seconds! The camera records into its own memory at a slightly lower res than SD then records back to HDV… The quality still looks pretty good…

Slomo tea from 7inch cinema on Vimeo.

Bloodface

2009-09-24T08:31:01+00:00

My good friend Mr Ben Lister recently completed an incredible music video for ‘Bloodface’ by Lisa Li-Lund. Inspired by traditional Greek folklore he uses beautifully handmade puppets and detailed sets to weave the dark tale of love, betrayal and retribution!

One of the best music videos I’ve seen in a long time… Huge congrats to Ben and his talented crew for pulling off such a great piece…

Kutiman - King You Tube Masher!

2009-09-18T09:43:00+00:00

I just came across the You Tube music masher - Kutiman! Super good remix of You Tube music content generated by individuals… Love it! Check out Thru-You.com now!

The Art of Photography - San Diego!

2009-08-29T17:25:01+00:00

I’m currently in sunny San Diego for the opening of the Art of Photography!

The Art of Photography Show 2009 is a world-class international exhibition featuring all forms of photographic art. This year they received over 16,000 entries from 57 countries, 111 pieces were chosen for the final exhibition and my image of Franz Joseph Glacier was one of them! The selection was made by Charlotte Cotton, curator and head of the Wallis Annenberg Department of Photography at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Cotton was previously curator of photographs at the Victoria & Albert museum and head of programming at The Photographers Gallery.

It feels a great achievment to have my work selected by a leading authority on photography today, especially from such a vast amount of entries! The show opens in just a few hours at the Lyceum Theatre Gallery next to Horton Plaza, Gaslamp quarter, downtown San Diego. It runs for two months until 1st November. So if you’re around this part of the world then go take a visit!

I’m off now to get ready for the opening… Exciting!

The Glass Coffin Burial of Professor Zrinack

2009-08-13T11:03:00+00:00

A new Destroyers music video from talented director John Humphreys who I last worked with on the Out of Babel video. Paul Murphy aka Professor Zrinack gives an incredible performance!