rachael delacourt

2012-08-27T19:26:00.001+01:00

Matt Eich

2011-06-29T21:52:00.000+01:00

"Matt Eich, 1986, USA, is a young documentary photographer based in Virginia and one of the founding members of Luceo Images. He is currently working on a series in Baptist Town where he started to document the "black" neighbourhood and is planning to do the same in the "white" region. His goal with this series is to remind people that even though civil rights are taught in history classes around the US, the legacies of racism continue to impact the people economically and culturally. In his series Carry Me Ohio, Matt documents the poor communities in Southeast Ohio, a region that once thrived on its mining industry, and how they attempt to recover economically. In recent years Matt has been in numerous group exhibitions and several solo exhibitions. The following images come from the series Sin and Salvation in Baptist Town, An Altered State of Being and Carry Me Ohio." - 500Photographers

Taylor Paige Reynolds

2011-06-17T21:29:00.000+01:00

This is not the Body; this is an image of the Body.

2011-06-12T21:05:00.000+01:00

A collaboration between Andrea Fam and Vanessa Ban.
The project explores the idea of manipulation within photography in a social context. The effects of manipulation within photography has had powerful effects; mostly as a form of social construction within the human body, and the very idea that we are constructed to feel uncomfortable within our own bare skin intrigued us into carrying out the project.

Hence, a photographic experiment was conducted whereby the photographer is removed from scene, leaving only the camera and the subject. The naked subject stands before the camera with a shutter speed of 25 seconds. The lengthy shutter speed acts as the choice of manipulation for the subject. For instance, a subject who is uncomfortable about his/her body shifts about, resulting in a blurred image of him/herself and by doing so, manipulates the image of his/her own body into a blur. On the other hand, a subject who is comfortable stands still and eventually produces a relatively clear image of his/her body.

The elimination of the photographer passes the power of manipulation over to the subject, who is then able to show the viewer their perspective on their body. Subsequently, a publication featuring Andrea’s writings was designed to allow the viewer to gain a deeper insight onto our topic.

Vanessa Ban

Obtained from: TheArtist&HisModel.com

Swansea Degree Show

2011-05-21T23:04:00.002+01:00

Three years have quickly come to an end. Our degree is being wrapped up by two exhibitions of our final work. One of which will be at Swansea Metropolitan University for the month of May, and the second at Free Range in Brick Lane, London. Our section of the website it all up and running, with individual profiles of all the students involved, as well as a selection of their work.

A Distance That Keeps Soup Warm

2011-05-21T13:22:00.001+01:00

Megan McIsaac

2011-04-24T01:14:00.023+01:00

I've been following Megan McIsaac on Tumblr for awhile, and I can't even begin to explain how much I love her stuff. I consistently love everything that she does. So much so, that I'm not even going to bother ranting about her work, but instead just leave some of her stuff on here for reference.

I also love the way that she's structured her website. Organising batches of images under time periods in that way seems pretty nice and ideal when you work in this constant manner of observation and documentation.

Dorothée Smith

2011-03-24T18:42:00.000+00:00

Everything about Dorothée Smith's work. Just everything.

"Photography is Easy, Photography is Difficult"

2011-03-24T02:00:00.001+00:00

Wanted to keep a record of this essay by Paul Graham somewhere. It was written for the Yale MFA Photography Graduation book. "We Belong Together" 2009. Just an enjoyable read.

It’s so easy it’s ridiculous. It’s so easy that I can’t even begin – I just don’t know where to start. After all, it’s just looking at things. We all do that. It’s simply a way of recording what you see – point the camera at it, and press a button. How hard is that? And what’s more, in this digital age, its free - doesn’t even cost you the price of film. It’s so simple and basic, it’s ridiculous.

It’s so difficult because it’s everywhere, every place, all the time, even right now. It’s the view of this pen in my hand as I write this, it’s an image of your hands holding this book, Drift your consciousness up and out of this text and see: it’s right there, across the room - there… and there. Then it’s gone. You didn’t photograph it, because you didn’t think it was worth it. And now it’s too late, that moment has evaporated. But another one has arrived, instantly. Now. Because life is flowing through and around us, rushing onwards and onwards, in every direction.

But if it’s everywhere and all the time, and so easy to make, then what’s of value? which pictures matter? Is it the hard won photograph, knowing, controlled, previsualised? Yes. Or are those contrived, dry and belabored? Sometimes. Is it the offhand snapshot made on a whim. For sure. Or is that just a lucky observation, some random moment caught by chance? Maybe. Is it an intuitive expression of liquid intelligence? Exactly. Or the distillation of years of looking seeing thinking photography. Definitely.

“life’s single lesson: that there is more accident to it than a man can admit to in a lifetime, and stay sane”

- Thomas Pynchon, V

Ok, so how do I make sense of that never ending flow, the fog that covers life here and now. How do I see through that, how do I cross that boundary? Do I walk down the street and make pictures of strangers, do I make a drama-tableaux with my friends, do I only photograph my beloved, my family, myself? Or maybe I should just photograph the land, the rocks and trees – they don’t move or complain or push back. The old houses? The new houses? Do I go to a war zone on the other side of the world, or just to the corner store, or not leave my room at all?

Yes and yes and yes. That’s the choice you are spoiled for, but just don’t let it stop you. Be aware of it, but don’t get stuck – relax, it’s everything and everywhere. You will find it, and it will find you, just start, somehow, anyhow, but: start.

Yes, but shouldn’t I have a clear coherent theme, surely I have to know what I’m doing first? That would be nice, but I doubt Robert Frank knew what it all meant when he started, or for that matter Cindy Sherman or Robert Mapplethorpe or Atget or… so you shouldn’t expect it. The more preplanned it is the less room for surprise, for the world to talk back, for the idea to find itself, allowing ambivalence and ambiguity to seep in, and sometimes those are more important than certainty and clarity. The work often says more than the artist knows.

Ok, but my photography doesn’t always fit into neat, coherent projects, so maybe I need to roll freeform around this world, unfettered, able to photograph whatever and whenever: the sky, my feet, the coffee in my cup, the flowers I just noticed, my friends and lovers, and, because it’s all my life, surely it will make sense? Perhaps. Sometimes that works, sometimes it’s indulgent, but really it’s your choice, because you are also free to not make ‘sense’.

“so finally even this story is absurd, which is an important part of the point, if any, since that it should have none whatsoever seems part of the point too”

- Malcolm Lowry, Ghostkeeper.

Ok, so I do need time to think about this. To allow myself that freedom for a short time. A couple of years. Maybe I won’t find my answer, but I will be around others who understand this question, who have reached a similar point. Maybe I’ll start on the wrong road, or for the wrong reasons – because I liked cameras, because I thought photography was an easy option, but if I’m forced to try, then perhaps I’ll stumble on some little thing, that makes a piece of sense to me, or simply just feels right. If I concentrate on that, then maybe it grows, and in its modest, ineffable way, begins to matter. Like photographing Arab-Americans in the USA as human beings with lives and hopes and families and feelings, straight, gay, young, old, with all the humanity that Hollywood never grants them. Or the black community of New Haven, doing inexplicable joyous, ridiculous theatrical-charades that explode my preconceptions into a thousand pieces. Or funny-disturbing-sad echoes of a snapshot of my old boyfriend. Or the anonymous suburban landscape of upstate in a way that defies the spectacular images we’re addicted to. Or… how women use our bodies to display who we believe we should be, Or…

“A Novel? No, I don’t have the endurance any more. To write a novel, you have to be like Atlas, holding up the whole world on your shoulders, and supporting it there for months and years, while its affairs work themselves out…”

- J. M. Coetzee, Diary of a Bad Year.

And hopefully I will carry on, and develop it, because it is worthwhile. carry on because it matters when other things don’t seem to matter so much: the money job, the editorial assignment, the fashion shoot. Then one day it will be complete enough to believe it is finished. Made. Existing. Done. And in its own way: a contribution, and all that effort and frustration and time and money will fall away. It was worth it, because it is something real, that didn’t exist before you made it exist: a sentient work of art and power and sensitivity, that speaks of this world and your fellow human beings place within it. Isn’t that beautiful?

Richard Learoyd

2011-02-24T16:54:00.006+00:00

Not only are Richard Learoyd's images beautiful, they're pretty amazing technically. After coming across his work, I looked into how he actually created his photographs, simply because their quality is incredible and unusual. Learoyd works in a manner very similar to that seen in early processes of photography, made directly onto colour positive paper inside a walk in camera.

"His images are produced individually as singular objects. Utilizing a distinct photographic method he creates life sized images inside a specifically built camera. This construction captures the image without any interposing film negative, transparency or intermediate material. Instead the apparatus of light is directly focussed by the camera and translated onto a sheet of positive photographic paper. With no means of reproduction, once created, ultimately every image is entirely unique in its existence."

Obtained from: Union Gallery

ManyMany.org

2011-01-05T01:09:00.002+00:00

So many amazing photographers, not enough hours in the day.

Trust me, I just sat here for forty minutes just flicking through them and looking through the photographer's websites.

2010-10-22T22:13:00.008+01:00

MyModernMet.com

MyModernMet.com is a fantastic site. I'm meant to be either editing images or doing some more reading for my thesis, but ended up searching back through countless entries on that blog. Some of the work featured there is amazing - and even though a lot of it isn't necessarily "related" to my practice, the work is just inspiring regardless of this.

Andrew Bruce - I suppose it's not the nicest of topics, but the composition and lighting of the work somehow make it impossible to not be impressed. After reading what he has to say of his work, I decided it was okay to be impressed. It's shocking, but then, I suppose that's what makes it captivating, that's what grabs your attention and makes you consider what he's saying.
Mark Pillai - Everything about this piece make it so much more than a fashion spread. I love unusual fashion shoots like this.
Jason Lee - Somewhat more related to my personal practice, I suppose. Definitely made me consider the way in which I choose to compose my images. I have a tendency of being in close proximity to a scene, deciding that it would be a good moment to take out my camera, and while I'm doing this, I take a step back. Perhaps I should stop taking that step back.

Jennifer Causey

2010-09-23T21:42:00.008+01:00

Jennifer Causey

I'm not much of a "still life" photographer. Recently, I've been attempting to spend more time focusing on considering composition and lighting a little more. This means that I'm taking a lot more photographs which happen to be void of people, which initially felt a little weird for me, seen as I've spent so much of my time developing the way in which I capture people within my work. I have noticed that focusing on surroundings and space - more specifically lighting and angles and compositions - is certainly making it easier for me to photograph people when I do come back to doing that. Recently, these things which are so important seem to have been somewhat pushed to the back ground for me, simply because I'm over thinking my work a little. Considering it too much, perhaps attempting to be a little too technical.

Jennifer Causey's work is, in simple terms, pretty beautiful, but asides from that, flicking through her online portfolio, I realised so many ways in which I could develop the ways in which I work. Her images are so simple, so basic, yet so much more, all the same time. They work perfectly without seeming as though they even have to try to. I'm sure there is a great amount of knowledge and technique as well as incredible talent behind them, but the beauty of it is, that they seem so natural and beautiful that you almost don't even question their creation - you spend too much time considering the lighting and content (and feeling pretty damn jealous of the lives behind these images!)

Mark Abrahams

2010-09-09T20:49:00.011+01:00

Mark Abrahams for Nylon Magazine.

March 2001.

"In Your Face".

Throughout this year, I've been trying to really refine my 'practice', while I think that natural artistic instincts should always be followed, I'm also becoming more aware that sometimes, I need to be more concious when I'm 'making work'. Photographing family on such a constant basis can, I've found, often lead to getting a little too comfortable. Working with the same lighting, the same space, the same concepts. While that can sometimes work, I don't want it to be something that ends up holding me back and preventing me from pushing myself.

With that in mind, I've been considering the idea of portraiture in relation to my work a little more. While the majority of my work does focus specifically upon people, the space and surroundings are also extremely integral. I have never really considered my work portraiture, rather a documentation of a moment which happens to also include that person. I've recently become more interested in focusing more intently upon the person within the frame, and while Mark Abrahams images are very much portraits, their natural appearance and intimate atmosphere are something which I would love to develop within my images. They find that perfect balance between being a constructed shot, while also being intimate and revealing.

Obtained from: TheArtist&HisModel.com

Lee Price

2010-09-09T20:46:00.009+01:00

I came across Lee Price on "The Artist and His Model" which is a pretty amazing art blog with tonnes of interesting entries on a ridiculous amount of talented artists. It's one of those websites which results in me ending up having about fifty tabs open as I get further and further distracted from the task at hand. There are just far too many bodies of work which you could spend your whole day trawling through.

This brought me to Price's work, which I loved instantly. The composition, the colours the viewpoint (which intrigued and confused me a little before I began to imagine all manner of wonderfully insane contraptions the photographer must have created in order to take this beautiful birds eye view shots) the content. Everything about them captivated me. I then clicked through to the "photographer's" website and soon discovered that this photographer was not a photographer at all, but a painter.

...a painter?!

This led to me flipping through all of the images, zooming in, zooming out and pulling impressed/confused faces. Yes, I've seen some amazing photo-realistic painters, but these honestly had me fooled for a good while.

That aside, the content themselves is brilliant. Whether photograph or painting, I love the intimacy of them, which made me realise how very intimate our "alone time" is. How we value it. How we take pleasure in indulging - whether that be sitting alone in our room or in the bathtub - and how this seems to be multiplied when it involves further "indulging" in our favourite foods. I could go further into what I understand of the psychology of this, but I'm going to leave it at this.

"Snack". Lee Price.

"Sunday". Lee Price.

"Emilie (Breakfast)". Lee Price.

"Self Portrait in Tub with Chinese Food". Lee Price.

"Cocoa Puffs". Lee Price.

"Grilled Cheese". Lee Price.

"Strawberry Swirl". Lee Price.

"Lisa in Tub With Chocolate Cake". Lee Price.

"Refuge". Lee Price.

Torbjørn Roland

2010-09-05T01:18:00.002+01:00

Once again, Torbjorn Rodland's stuff proves I'm a sucker for natural light and a good photographic eye.

"Heads, Hands, Liquids". 2007. Torbjorn Roland.

Mark Peckmezian

2010-09-05T01:07:00.006+01:00

Mark Peckmezian makes me want to start shooting in black and white again, right now.

Aaron Feaver

2010-09-05T00:50:00.004+01:00

I am currently so in love with Aaron Feaver's stuff, that I can't actually just choose a few images to put here.
As I begin to focus on really pinpointing my technical abilities, my strengths, my weakness - in essence, what sets my images apart from anyone else's - I've been looking at a lot of photographers who work in a similar vein to Feaver.

That appearance of documentary, which somehow avoids simply being reportage or appearing to be snapshot photography. It, despite seeming to be images of (for the most part) unorchestrated moments, comes across more as art, successfully managing to capture the beauty of the everyday. Those moments which we so often pass by or never even see. I love the idea that those armed with a camera and a keen photographic eye see these moments and recognise their power and beauty.

"Karina". Aaron Feaver.

"Ariela". Aaron Feaver

"Tania". Aaron Feaver.

"Cassidy". Aaron Feaver.

While there are a selection of images which are obvious organised portrait sessions, even these are extremely natural and relaxed. The subjects of these images are utterly relaxed and at ease, instantly highlighting to me their relationship with the photographer. The ability for a photographer to put their sitter at such comfort is something that interests me as I love the idea of photographing people in relaxed states in order to truly capture their personalities and character in the image.

As I work very much with unorchestrated moments, natural light and settings and, what I consider very pure ingredients to create my work, Feaver's work has constantly been in the back of my mind as I have been making work this Summer. I feel that there is a natural ease to his work which is what has been missing from my own. I have a tendency to over think things, to feel as though every time I take a shot there must be strong meaning and motivation behind it. Recently, I have found that being driven by your instincts benefits you greatly - no matter how overly romantic that may sound.

Over the Summer, I've been trying to produce as much work as possible before I begin my third year so that I can begin feeling strong and confident about my work. I figure that starting the first day of term with a strong idea of where my next body of work is going is obviously a good idea. I've been shooting roll after roll of film as and when I feel it's right, rather than holding back and over analysing every single thing. I've yet to develop them, but I'm hoping this new approach has worked. I've been motivated by shadows and light, beauty in amongst clutter, quiet within chaos and I develop my ideas and seem to be moving more towards a piece of work which explores my current thoughts considering the human condition and what exactly it means to exist in these times. It sound extremely frilly, and I've yet to define it, but I'm hoping that once I define it a little more, I'll be able to articulate myself better.

Concept aside, I'm really focusing on simplicity and beauty, and as those close to me - whether it be family or friends - are intricate to my work, and I am definitely interested in attempting some more traditional styled portrait shots, particularly something along the lines of Feaver's. I don't want to go to far towards studio-esque shots as this simply wouldn't work with the earthy atmosphere of the rest of my work, but focusing more closely on the individual in the way that Feaver does is definitely an idea I want to try out.

"Karina". Aaron Feaver

"Amia". Aaron Feaver

Swansea Degree Show

2010-05-23T16:30:00.028+01:00

Final Degree Exhibtion
Swansea Metropolitan University
20th May - 20th June 2011

With the final year of my degree coming to an end, everyone is preparing for the degree show.
Projects are getting wrapped up and finalised ready be shown in our last university exhibition. It's an odd, somewhat anti-climactic feeling. Three years seems to have passed far too quickly, and it feels extremely odd to have a body of work on the falls which, effectively, encapsulates these three years of education and development.

At the moment, I have that awful feeling of "if only I had had just another month...", but then, I still would have felt like I could have done something more, something extra. Something better. Yet, despite all of this and despite all of the stress and drama that have surrounded getting to this point, I am actually pretty happy with my final body of work.

After months of editing, followed by more editing, and then some more editing, I finally decided upon six 'final' images for the exhibition. I chose to print these 30"x30" and have them in simple plain black frames. I knew that I wanted to show around five of them, but opted to have the six just in case - I found editing so difficult that having that extra print made me feel a little better. I didn't want to find myself regretting the five that I finally chose, and so, that sixth one gave me a little more freedom to chop and change the ones which actually ended up on the wall, as well as their sequencing.

While the space in the university exhibition is somewhat limited, these prints will also be shown in the London Free Range show, meaning that the extra space there will allow me show all six if I chose to do so.

The Burning House

2010-02-23T18:36:00.000+00:00

The title is pretty self explanatory, and while utterly unrelated to my personal work, I love the whole project. I'm sure the idea has been explored before, and the method in which it's been shot has been seen before - but Robert Holden has done it pretty well. As I said, while it may not be visually connected, I suppose it is dealing with many of the motifs and concepts which lay behind my own work. Holden explains that the project is:

"...a conflict between what's practical, valuable, and sentimental. What you would take reflects your interests, background and priorities. Think of it as an interview condensed into one question."

and so much of my interests stem from what is, essentially, at the basest, crudest foundation of human nature. Our family structure, social circule, society or cultures which each add specific elements to our identity - bricks which construct who we are and who we wish to be seen as. That "narrative identity" that I keep babbling on about is constructed by all of these things and while being so mundane and everyday, is actually extrememly important and revealing. Every aspect of our "everyday" lives builds upon our personal narratives, the roles that we play within our family making us feel as though we belong, that we are needed. Owning that particular branded gadget making us part of a certain "group" of consumers, building our identity. Our love of that particular genre of music which links us to a certain social group. Each of these things are both basic and yet essential to the construction of our ego, our confidence that we know who we are. That we can say we belong in a certain place. As Holden says, these simple things group together to form an image of a person, they very crudely and quickly construct an understanding of who we are through assumptions and stereotypes - reducing who we are to a few simple bullet points.

All of that aside, I also love the way its been shot. Lighting and settings all add to this idea of "constructing" the person who exists behind the image.

Obtained from: MyModernMet.com