Paul Biddle Photographer

Happy Polaroid Accidents

2012-01-31T10:11:00.000-08:00

Quite a few years and possibly many of your Moons ago, this image White Tulips

won the Polaroid European Final Art Awards - colour print section


White Tulips

I should own up and say, I won it by default

How it happened - I shot the image on 4”x 5” Polaroid Type 55 film

and to be honest I didn’t rate the image at all and filed it under

Failures / sub-section - Never to be seen again.

Then I forgot about it.

Luckily an unprocessed Polaroid from the shoot fell down behind a bench in my incredibly damp

darkroom.

When I say incredibly damp - think Troglodyte existence,

imagine mould spores mutating and meandering up the walls

Geologically, my darkroom provided a tunnel or escape route directly to Hades

Cathedral-like vaults full of stalactites and stalagmites, majestic curtains and surreal rock formations, and even a resident Hermit

In short a damp and smelly darkroom

The Polaroid festered there for a few years

from the Cretaceous Period to the Carboniferous

And then on one of those rare ‘Let’s clean the Darkroom’ days

I found the unprocessed Polaroid deep down in Hades growing and mutating some

unspeakable things

I gingerly picked it up and carried it out to the Light

and promptly forgot about it again

Then I processed it and low and behold the damp of ages had performed a miracle

it had degraded the image and added some interesting blemishes and Serious Stains

I found myself in a (position of Quite Liking it)

I scanned the negative, tinted it, made a print and sent it poste haste to Polaroid
and they liked it too.

I do miss Polaroid

The Vain Pomegranate

2011-12-13T05:38:00.000-08:00

The Vain Pom e gran ate

from the Series : The Paranoia of F ruit and Veg e tables

Have you ever noticed how a Pomegranate given the opportunity will stare for hours and hours at it’s own reflection ?

No Nor nor nor had I until yes ter day when

I happened upon this very scene in a dark and dusty corner of my studio

It was the sound of lemons being peeled by the ever industrious Mr and Mrs Wasp

that first aroused my attention


detail of The Vain Pomegranate

I crept closer so as not to disturb

and there before me was a scene stolen from the 17th Century

redolent with the scent of ancient chalk dust and wasp wings

I just had to take a snap and here it is


The Vain Pomegranate

And there she was Lady PushPeter of the Pom e granates

Preening

Perched on a    column of platitude

admiring herself and her rather coquettish feather

Does a Pomegranate    Preen   ?

Please write your answer on a wasp wing of your choice

whisper to the wasp

and    point it    in my direction

The wasp that makes me laugh the most   will receive a   free wasp sized print of

The Vain Pomegranate with no Stings     attached

Granada Granada      Granada

Editors Note : Any reference to   Bleeding Hearts , Ratatoiulle or Frederick                       The Great Elector

of      Brandenburg Prussia    are   purely   coinci dental

rather like      Flossing in the Wind

                     You can see more of Paul Biddle's work at

                                    http://www.paulbiddle.com

Do Red Dots Help Sell Pictures?

2011-11-07T12:51:00.000-08:00

I received an email
                              recently from The Self-Styled Mr Smith

You    remember    the chap I am sure, He of Snail Sex fame who appeared in this very     blog

This is what he said

"I have been to a few print exhibitions in my time. I expect you have too. Has it ever struck you, as it did me the other day, how popular the prints are that have a small red dot on them?
They always seem to be the ones that sell.
Looking through your website I couldn't see that you had included any little red dots. There maybe an artistic reason for this that I, perhaps, would not appreciate, but I thought I would raise the matter with the idea that you may, in future consider including the odd little red dot in one of the bottom corners of a few of your offerings, to see if it helps to sell the prints for you.
Please don't take this amiss. I would hate you to think that I want to interfere in the creative process, or any other of your processes."

With kind regards,
S.S. Mr. S.

This is Food For   thought   or is there considerably less to this than meets the eye?

So I have decided to take Mr Smith's good advice

to see if it works

Here are a few of My images with added majikal red dots

Let us see if the red spots before our very eyes improve sales


British Food

Nose Island

Madame Naughty Nips

Mr Mark Featherhead

Jug Woman 1 (after Picasso)

Now here is the rub

It's come to my notice whilst writing this post

that two of my most popular images have the said red dots built in

so to speak

Master Jack and the Haws

and

Crow Red Berry

So   now I am thinking perhaps there is considerably more than meets the eye

to    Mr Smith's idea than I first    thought . . .

As a post script    to the postscript    I would like to show Mr Smith's   Very Own

offering his digital work     entitled    SOLD


SOLD by Mr Smith Editors Note Mr S mith would like me to communicate the fact that his work SOLD is in fact For Sale Please see his comment on this post

The Man of Letters

2011-09-21T07:35:00.000-07:00

T he M a n of L e t ter s

I call t his image of one of the Butterfly Boys

T he Man of Letters

and have always been happy with the said title

Until Now

The artist and erst while Follower of this very Blog Dawn Tebbutt

popped some of the Letters on Twin B's head and arms into

AnAna gram Generator

and here are a few of the Anagrams (7773) it generated in a fraction of a whisker

Masked Twit Yuppy, Keypad Swim Putty, Swapped Kitty Yum, Mapped Witty Yuks

Pawed Kitty Spumy, Weak Dumpy Typist, Kaput Wiped Stymy, Swampy Dike Putty

Swampy Pitted Yuk, Swampy Ditty Puke, A Dumpy Spew Kitty, Dame Witty Sky Pup

Now I yam in a tizz

Should I change the Title or not

The Hand of Odd

2011-09-06T08:47:00.000-07:00

It was only yesterday that I realised

I have Sausages of Contention instead of Polite Fingers as Digits

I should explain of course

I found myself in my studio attempting to grasp a clumsy representation of the planet

Saturn as One does

Suddenly I saw them wrinkled porcine pinkeys

and then much to my dismay

Two of the knuckles winked at me yes it turns out they have eyes

I just had to take a snap

The Hand of Odd

Strangely it wasn't the fact my fingers have eyes that alarmed me

It was their rather casual and suggestive winking. It was almost as if I wasn't there.

My Sausages of Contention had cut me to the Quick

Editors Note:

Any references to Creating the World in Seven Days

or Metaphysical Monochromes

or Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel

or Heaven Forbid allowing Humour to creep into Fine Art Photography

are purely coincidental

You can see more of Paul Biddle's images at

http://www.paulbiddle.com

Paul Biddle has an exhibition at Luminous - Lint

2011-08-22T11:33:00.000-07:00

The Strange Worlds of Paul Biddle

http://www.luminous-lint.com/app/vexhibit/_PHOTOGRAPHER_Paul__Biddle_01/2/0/0/

Paul Biddle and his Archipelago of Fantasy Islands

2011-07-17T09:30:00.000-07:00

Cloudy Island

Handy Island

Many people have asked the same question: Do Paul Biddles' Fantasy Islands actually exist? The simple answer is No, but here are some comments we have received in the past.


Foot and Mouth Island

Christopher Colombus: I could never make up my mind if it was Nor Nor East or just plain Nor Nor Nor. 21st June, 1498.

Ferdinand Magellan : Whilst completing my first Circumnavigation of the World I happened upon a Strait called Biddle but it led to Nowhere. 1520


Nose Island

Francis Drake : I had always heard the best and most capacious ruffs were made in the Strait of Biddle but I never quite found them. 1590

Marco Polo : When I was exploring Asia, a dear friend of mine called Kublai Khan mentioned the existence of such an Archipelago but he found it very difficult to pronounce the word Biddle. 1290

Editors Note: It seems highly improbable that these comments bare any semblance of truth.

Although the light-house perched on top of
the fabled Nose Island bares a striking resemblance to Smeatons Tower in Plymouth.


Contarini Cauliflower Island


Mr Fred Conquest and Jemima the Goose Island This island is also strictly speaking not an island but a Ship of the Line in the Fantasy Island Navy and lets face it Mr Conquest and the Good Jemima sail a pretty ship.

Ear Island

Marvel at the woman with the megaphone and ice skates on her feet.

Whilst looking at the woman with the megaphone through a telescope an ancient mariner made the observation that she looked remarkably similar to the woman who appears in the photograph
Snail Sex at the following link
http://www.paulbiddle.com/site/pages/page_79.html

The Ship of the Desert Sails Forth Island

Desdemoaner and the Ice Monkey Island

The shady looking character in ice skates above is in fact
the self-styled Mr Smith of Snail Sex fame

O'Grady Says Island

Possibly the first Wind Farm situated on a Fantasy Island in the known World

Isle of No Egrets

Nose Island on Holiday


Handy Footy Island You can see more of Paul Biddles photographs at http://www.paulbiddle.com Editors Note : We have had countless people enquiring about Holidays to The Fantasy Island Archipelago. Due to ecological reasons tourism is strictly limited and is now fully booked until the year 2020.

"Who are the Butterfly Boys?" Part 1

2011-07-07T09:55:00.000-07:00

Over the years many people have asked Paul Biddle "Who are the Butterfly Boys?"

The Butterfly Boys

Well the simple answer is Urchin Boy and his brother the Man with a Fish on his head.

Paul Biddle first met the identical twins at an impromptu party in 1875 long before either of them were born. Just like any normal person he was overcome with a desperate urge to stick things on their heads. They were in effect a blank canvas, a phrenologists delight.

Dog Biscuit Mantle

Urchin Boy

He approached them with the idea of making a portrait. Paul Biddle confesses that he made no mention of his desire to place objet on their heads. What follows is in Biddles' own words.

"Myself and my Muse and Missus arrived at their residence. Only one of the twins agreed to sit for a portrait. The other - lets call him Twin B positively refused and hid upstairs in a room which can only be described as being filled with the dust gathered from ancient Grand Pianos.

We busied ourselves setting up lights and the camera - mere devices for capturing likenesses. Meanwhile I was desperately trying to look as though I knew what I was doing but in truth I had a pocketful of sea urchin shells which I was desperate to stick on the models' bald head. I came clean and told him of my intentions - UrchinBoy responded with the beginnings of a quirky smile.

My Muse and I began to try to attach the said Sea Urchin shells to his head, a task easier said than done. We laboured for some time to no avail, as you have probably found out when trying this for yourselves at home. Sea Urchin shells resist being stuck to anything on Principle. After several hours we had to use a special Trade Secret to apply those pretty little shells to his head."

Many people - well a few - have cried - Those Eyes Those Eyes - Is it Picasso? A firm NO has always been my answer

The tattoo on his arm is not in fact a tattoo it is a real sea-horse.

After processing the film I made a black and white print in my darkroom and took it into the studio. Whereupon I covered it in pieces of broken glass and used a spot of light here and there to bring the image to life and yes you are quite right the object bottom right is a dried and rather smelly Flying Fish.

Collectors of my prints will tell you there is a fly buzzing about the set.

As to the meaning behind these images I have always left it to the viewer to decide. Often they arrive at much better

concepts than I could ever come up with."


The Magician's Lair

http://www.paulbiddle.com

Postscript to the Post:

Yes, the Dog Biscuit Mantle is made by my Muse and Missus

and yes it is made from real dog biscuits

Rather apt we thought

EDITORS NOTE : Paul sometimes uses dates which have little or nothing to do with reality.