The Naked Exhibitionist

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Soul in the Machine by Khyle Raja at the Rich Mix

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 17:30:00 +0000

I openly admit that I'm somewhat of a geek. I grew up on those old black and white Sci-Fi movies that were shown late at night, the ones that taught us about the imminent destruction of the world and impending doom of an alien invasion. My mental understanding of the future was created by Philip K. Dick, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke and H. P. Lovecroft in gruesome detail. So it's no surprise that I became enamoured with the work of artists such as H. R. Giger and Luis Royo.

But it's been a long time since I've seen work that is as existentially catastrophic in its depiction of the future as Khyle Raja's. His haunting post-apocalyptic landscapes are a surreal reminder of the future. This depressing futuristic view was designed by our escalating fear of nuclear war following Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and are what Oppenheimer probably foresaw when he famously quoted the Bhagavad Gita , ' Now I have become death, the destroyer of worlds'.

Raja's depiction of a future without humanity is one firmly fixed in contemporary consciousness. The mechanistic wastelands in his images are post-modern Gothic and the ultimate destination of the rapid technological growth of the modern world. A homage to mechanical degradation and environmental decay.

Yet these landscapes create a world you can get lost in; a holocaust of nature, edgy in their surreal, almost metaphysical sense of despair. This melancholy foreshadows the image, but doesn't detract from the sense of serenity you feel as you follow each macabre brush stroke.

Khyle Raja is a London based artist. He is also a science fiction junky, and this combined with his background in architecture has helped to create this ghostly landscapes.

Raja will be hosting a discussion called Radical Notions on the Edge of Muslim Art at the Rich Mix on the 31st July 2013 at 6:45pm.

Take the red pill and head down to the Rich Mix in Shoreditch before Soul in the Machne ends on the 31st August 2013.

Exhibition Info:

Khyle Raja:

http://khylearaja.com

Rich Mix

http://www.richmix.org.uk

35-47 Bethnal Green Road, London, E1 6LA.

Drawing on History by Mark Powell at the Hang Up Gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 27 Jul 2013 13:15:00 +0000

When I first heard of Mark Powell's work a quote from Atom Egoyan popped into my head, 'My parents taught me to believe that through the creative act, we're able to transcend and give a response to desecration.' Art, according to Egoyan, is a response to desecration. Yet, although the rigid English lecturer in me finds the notion of the defacing of historical documents reprehensible, Powell's work is quintessentially the opposite of this ideal and remains immensely gripping. 'I see this as preservation of history, Powell explains, 'I recreate and reuse these discarded documents and create something that is both new and historical'.

The medium of document artefacts has been reanimated by Powell using Bic biro and create an augmented history. Faces of the elderly and birds in flight emerge from history through his art, creating living memorabilia. 'Elderly people represent a life lived. You can see it in their faces, that they have a history', he told me. 'And there is a sense that they have travelled through history. The birds in my work create a sense of literal travel, travel from A to B'.

Powell's art is a combination of lucid portraits and documents from modern history; from a London news print dated 1767, to a Scottish letter from 1827 and an Italian newspaper from 1922. People who know of his work send him pictures of their parents and grandparents to use in his drawings. He uses these images to create an aesthetic correlation between portrait and document, ensuring the title of the piece connects with image and document.

The irony of using a writing implement to draw on historical documents is not the ultimate reason Powell has put down the paint brush and adopted a common Bic pen. The idea is that even with the simplest tools one can be creative. But the foreshadowing of his drawings with the context of historical writing enlivens our understanding of the work. You become fascinated with both the origin of the document and ironic penmanship of Powell.

Drawing on History will be at the Hang Up Gallery in Sotke Newington until the 1st of September.

Hang Up Gallery:

56 Stoke Newington High St London N16 7PB
www. hanguppictures.com
020 3667 4550

Mark Powell:

www.markpowellartist.com

The Loop – Tokio Aoyama at the Hoxton Gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 20:54:00 +0000

Growing up in the 70s and 80s the only art I was exposed to was on album covers or movie posters. Those two decades represented some of the most explosive colour pallets for generations, tumbling from the psychedelic age of the 60s. So when I was introduced to the art of Tokio Aoyama I was transported back to my childhood and too the trippy images that filtered through to me via music and movies.

On one of those rare summer mornings, where coffee has to be iced and people dust off their shorts to bare pale legs, I met with Japanese artist Tokio Aoyama to discuss The Loop, Tokio’s latest London exhibition. Tokio is quiet and unassuming, not at all as flamboyant as his art. Yet, his modesty hides a very eccentric painting style, a little like dreaming on angel dust.

‘I started painting when I was little. I took a graphic design degree in America, Seattle, but I didn’t like using computers to create art, so I quit and began to develop my own technique’, he said. ‘I collected old record covers and I’m inspired by 60s and 70s psychedelic paintings, but I am also influenced by Japanese mythology, space and music. I take themes from everywhere and put them together in my work’.

There is a sophisticated exploration of global spirituality in his images and their fusion with music creates a feeling of modern shamanism.

What is unique in Tokio’s revamping of these psychedelic art forms have an Afro-centric dynamic. He has reproduced images of music’s Black elite, as well as freedom fighters, such as Malchom X, Martin Luther King Jr. and Che Guevara.

This new exhibition is in collaboration with Grammy award winning, fusion hip hop artist Shafiq Husayn. ‘I’ve created a painting for each song on the album, including artists like Erykah Badu and Bilal’, he told me.

The exhibition is at the Hoxton Gallery from the 1st to the 11th August and will showcase sixteen new pieces from Shafiq’s album, as well as seven new pieces from his Dogu series. Dogu are traditional Japanese clay statues, which Tokio has recreated in glorious technicolor.

Tokio Aoyama

www.tokio-art.com

Hoxton Gallery

http://www.hoxtongallery.com

Michael Wolf @ The Flowers Gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 13:11:00 +0000

Quickly becoming one of my favourite free galleries in London, Flowers has once again hit the mark with the latest exhibition from Michael Wolf. Claustrophobic and intimate, 100x100 sq feet is the total balance of the lives in this exhibition. Cramped living spaces is the crux of Michael Wolf's photography. Insanely tiny space filled with the largeness of the human souls that occupy them, Wolf has captured the modern idea of living.

Images of commuters in suspended animation is gripping and has the air of the embalmed. Another view of the tiny and insignificance of global commuting, this is reminiscent of the early morning commute I no longer endure and I'm glad of sanctuary from. I dare any of you to look on these images and not see yourself in the tedious drudge of 21st century living.

The exhibition is a mix of Wolf's Tokyo Compression, Transparent City, Architecture of Density, Industrial and don't leave without going to the first floor of Flowers and seeing 'Fake Art', a test of the juxtaposition of 'art' in modern Japan. It's beautiful and insightful.

Michael Wolf

The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Award @ The National Portrait Gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 22:27:00 +0000

The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Award 2011 is the latest award in the six year relationship between Taylor Wessing and the National Portrait Gallery. On show is some of the most emotive and visually stimulating portraiture. There is no need to name drop the artists on show, the work, housed justly in the nation's metonym for portraiture, this exhibition is a testament to some of the world's greatest portrait photographers. The subject matter is diverse, from the silver screen to a teenager's bedroom.

Jooney Woodward's winning portrait, Harriet and Gentleman Jack, is a testament to the high quality of work on show. This is a must see exhibition for any portrait photographer. The work is inspiring, beautiful and on show until 12th February 2012.

Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Award

National Portrait Gallery - http://www.npg.org.uk:8080/photoprize/site11/index.php

Lukas Strebel: Antoglyph @ The Print Space

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:26:00 +0000

Lukas Strebel is best known for his cinematography work, winning an Emmy for Little Dorrit and a BAFTA nomination for Garrow's Law. However this exhibition is a testament to his earlier photography work. Darkly surrealistic, the exhibition represents a montage of realities that bump and twist around each other.

Pay particular attention to his grouping of images. There is a distinct sense of hidden movement in his arrangement of photographs, which flow in a dreamlike world. It is this movement that foreshadows Strebel's work in film, bringing the viewer to a state of awakening. The soft, almost blurry, focus hints at the moment one would wake into reality and the strange images of the dream world slowly disappear as the eyes filter through the real and unreal. Gothic, yet undisturbing, Strebel leads the observer deftly through his imagination.

Strebel made his way into film through photography. Having no film school in Switzerland when he was growing up, he worked as a stills photographer before making his mark as a cinematographer. His drive toward film has instilled in this work a sense of animated anticipation in a surreal world.

The exhibition is showing until the 3rd January 2011

Lukas Strebel - Untitled 1977-C

Lukas Strebel: lukasstrebel.com

The Print Space: www.theprintspace.co.uk

74 Kingsland Road

London E2 8DL

Massimo Vitali @ Brancolini Grimaldi London

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 21:28:00 +0000

Massimo Vitali has returned to London for his first solo exhibition since 1997. Renowned for his large prints of human infested landscapes, this exhibition takes a slightly different turn. In these prints the landscape is his central theme, sparsely peppered with the odd human presence. There is a distinct feeling that the landscape is a force to be reckoned with; which opposes his previous works of the 90s, which saw humanity as a viral form spreading over an almost helpless landscape.

A solitary figure on the landscape, voyeuristic in their perspective, the viewer is faced with a vast expanse of Mediterranean panoramas. Nature plays a part in distinguishing human from landscape and Vitali has done a stunning job of composing the three elements. The people seem small and insignificant and the landscapes wide and powerful. Vitali's exhibition is both landscape and documentary, pitting man against nature. The scenes here reminded me of a Wordsworth poem, Ode: Imitations of Immortality

Hence in a season of calm weather

Though inland far we be,

Our Souls have sight of that immortal sea

Which brought us hither,

Can in a moment travel thither,

And see the Children sport upon the shore,

And hear the mighty waters rolling evermore.

Shot on a large format film camera, the prints are bold and unrelenting. It boggles the mind to think about the logistics that went into taking the photographs and processing the prints. This work is worth seeing simply because it is technically brilliant. Each photograph hypnotises with the intricacies of detail. It will take hours to soak each photograph in and it is this that makes the viewing worthwhile.

The Brancolini Grimaldi Gallery is in it's infancy in London. Established in London in April 2011, it is one of the youngest contemporary photography galleries in the capital. An export from Florence and Rome, the gallery aims to 'showcase innovative artists who merge photography with other media such as performance, installation and video art'. Ask the gallery manager Jim Edwards to show you Vitali's hidden prints in the gallery. He's very passionate about Vitali's work and is worthwhile talking to. Tell him I sent you.

The Massimo Vitali exhibition runs to the 28th January 2012.

Massimo Vitali - Las Catedrales Waves

Massimo Vitali - www.massimovitali.com

Brancolini Grimaldi - www.brancolinigrimaldi.com

43 - 44 Albemarle Street, London W1S 4JJ

Pakpoom Silaphan - Remembering the Masters @ The Scream

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 19:52:00 +0000

Before I start this review, I'd like to clarify my stance on art. I don't want to argue semantics or get involved in debates about post-post-modern art. I love photography. There, I've said it. Our relationship is now out in the open for all to scrutinise. So now lets talk about the kids. Pop art, the mixed martial art of mass culture and creativity, is the black sheep of my photography family. I guess I am just old fashioned. I like a thing to be what it is, not a fused derivative, comprised of pieces of different things. But the grumpy old man in me is open minded and I have to say I love this exhibition. It may be the old, rusty Pepsi Cola signs from Thailand or Pollock dripping paint on the backdrop of two 7 Up signs, but this exhibition is enchanting.

The old crumbling signs of capitalism are a decaying background for Surrealism's most influential artists. Silaphan's commercial realia, the aesthetic of a money driven world, juxtaposed with artists that have been inspirational to his work joins culture, commercialism and creativity. It poses many questions about art and materialism and, closer to home, is reminiscent of the austerity measures that are not only stifling art in the UK, but are close to strangling it.

This mental wrangling aside, this is a great exhibition. It stimulates the mind as well as the eyes. Silaphan's witty interpretation of these authoritative figures of the art world is intriguing. It's not often you see Dali whisked away on the Coca-Cola wave.

Scream Gallery - http://www.screamlondon.com/
Exhibition until 22nd January 2012

Pakpoom Silaphan-Basquiat Sprays on Coke

£9000 at the Rag Factory

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:19:00 +0000

The exhibition is a political statement. It is a plea for help and understanding. It is a diatribe against the government's repeated attacks on education. It is the suppression of violence. But above all it is a collection of art that is well worth the £9000 price tag. If sold the money raised from the collection will fund one lucky student's tuition fees for a year. As a teacher this is simply an additional dimension to an already engrossing exhibition.

The photography is compelling, jolts the brain and provokes the heart. This is art as political expression and it pulls no punches. Yet it is authentic in its need to be understood and listened to. The artists on show have captured the epitome of the battle for higher education; from a mother struggling to feed her family balancing food with her child's hunger for higher education, to a child deliberating their future.

The photographs are gritty and harsh, but have etched the reality of the dilemma students face into a collage of images that bring the debate within easy reach of their audience. So ask yourself, what would you do with £9000?

The exhibition is showing at the Rag Factory (http://www.ragfactory.org.uk) until 20th November 2011. Take your cheque book.

Education is priceless, yet this is the government's price tag.

Simon Roberts - We English at Flowers (East)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:54:00 +0000

This is my first time at the Flowers Gallery. After passing an exquisite exhibition of Aesop's Fables themed sculptures, I went upstairs to a spacious gallery. The traditional snow-blinding white walls wer arrayed with colourful prints, which derided the white barrenness.

Simon Roberts' We English exhibition is captivating for its simplicity. This isn't an indication that his work is bland, just that the images were bold in their candidness. They mould the rural with the urbanness of the English at leisure. This dichotomy of landscape is typically English and what is inexplicable is the need to urbanise and yet stay fundamentally rural. The Romantic struggle of Wordsworth and Coleridge comes to mind, but what is lacking is the poetry in the photography. Yet Roberts' photography has to be devoid of poetry, since this would destroy the honest Englishness that the images signify. Roberts has captured the essence of the English spirit, both in the people and in the landscapes he has photographed.

If you haven't seen this exhibition hurry along to the Flowers in Kingsland Road. Exhibition ends 19th November 2011

Flowers Galleries - http://www.flowersgalleries.com/

Simon Roberts - http://simoncroberts.com/

Simon Roberts - Fantasy Island, Ingoldmells, Lincolnshire, 28th December 2007

Photomonth Youth Photography Award at the Rich Mix

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:52:00 +0000

Wandering through the mezzanine gallery of East London's hub of contemporary art, I couldn't help but feel humbled. Having been absent from the gallery scene for a number of months and just in time to glimpse the offerings of Photomonth, this exhibition reminded me of what I have been missing.

An eclectic mix of evocative images from adolescent UK, with no hint of the recent animosity towards the establishment and no trace of rebellion, this thought provoking exhibition highlights the hidden depths of Britain's youth and their ability to completely disarm you with their gritty realism and inspiring art. The exhibition speaks volumes, as good photography should. So bare in mind that the photographers on show are aged from 11 to 19 and allow yourself to be drawn in to the messages they try to convey.

The exhibition is sponsored by the World Photography Organisation, 'a global platform for the photographic industry to communicate, congregate and cultivate'. The World Photography Festival will take place at Somerset House from 27th April and to find out more information and book tickets go to www.worldphoto.org.

For more information about what's on at the Rich Mix go to http://www.richmix.org.uk

Carita Laamanen - Facades at the Department of Coffee and Social Affairs.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 18:04:00 +0000

Unlike other street photography, this exhibition is deviod of life, other than a pair of knobbly knees and a bare back, both photographed in anonymity. The show is a collage of glass towers and steel girders dissolved in absolutes and loneliness. It paints a very barren urban landscape; dull, grey and lifeless. You're immersed into a vacuous world that is adorned starkly in dark lines

What is of note is that Laamanen hand prints the photographs, which is something unheard of in contemporary photography. This old school approach makes each print unique and priced at £450 with a frame rarity is well worth the price tag.

The atmosphere in the Department of Coffee and Social Affairs is covered in the luscious smell of rich coffee beans and, as the photographs that line the bare brick walls, is striped to it's essentials. However, unlike the photographs, there is warmth and the real sense of the 'Social Affairs' in the cafe's name.

Pop along for the photographs and stay for the coffee.

Carita Laamanen - Facades

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 10:40:00 +0000

is wondering why the lens is beginning to shatter in my eye...

Revealing the Gaze: Self Portraits through Portraiture

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 18:31:00 +0000

I never thought of portraiture as an avenue to the soul searching that many photographers seek through their images. A portrait is about the subject, stripping away the conscious levels of the person and tapping into the personality beneath. There is a subtle truth in capturing the person under the mask, a vulnerability of awakening that leaves the sitter exposed to the lens and eye. Fundamentally, the subject becomes the portrait and the photographer is an artisan dealing with the mechanics of optics and luminescence. The photographer is the invisible bearer of truth, hidden beneath the mask of shutter and aperture. The subject comes to life and the photographer's soul is abandoned in the process of capturing the image. The writer is killed by the protagonist.

Revealing the Gaze: Self Portraits through Portraiture is not as dark as my previous work. It is designed to allow me to live through the portrait. Characterised by silence and lack of intimacy, the sitter, photographer and camera will become disassociated, leaving three isolated objects. The silent interactions between these components will be recorded behind the shutter, revealing the gaze of the photographer without the banter and platitudes of normal portrait sessions. The ideal is to capture moments unchoreographed and at the discretion of the gaze and not drawn out by preening the subject.

The final images will be an indication of the facets of my own personality and what my eye deems to be shutter worthy.

Anyone interested in sitting for the project drop me an email at poeticphotography@live.co.uk.

40th Anniversary of the Independence of Bangladesh

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 19:15:00 +0000

We are living in a world in the midst of revolution, so to come to this exhibition and see images from the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971 puts things into perspective. A freedom fighter is simply a terrorist after they know freedom and these pictures allow us to understand both the glory and the horror of fighting to be free.
The Swadhinata Trust has collected these images as part of a wider celebration, marking the 40th anniversary of the independence of Bangladesh on 25th March. It consists of 20 photographs and 7 posters from the era and depict a country in the midst of upheaval. The photographers are Anwar Hossain and Abdul Lais Shyamal, who have captured the turbulent times with the eyes of the downtrodden and uplifted.

I usually choose exhibitions that showcase the work of a particular artist or genre, however I thought this exhibition was worth reviewing simply because after 40 years hidden from public scrutiny these images still have a significant impact on the viewer. All budding documentary photographers take note.

The celebrations last 2 weeks at the Rich Mix Arts Centre. For more information check out the links below.

Rich Mix Art Centre:
http://www.richmix.org.uk/aandc_freedom.htm
35 - 47 Bethnal Green Road
London
E1 6LA
020 7613 7490
boxoffice@richmix.org.uk
Swadhinata Trust:
http://www.swadhinata.org.uk/

Urban Exploration: The Past in Stasis

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 12:07:00 +0000

There are very few frontiers left to conquer. The age of the intrepid explorer is long since dead and names like Livingstone, Scott, Gagarin, Cousteau, Columbus and Polo are but distant memories. Their spirit of adventure and their passion for the seeking of new frontiers, came to shape the way we see this ever decreasing ball of earth and water. In a world where there are no more undiscovered countries, a few photographers hold on to this almost archaic notion of exploration to document the rise of urban decay.

We live in a world that has learnt rapidly how to downsize. Humans have become experts in retrenchment, the art of reduction which has led to abandonment and desolation. Ghosts are all that are left of medical facilities, mental institutions, military bases and even holy ground, abandoned by the shrivelling shadow of economic prosperity. We are living in an age of austerity, which allows ministers to play roulette with our money, while taxes tie a gordian knot around our throats.

In the midst of all of this downsizing is the urban explorer, documenting the shockwave of economic decay. Urban exploration, or urbex, is the underground photographic art of capturing dereliction in urban landscapes. There are many websites dedicated to this form of documentary photography, a simple google search will give you almost two million hits worldwide, a clear indication of our global fascination with decay.

The erosion of our landscapes embodies the diminished capacity of wealth. And yet it breeds the souls of true frontier photographers, seeking to record the destruction of the passage of time. There is something about a room that looks like it has been sandblasted by time that raises the imagination, as if the captivation of unfolding decay holds a primal enchantment for the human eye. The transience of urban landscapes; chipped paint, broken windows, empty stairwells that creek by themselves and whispers in torn out walls, are bleak shutter fodder, but inspires a dark beauty. From the darkest soil, the brightest flowers bloom.

The first rule of urbex, is not to talk about urbex. Sites dedicated to urban exploration are as secretive as the illuminati and they are wary of newcomers. However, they do encourage that novices learn ad hoc and that they share their findings with the group. And the photography is freely available to view, just don't ask too many questions about explorations, especially about security and directions to the sites. If there are hordes of people trampling their way through these derelict places eventually security will be tightened and the locations themselves will become worn away by the 'tourist' explorer. The seasoned explorer is there simply to trap the passage of time in the lens and although you will find pictures all over the web of such locations, few photographers are in it for the glory.

Urbex photographers leave only a ghostly presence. They do not vandalise what they photograph, the idea is to simply document what is there. The urbex mantra of 'take only photographs, leave only footprints' is an indication that the photographers should not be a part of the decay they are capturing. Many have created an alter ego, as if anonymity is a prerequisite to being a true urban explorer, yet a spirit of adventure, a sense of reckless abandon and a sturdy camera is all that is needed to become a true urbex photographer. The hazards of asbestos, rotten floor boards and ceilings are hidden treacheries in the hollow shells that are explored, along with dogs and security guards. Urbex photography is not for the faint hearted, but what would an explorer be without the adventure?

Review of apps used on 'East End People'

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 14:56:00 +0000

I started the East End People blog using ShoZu (£2.99), a blogging app that allows picture and video integration. After successfully creating an account and uploading a test blog it stopped allowing me to upload. Apart from that it had a simple to use interface that allowed you to save drafts of your blog. Unfortunately it didn't have the option of previewing your drafts. Anyway, since I couldn't upload to my blog I switched to Blogpress (£1.79). This is a great app, a lot easier to use than ShoZu and you can choose font and picture sizes from the settings tab. Pictures are automatically saved to a Picassa account and videos to YouTube, which means they are saved outside your blog for online retrieval, very handy if you want to create media streams from your blogs. You can even choose to wrap text around the picture and choose where you want it placed right inside the app, a feature I especially love. For those of you that understand HTML code, you can even use that from inside the app too. You can save and preview before publishing, which gives you a limited idea of what the blog will look like. Unfortunately my preview didn't look much like the end version. Some of the pictures overlap the text, which should never happen if the coding is right. A possible saving grace is that you can edit published blogs in Blogpress, so you can go back and tidy up the formatting on the fly too.

My main problem with the app is that the landscape mode doesnt work properly. The keyboard will appear in landscape, but the text is squashed to the left hand side of the page, which is annoying. I rely heavily on the landscape keyboard, because I have large thumbs and typing one handed is almost impossible for me. Because of this, I have to write the blog in Documents to Go first then copy and paste it into Blogpress. If you have small thumbs this won't be an issue.

For those of you with a keen eye, you might have noticed that I used Hipstamatic for my photos. I won't spend a long time reviewing this app, a Google search will give you an exhaustive amount of reviews. That said, it's by far the best camera app for the iPhone. Nine different lens, thirteen different types of film and seven different flash effects creates hundreds of photographic possibilities. It is a fantastic way to enhance your photography and I have to admit I have shelved my Canon G9 in favour of my iPhone. The Hipstamatic team have just updated the software to make it even more user friendly, with background processing, an additional lens and camera body. In the old version you had to wait until the photo was processed before you could shoot again, so this update is a god send. However, try to avoid quick firing and don't process more than 3 shoots at a time. The app tends to crash if you do and you can lose vital photos. The app makes you think in creative ways, once you get used to the different effects you begin to think about the best combination of film, lens and flash for what you are shooting. You pre-Photoshop your images, and I believe this is more creative.

Other than over shooting with the app, the only other limitation is you can't zoom. Your subjects have to be very close to shoot them and that can be difficult if you want to shoot secretly. Although it can be nice to get up close and personal with you subjects, many times I have missed a shot because I haven't been close enough to shoot with meaning.

Many have criticised the in app purchase of different bundles of flims, lenses and flashes, preferring a one off fee. However, with a £1.19 price tag and 59p for each bundle I hardly think this app will rip a hole in your pocket. To coin a too often used phrase, this is a must have app for photographers with the iPhone.

Next week I'll be using another app from the Hipstamatic stable and continuing my look into East End People. Don't touch that dial...

East End People

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 23:51:00 +0000

It's not exactly a holiday destination, although its history is steeped in immigration and trade. It really hasn't changed that much in that respect. It is still one of the most multi cultural areas in the UK and has a market on nearly every corner.

Statistically home to some of the poorest, and the most dangerous, boroughs in London, the East End doesn't exactly stand out in terms of tourism.

However, it still attracts many migrants and immigrants from all over the world. Many different languages echo through its narrow grey streets and yet it has integrated so perfectly as to become almost homogeneous. And this is one of the East End's most endearing qualities, that it hasn't formed broken communities or developed a sense of race hatred. Although ideologies and religions may clash, East End people accept it and just get on with their lives. That is not to say racism and distrust aren't prevalent, it simply means that they have found ways to live harmoniously.

It is very cheap to live in these areas, excluding Canary Wharf, the financial capital of London, where workers earn an average of £100,000 a year. The local shops cater for a plethora of different ethnicities, something that even the local supermarkets have picked up on.

To the west and south of the East London postcodes are the City of London (with it's EC postcodes to separate it from being part of the East End) and the Docklands respectfully. Both are a hive of finance, with billions of pounds passing through each annually.

The Docklands, part of the defunct merchant ports of the East End opened in the 19th Century, shares its E14 postcode with Poplar; a hub of the working class. How can two areas share the same postcode, yet be so financially contradictory? When the initial plans for the redevelopment of the docks were in the planning stages in the early 70s, there was a glimmer of light in the East End landscape. But now the Docklands is alienated from the working class areas that surround it.

So why does the stigma of East End life stick? Is it the historical tradition of the East End that holds it back, the working class living in squalor and poverty, which many a Dickens and Defoe novel will highlight for you? Or is it the modern idea that the East End has become a dumping ground for immigrants and migrant workers, London's cheap labour contained within an E postcode?

I don't have the answers to any of these questions. I'm just an old East End boy with a camera.

The Great White Whale

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 15:07:00 +0000

There are no more epic beginnings. No story can hold the imagination from the opening notes of the mellifluous cacophony it wishes to tell. I wish I could stir the imagination by just juggling words or produce some grand body of work that would be taught four hundred years after my death. I wish there were some spark that continually burned in me, a pilot light that waits for the gas that will enlighten my soul. But there is only darkness. I need my own gunpowder to spark that internal flame. As a priest would find inspiration from the bible or a painter would find inspiration in curves of his model, so I, a prisoner, find inspiration in coke.

The anticipation of the blade through its powder white flesh excites my blood. It is Pavlovian and forbears an explosion that will ashen the gyri of my brain. Yet, before the fires burn out, as they dance with fantastic light on the convoluted folds of my shrivelled mind, what beautiful music they bring. And I will sit in those flames and watch the world flood with peace, and I like the flotsam of the Mary Celeste ebb to shores only cocaine can take me to. And with each tide an epiphany brings me closer to illumination, to some fictional place where I can find the epitome of reason. Like Eve, I covet the tree that will bring me knowledge, but each journey into this lifeless sea leaves me benighted. I will chase the great white whale, until the Pequod is destroyed.

I'm Having Illusions...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 16:16:00 +0000

It is a popular notion that photography represents a particular state of mind or lifestyle. If that were the case in literature, authors such as Steven King and Dean Koontz would have been institutionalised a long time ago. Some would have the likes of Helmut Newton and Robert Mapplethorpe censored beyond the grave, and in their lifetimes their work pushed many a right wing boundary. But why can’t it be the case that the images some photographers strive for are a manifestation of an alternative id? Is it at all possible that art itself is a representation of some alter ego that lies dormant until the brush touches canvas?

Like all great superheroes, to survive one must hold a piece of oneself slightly outside the critical eyes of public scrutiny. Not that there are those lurking in the shadows with a super power that other mortals do not possess. Yet we all hold on tightly to those dark little whispers in our minds and lock them away, err they pollute the morals of those around us. Those that lack this innate quality to suppress the evil patterns that splash around our brains are simply called criminals. They have not the self control needed to hold the primal at bay. Those that redirect these primal urges, sculpting it or moulding it in extraordinary ways, are simply called artists.

Artists should not be morally judged by the works they produce, or heralded as twisted or perverse. They are simply harnessing the same dark wilfulness in all of us. The imagination is just a figment of the imagination. It is not a clear indication of moral bulwarks. It is simply an indication that one can wander fearless in the imagination and redirect the negative thoughts and emotions that inhabit the soul.

I am no more of a moral deviant than most of humanity. That large cage in my mind, which barricades my amoral nature, is locked up tighter than most. Yet what emanates from that impregnable prison are vapours that will infect my mind and manifest into my photography; yelling and screaming for any form of anarchy. No one is without sin. No one is incapable of evil. And yet we are all capable of suppressing both. That I have dark thoughts should not be a surprise to anyone that suckles air. That I allow these thoughts to bleed into my work means I am not afraid of them. Those that find my work disturbing are just exhibiting their fears. Should I weaken and tether my thoughts to satisfy the fears of others? According to Oscar Wilde, ‘We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell’, which is not far from Satan’s own words from Milton's Paradise Lost, ‘The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n’. And I, like Wilde and Satan, have dominion over my mind. As long as I have life in my imagination, I will let it roam free.

For further reading please refer to B Real of Cypress Hill, from his song Illusions.

Plagiarise Me

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 12:13:00 +0000

You can't own an idea. You can't copyright a concept. You can't patent visionary thinking. So how do you protect your imagination from plagiarism? You can't. You make your concepts open to the public because you want to share them. We can stamp our identity on an image, splash a watermark to show authorship, but that doesn't stop the concept being realised and repackaged by someone else. David LaChappelle's latex and bubblegum vision being styled into Rihanna's S&M video is just the latest example of art imitating someone else’s art. But there is no way to stop this happening, unless you store your photographs in a box under your bed. That's not what photographers want. Even the holiday snapper will show them off eventually. And photographs are meant to be seen and shared, that is their very nature.

So what can you do to protect your art? Well you can’t, all you can do is keep your ideas flowing in new and unique ways, which is the staple of a good photographer’s arsenal. Photographers worry about light, composition and subjects, but it is their imagination that is the key to making them memorable. You do not have to be a great technical photographer, although admittedly it helps, to take outstanding photographs. You just have to have a vision that is obtainable with a camera. But this vision cannot be exhaustive. You have to be able to ignite your imagination, create the spark that highlights the images in your mind and be able to see how to manipulate light and colour in your lens to make the images a realisation.

Professional photographers worry about their career, masters worry about their art, amateurs worry about their learning and I worry about my imagination. I worry that at some point my imagination will dry up and so my photography will die. It is not my intention to be a professional photographer; I love photography because it doesn’t feel like work. I am an English teacher and I’m lucky to be passionate about that. I don’t want to be a master, because you have the pressure of constant creativity. I am a child of life, so I am intrinsically an amateur. I don’t worry about learning, because I learn and reflect on everything I do. But to fuel my imagination, to see the visions that bring the words and photographs, that is the crux of my anxiety.

So my mark on the world isn’t really my photography, or indeed my poetry. It is the imagination that I wish to share with the world. And when we share our imagination with others, we are influencing theirs. We are infusing them with our sensibilities and this will in time give rise to distortions in what we see, as other eyes and minds try to interpret them. That may seem very Roland Barthes, but the author dies the moment art is viewed by another mind. In truth, you can’t protect your concepts. You can only release them and wait until they come back to you in new and extraordinary ways. After all ‘Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.’

On the Street without a Camera

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 02:11:00 +0000

With the proliferation of different camera technologies, taking a photograph has become very easy. There are obvious differences between a camera phone and a fully loaded DSLR, but the basic principles of light manipulation, an eye for composition and an imagination for radical concepts are all the same. Image quality is the only deciding factor between the two technologies, and even the distance between them are narrowing. But how far can a camera phone go towards being a documentary medium? With the recent emergence on Twitter, Facebook and blogging as a tool for reporting on the revolution in Egypt, we can see the need of phones as an immediate documentary aid for the layman.

But how about for the professional? Is there any benefit in shelving you DSLR for a more portable camera? There is some merit in this approach, not much granted, but still enough to think about. The first major thing for me is they are so much less conspicuous. A bulky camera is obvious and it's human instinct to become 'camera shy', so it's hard to capture candidly. The other thing is convenience. I can't take my camera anywhere without my flash, two lenses, spare battery, a handful of memory cards, various cables and my iPad. That's fine if I'm off to a shoot, but if I am just out wandering on a school day it can be a little cumbersome (I'm an English teacher so that's an additional bag of lesson prep and marking!) My iPhone is always in my pocket and has a nifty 5 mega pixel camera, which isn't that bad. I can also edit with quite a few packages and upload them wherever I want. Now this isn't an iPhone commercial, my old Blackberry had a pretty handy camera too, in fact I've been choosing phones for their cameras since Sony started sticking Carl Zeiss lenses in them (good rule of thumb, mega pixels tell you nothing about how good your image quality is. Its your glass that is important. I hear Carl Zeiss lens and I'm confident that the image isn't going to be a fuzzy mess).

I'm not a professional documentary photographer, far from it in fact. But I began wondering, could I shoot a documentary style series, edit the photographs, write a commentary and upload everything all from just my trusty iPhone? I'm going to give it a damn good try. This method has been slammed by most professionals as truly amateur, but I see nothing wrong with this approach. When you're starting out and you want to blog on the go there is no better way than your mobile phone and many manufacturers and software developers are targeting this audience.

Over the next few weeks my blog will be twofold, to present a documentary on East End People and to review the packages I use to put the blog together. I will still be reviewing exhibitions and hopefully meeting a few photographers along the way, but I feel I need to try this for myself and share the experience. Hopefully it won't be presented in too much of an amateur style and I will do no online editing or retouching. Everything presented will be done via the iPhone alone and presented as is, so that you can also judge how well this approach works.

Poetic

Location:Watney St,Poplar,United Kingdom

Seeing in the Dark

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 21:03:00 +0000

A friend, co- founder of Photosense London, Innocent Adiko, recently told me he was colour blind and yet he has been an avid photographer for a long time. He has coped with colour correction very well and his ‘handicap’ makes his processing unique. Many people who view his images would probably just consider this a product of his preferred imaging style, but it adds another dimension when you realise that this is how he actually sees the world. I have problems interpreting colour tones, especially blue and green. I’m not colour blind, I just find it difficult to distinguish between different shades of green and blue. For a long time I processed my photographs so that they were almost made up of primary colours. Even now my images lack tonal range, because I struggle to find balance in the colours I see. However, these are relatively small barriers to photography. So when I recently read an article about Pete Eckert, an American photographer who is living in complete darkness after being diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, I was humbled. RP is a degenerative ocular disease, where the sufferer losses their sight gradually until they go blind. Eckert trained in sculpture and industrial design, and was destined to study to be an architect at Yale when he was diagnosed with RP. Even after his diagnosis he could not let go of his need to be creative.

As a photographer I found Eckert's story inspirational. Photography is truly a visual art and here is someone that has managed to circumvent vision to produce some extraordinary images. Eckert has transcended what should be the ultimate barrier to visual creativity. His lack of sight is not a encumbrance to taking photographs, a medium that relies heavily on light, focus and depth of field. What he has done is literally learned to see in another way, so that his images represent the world he ‘sees’.

What is truly amazing about Eckert's work is that he develops his photographs himself in his darkroom. Anyone that has every processed in a darkroom understands that this is another feat of artistic ingenuity. He has a completely analogue process, using a Mamiyaflex C2. In our digital age this is the most remarkable achievement, and yet understandable. Eckert can ‘feel’ his way through his method.

I can empathise. I use my Nikon D90 set to manual now; I have even reverted to manual focusing because it is sharper in low light. I also use an old Nikkormat FTn film camera, which is heavy, cumbersome and sometimes the shutter bucks like a bronco. I love it. For manual handling, your brain has to be completely engaged and there can be no test shots!

Eckert’s story set me thinking, has digital photography handicapped the photographer’s skills? I’m not talking about the merits or the pitfalls of going digital. Digital processing for me is a godsend! My point is, does digital photography make us lazy? Do you take a picture and think, ‘I can touch that up in Photoshop later’? Do you fire off a dozen test shots before settling down to the photograph you’re aiming for? If a blind man can take photographs, why are we so reliant on the LCD on the back of our cameras to let us know what is going on in front of our eyes?

So, I'd like to hear your views on whether taking pictures in digital has truly made you a better photographer or are you an old school pro who believes that the mechanics of manual photography is just as important today as it was 40 years ago? I'd also like to hear from any photographers out there that have barriers to photography and how you have overcome it.

Pete Eckert

http://www.peteeckert.com

Check out his video: artists wanted || Pete Eckert portrait

Peter Anderson Wildlife Photograms @ The Book Club

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 17:04:00 +0000

It’s about making images, without having subjects to photograph.

Having photographed some of the most famous and infamous artists in the rock world, Peter Anderson has emptied the darkest recesses of his mind to bring us a collection of photograms that are stark, but yet strangely reminds me of my childhood. Model airplanes and toy soldiers adorn his pictures, creating white shadows on his work, adding to gritty images of rock stars and broken buildings. This is great brain fodder. Anderson's work is gripping because it allows objects to become stencils, breaking up the barren black or shades of grey they are mounted on.

This exhibition goes beyond the lens, because Anderson literally creates photographs. There is ingenuity at work that allows you to see layers, rather than simply depth, in the finished photogram. These are photographic collages of toys and images and at times the work seems pieced together, a model kit for the viewer to assemble.

I got into photography through coming to London and I applied to do a post graduate course, after doing a degree in design in Glasgow. The course was self structured, you had to basically make up the course for yourself and that didn’t work for me. So I just did what I wanted to do, went out to clubs and started making photographs.

The phrase ‘making photographs’ became literal in this exhibition, but this process was after years of work in the rock world. After securing work at NME he produced some of his most iconic photographs in the 1980s. He was working flat out, but became despondent with the commissions he was getting.

It’s only over the last couple of years or so I have been trying to do something different, instead of that whole thing about making photographs for instant reproduction. Instead I decided to make things to go on walls.

He talks with great energy about his work ‘making photographs’ and the process of his photograms. His studio is a veritable playground of broken toys, huge enlargers and large developing trays.

It’s about hands on darkroom stuff. It’s about the imagery that’s all around me. All the objects I’ve used I’ve found in the local junk market or just lying around.

Anderson uses the icons to bring a unique perspective to his portraits. You will see a large portrait of Henry Rollins with a grenade and spider chemically burned into a photogram and you feel a sense of the inner nature of Rollins’ hardcore persona. Some of his photograms do have a hardcore edge to them, and this has been mistaken for pro-war sentiment.

Someone said ‘This is all a about violence and war’ and I said well if I provoke a reaction that’s fine, but it’s anti-war. These are things we sell to children. What does that say about us?

Anderson’s exhibition will be at the Book Club until the end of February.

The Book Club

100 Leonard Street

London EC2A 4RH

http://www.wearetbc.com/

020 7684 8618

Peter Anderson

http://www.photopeteranderson.com/

http://www.photoanderson.co.uk/