27.2.09

THE DAY OF THE DAFFY'S..


I was told the other day that yellow is the colour of depression. This was in reference to the above image and as a matter of fact I do remember feeling slightly sick at the time as well as bewildered that someone had actually installed a bright yellow floresant strip light in the games room.
Depression aside though I am always interested in the role colour plays in photography, often creating images with particular colour dominance. Yellow has always made me feel sick, but I believe there is a much deeper rooted reason for this than a simple case of custard fear.

Long ago one spring when I was a lad with golden locks and freckles we had a science class at school where we had to dissect a common daffodil and make a detailed drawing of the specimen. As my drawing skills where never in question I quickly got to work creating my botany masterpiece. Whilst working on a particularly fine bit of shading around the filament area our teacher Mr Madden (he wont be reading this) told us how some people used the petals of the flower as a garnish in salads to add colour and a bit of sweetness. As I hadn't frequented the tuck shop that morning I pulled off a small part of the delicate petal and popped it in my mouth. After sucking off the powdery residue I slowly began to chew, and boy was it good, sweet with a light creamy texture. I soon moved onto a bigger portion which was equally delicious and soon the entire head of the flower was in gone. I wanted more and made a move for the nearest yellow treat, but I was not the only one with the yellow hunger. Everyone in the entire class had done the same and eaten there delicious daffodil head. "What about the green bit ?" I said, it was slightly tart, but still rather nice, a bit like cucumber.. And so after about ten minutes there was not a single daffodil left for consumption. Some pupils had even eat there daffy before they could draw it..
As we wiped the pollen from our cheeks the class bell rang and we made our way to next lesson which was to be geography with Mr. Ajeeman (he won't be reading either)..
In class as I studied the diagram for crop rotation in Australia I was overcome with what can only be described as the feeling you get after drinking saltwater with vodka. As the flowery mixture in my stomach fermented the saliva filled my mouth and in one almighty burp like reflex I projected bright yellow vomit three feet across the classroom on to Sharon Lords lap. Her screams only muffled the sound of twenty five regurgitating stomachs as Mark Sissons tried to cover his mouth, but the yellow juice just squirted through his fat fingers sending spray across his wheat crop rotation graph. Stuart McClaren managed to get his yellow investment into his Green Flash satchel, but Michael Morris wasn't so lucky and somehow ended up with bright yellow hair and a snotty nose. But by far Rachael Hunter (she was a big girl with quite an appetite) came off the worst with one batch of yellow projectile and another of luminous toxic green, both of which ruined here new open toed Clarks sandals. The entire classroom look like a giant banana massacre....
Several magnolia aftershocks later, the windows where opened and the curtains cleaned and all flower eating was banned on the school premises, they even stopped serving lettuce at lunchtimes.
'The Day Of The Daffy's' as it was commonly known still makes me smile whenever I see a field of Daffodils, but it also makes me feel a bit vomitous as a result. Maybe whoever came up with 'Yellow is the colour of depression' done so in the spring of 85 after a science class..

26.2.09

SOFAWARS...


Well I spent the best part of five hours today looking for a negative eventually remembering it was in the loft and not my almighty walk in wardrobe/negative storage facility. I had entered The S.O.F.A.W.A.R.S Zone (Should Of Filed And Wrote A Reference StupidAss), that sinking feeling where you become totally useless, ignoring phone calls, not eating and perhaps crying a lot. I guess its like being in love..
But like the best part of breaking up is making up (still on the subject of love), when I found that neg I did a little dance I was so happy (quite dangerous a few inches from the loft trap door). Never shall I enter The SOFAWARS Zone ever again..

24.2.09

LIBERTY....


So there I was in town doing my hair in the window of Liberty, you know that nice shop full of over priced fake antique chairs, peely paint wardrobes and handbags, when suddenly I remembered that the Photographers Gallery (London) in its new 'down a back alley gallery', was showing an off site exhibition of contemporary British Landscape photography.
Amongst the clutter of the 4th floor I eventually found this pity full location (at least for showing large photographs) but was immediately distracted by rather nice Eames chair reproduction with its classic style and soft leather.... But back to the 'off site' show of contemporary British landscape photography, well, amongst the cheap chipped frames, dinged prints and inflated price tags I soon found myself ready for a snooze on the new found chair I just mentioned. The sad thing is that this is not a dig at the photography because I admire the work of Jem Southam, Stephen Vaughn and Ernst Fischer, all of which are included in this shin dig, its the diabolical way its all been put together as it makes all the work look trashy and cheap. Even the beautiful Eastern European girl beside me told me it made her very sad.. It might as well be in a Starbucks as far as I am concerned.
Shame really as it would of made a nice show in the new multi story Photographers Gallery, after all you wouldn't buy a chair from a gallery would you, even if it was a Eames reproduction...

23.2.09

This segment from an interview with Gary Winograd seemed appropriate..

D: What do you look for?

W: I look at a photograph. What's going on? What's happening, photographically? If it's interesting, I try to understand why.

D: And how do you expect the viewer to respond to your photographs?

W: I have no expectations. None at all.

D: Well, what do you want to evoke?

W: I have no ideas on that subject. Two people could look at the same flowers and feel differently about them. Why not? I'm not making ads. I couldn't care less. Everybody's entitled to their own experience...

Explosure...



I have mentioned the work of Tierney Gearon on here before as I used to work with her some years ago. Her recent exhibition in London was quite remarkable in that she has taken her work to somewhere very different but yet it remains very much the same. The content and her shooting technique remain, but with the edition of multiple exposures her work has been transformed into dreamlike scenarios which at first seem cluttered but on further inspection are really quite simple. I find them fascinating and believe this is due to the fact that I once knew Tierney and always thought of her mind as being in several places at once, something I think these images portray.
I would urge you to see these images in print form, but the show has been and gone in London. it is however gone down a storm in LA here.

But whats it all about...?


As a 'Fine Art' photographer (hate that term) there are times when I doubt my own vision. This has happened on a few accounts lately when I have had to defend my work for one reason or another. I love pretty pictures (like most people), I love a good cliche' (like most people), and I think the best place for one of my images is on a wall and not in some box under a bed. But rather than defend my images again heres something a colleague of mine wrote who has been dealing in photography for a long time and is very well respected.
Your work is subtle, Zen-like, exploring space and feelings your colour(s)
create. But it also shows and documents real spaces. It is
multi-layered.....
Sometimes you have to hear it from someone else...

22.2.09

Found this while trolling the web which once again saves me from thinking too much whilst I am Chill-laxing with my puppies..

Introduction to Landscape Photography

Artspan Landscape Photography

Unlike most photographic subjects that can be manipulated and positioned to the photographers will, a landscape demands that the photographer manipulate and position themselves in accordance with it. In other words, though you may be kind of artist who can move proverbial mountains, the real ones aren't going anywhere.

Therefore, a landscape photographer must first learn how to find their relationship to landscape and its play of light, form, color, depth of field, and perspective. The long distances that landscape photos can cover make depth of field a major technical focus, requiring the use of small apertures, wide angle lenses and tripods. The use of the collodion at the dawn of photography in the mid 1800s made traveling particularly difficult and expensive, relegating it only to professionals and wealthy amateurs. The commercial landscape photographers used daguerreotype: a crisp and sharply defined image; while aristocratic amateurs chose calotype: a more demure, artistic interpretation of landscape that later influenced pictorialism.

Like its parallels in the art and literary world, landscape photography was influenced by the Modernist debate around ‘truth' and realism. The early decades of the 20th century would see a rediscovery of the early pictorialists and then, again, a return to realism, especially as future generations continued to redefine landscape photography in response to a shifting cultural zeitgeist.

With the advent of digital technology, darkroom expertise has become less necessary in the creation of photos. Whether this makes for better or worse art is still in debate. But the many interpretations of landscape art available today show that a variety of competing styles only serves to and interest and creative exploration to the field.

20.2.09

Thought OF The Week..

Apart from feeling fat today I was reminded on how precious the ones sight really is. For the last week or so I have had a 'bit of bother' with one of my eyes, hence the lovely image I posted earlier, and the incredibly lazy posts where upon I have just copied and pasted everything... I was unable to make any images (focused that is) and couldn't really use my lap top due to my sensitive windows of the soul. Thankfully though there is nothing serious wrong and apparently I have beautiful eyes according to my optometrist.

So let us all gather round and be thankful for our beautiful eyes.

Behold. The Eye Of Truth.....

Well here it is. The secret to my photography. Behold my beautiful eye. Some might say it looks like the planet Doylos, others a glass marble.
Isn't technology wonderful....

Night Moves - Exploring the Horizon

March 5 to April 11

curated by Daryl-Ann Saunders and Jill Waterman

Opening Reception Thursday March 5 6 to 8 PM

Underpass, Shanghai © Daryl-Ann Saunders

photographs by

John Dowell, Mark Jaremko, Lance Keimig, Toby Keller, Maria Passarotti,

Daryl-Ann Saunders, Lynn Saville & Barbara Yoshida

Read more and see many more photos at our website

www.safetgallery.com

Special Events

Night Photography Symposium

Monday, March 9, 10:30 - 4:30

with the curators, participating artists and guest speakers.

in conjunction with B & H Photo.

Night Photography Workshop - with Jill Waterman and Daryl-Ann Saunders

March 15th and 22nd.

in conjunction with workshops@adorama

Gallery Talks at Safe-T-Gallery and Farmani Gallery

with the curators and artists.

Sunday March 29th, 2 to 4:30

You can also pick up Jill Waterman's book "Night and Low-Light Photography" at the gallery.


Safe-T-Gallery, 111 Front Street, Suite 214, Brooklyn, NY 11201 is located in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn, between Washington and Adams Streets, and is easily accessible by subway on the F (York St. Station), A and C (High St.), and the 2 and 3 (Clark St.) lines. Gallery is open Wednesday to Saturday from Noon to 6 PM. Admission to the exhibition is free. Further information, pictures and directions are available at the gallery web site: www.safeTgallery.com


If you would like to be removed from this mailing list please reply to this email with "Remove" in the subject line.

-- 

SAFE-T-GALLERY

111 Front St. Gallery 214

Dumbo Brooklyn NY 11201

www.safeTgallery.com

718 782 5920

18.2.09

Magenta Ain't A Colour

By Liz Elliott

A beam of white light is made up of all the colours in the spectrum. The range extends from red through to violet, with orange, yellow, green and blue in between. But there is one colour that is notable by its absence.
Pink (or magenta, to use its official name) simply isn’t there. But if pink isn’t in the light spectrum, how come we can see it?

Here’s an experiment you can try: stare at the pink circle below for about one minute, then look over at the blank white space next to the image. What do you see? You should see an afterimage. What colour is it?



You should have seen a green afterimage, but why is this significant?

The afterimage always shows the colour that is complementary to the colour of the image. Complementary colours are those that are exact opposites in the way the eye perceives them.

It is a common misconception that red is complementary to green. However, if you try the same experiment as above with a red image, you will see a turquoise afterimage, since red is actually complementary to turquoise. Similarly, orange is complementary to blue, and yellow to violet.

All the colours in the light spectrum have complements that exist within the spectrum – except green. There seems to be some kind of imbalance. What is going on? Is green somehow being discriminated against?

The light spectrum consists of a range of wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation. Red light has the longest wavelength; violet the shortest. The colours in between have wavelengths between those of red and violet light.

When our eyes see colours, they are actually detecting the different wavelengths of the light hitting the retina. Colours are distinguished by their wavelengths, and the brain processes this information and produces a visual display that we experience as colour.

This means that colours only really exist within the brain – light is indeed travelling from objects to our eyes, and each object may well be transmitting/reflecting a different set of wavelengths of light; but what essentially defines a ‘colour’ as opposed to a ‘wavelength’ is created within the brain.

If the eye receives light of more than one wavelength, the colour generated in the brain is formed from the sum of the input responses on the retina. For example, if red light and green light enter the eye at the same time, the resulting colour produced in the brain is yellow, the colour halfway between red and green in the spectrum.

So what does the brain do when our eyes detect wavelengths from both ends of the light spectrum at once (i.e. red and violet light)? Generally speaking, it has two options for interpreting the input data:

a) Sum the input responses to produce a colour halfway between red and violet in the spectrum (which would in this case produce green – not a very representative colour of a red and violet mix)
b) Invent a new colour halfway between red and violet

Magenta is the evidence that the brain takes option b – it has apparently constructed a colour to bridge the gap between red and violet, because such a colour does not exist in the light spectrum. Magenta has no wavelength attributed to it, unlike all the other spectrum colours.

The light spectrum has a colour missing because it does not feel the need to ‘close the loop’ in the way that our brains do. We need colour to make sense of the world, but equally we need to make sense of colour; even if that means taking opposite ends of the spectrum and bringing them together.

Well, now we've got that sorted out, explain this: stare at the dot in the middle of the image below - you should see all the colours melt away.

Magenta is part of the phenomena called Qualia.

15.2.09


I have been 'Chil-laxing' in the homeland for a few days and doing a bit of research for my next project '108'. More will be revealed at a later date after my show in March. (one thing at a time you crazy machine)..
As I left London last Thursday I felt the stresses of the Big Smoke leave me like a silk cloak falling from my Adonis like torso. The return will probably be the opposite only with a cloak made from straw...
I am sure others feel the same as I do living in a big city, especially the 'open landscape' shooters among us. But like my dear old Grannie of 101 once said;
"Whats London like, I've never been.."

Encore..


There would seem to be a fair few fine French photographers popping up lately and Alain Cornu is no exception. I love his Bord De Mer series, Clean and Simple....

"Our job is to record, each in his own way,
this world of light and shadow and time that
will never come again exactly as it is today."

Edward Abbey 1927-1989

14.2.09

?

Nan Goldin’s Own Baldessarism

Those days the school was that teachers sat in the parking lot and drank. Literally. This was before the 1980s. We were told that we will never make any money on art. Now, the students that I teach, at Yale particularly, all they want to know is what gallery they could have a show in or could I help them to get a show. They go right from the graduate school to the big galleries. It is all a career move. When I went to art school, I never heard of Artforum. Never. I took classes in Russian literature, in Faulkner, whom I love. I took writing classes, I took the history of film, I took drawing to be able to see better, because many photographers cannot see anything.

26 Gasoline Stations....ZZZZZZZZZ


I came across Eric Tabuchi's homage to Ed Ruscha's Twenty Six Gasoline Stations on Lens Culture here. To be brutally honest I think this is a truly bad modern day attempt at such a well known body of work (Ed Ruscha's 26 gasoline stations first published in 1962 I believe, and its brilliant). What makes things slightly more odd is that Tabuchi has a remarkable body of work on his website, my favorite being the Road Signs series which is really worth checking out.

If you are going to pay homage to anyone, it better be good, as good, or better. These are just dull and there is nothing more I can add..

12.2.09

“I am a reflection photographing other reflections within reflections. It is a melancholy truth that I must always fail. To photograph reality is to photograph nothing.”–Duane Michaels

10.2.09

I wouldn't give you tuppence..


I went into a camera shop today (this is not a joke, or may be it is) and asked to look at an 'ex rental' panoramic camera as I have been after a certain model for a while now. I told the guy who handed me the piece of metal;
"This camera looks like its been dropped multiple times, thrown in the air multiple times, placed under a bus multiple times, dropped down a drain, taken out and then kept in a box of sand. It may also have been farted on due to its musty smell..."
"That may be sir, but its in fully working order, and the lens is great, except its a bit scratched.."

Ex rental my arse!

9.2.09

Want salt and vinegar on your chips...





Simon Norfolk

For a second answer to the question of how photographers will market their work over the next five to ten years we turned to leading UK-based landscape, documentary and fine art photographer Simon Norfolk.

Said Simon: "In the few weeks between being asked to write this piece and me actually sitting down to do it, the international financial system has dissolved and the key banks nationalized.

All the money I had squirreled away to pay my future taxes and something for Mr and Mrs Norfolk’s old age has disappeared in a bizarre Icelandic banking collapse. So my prognosis about the economy over the next 5-10 years is not very optimistic, I’m afraid.

I gave up trying to make a living from editorial a few years ago, instead selling my work as limited edition fine art prints through galleries in London, New York and Los Angeles.

I still work for magazines - most of what goes on the gallery wall starts out as a magazine commission - but I see magazine fees as start-up capital.

If they ask me to work for three days, then I see that as three days to get what will make them happy and then I’ll stay on and do as much as it takes to satisfy myself and my print-buying clients.

I try not to accept work just for the sake of working and I try to always have a final masterplan in mind. If a story in anyway contributes to my long term project about ´The BattleField´, for instance, then I’ll say yes.

But this happy niche has only been made possible by my print sales. And the people buying my prints were the bonus-fuelled bankers we see on the evening news holding cardboard boxes outside closed-down banking headquarters. Who knows whether these people will now still be buying my prints?

So my predictions for the future? More "name" photographers will be cashing in their reputations to teach "masterclasses" to wealthy orthodontists.

So-called "principled" photographers will be cozying up to Russian oligarchs and third-world billionaires. None of us will be saying "no" to wedding photography or lucrative teaching posts which sell to young students the rarely-realized dream that they’ll one day have jobs as photographers.

My advice? Get re-skilled. Keep your photographic aspirations but try to get a trade like film editing, web-design or accounting.

Soon we’ll all be amateur photographers with real money-making jobs on the side that we don’t tell our colleagues about. We need to get over the snobbery attached to that.

And we have to be tougher in our demands. Magazines online will be built by re-skilled photography lovers around business plans that don’t include paying wages to the photographers they ask to write.

They pay salaries to each other, they pay the man who comes to fix the photocopier, but the "name" photographers they ask to contribute six hundred words get nothing. With business models like that, how can we survive?"


Eat in or take away.........

EXPIRATION NOTICE.



Please direct yourself to Expiration Notice. The new online gallery for the talented over 35's.
I have just realized I am over 35, but I look younger..!

No, I will not mug you...

8.2.09

Its all out there.....


I came across the work of Tom Fowlks after going to the gallery link below. I am a real sucker for American landscapes and projects and this work is superb. See his website here.
On an ever so slightly different view point, my new friend Rob Ball who I wrote about recently sent me a nice email regarding shooting large format landscapes. I told him I could only think of three British photographers shooting 10/8 and indeed shooting within the UK regarding landscape subject matter. I do find this a bit sad as I am constantly looking for British talent as I have said here before. Maybe I should think of this as a good thing (less competition and all that), but I do not. All I seem to find are pictures of Dungeness or may be a grassy hill.
Forward this message to a friend

111 Front St., Suite 212, Brooklyn, New York

718-578-4478 / www.farmanigallery.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media contact: Elizabeth Barragan elizabeth@farmanigallery.com

Night Moves - Angles of View
Photographs by
Steve Duncan • Helen K Garber • Robert Vizzini • Jill Waterman • Marc Yankus
Co-curators: Jill Waterman and Daryl-Ann Saunders

March 5 - April 11, 2009
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 5, 6-8 PM

New York, NY (February 7, 2009) The photographic works of thirteen artists who toil under cloak of darkness are featured in two neighboring galleries at 111 Front Street in DUMBO. Night Moves - Angles of View is exhibited at the Farmani Gallery and Night Moves - Exploring the Horizon is exhibited next door at Safe-T-Gallery beginning Thursday, March 5. Both shows feature works selected by co-curators Jill Waterman and Daryl-Ann Saunders. Night Moves is a convergence of photographers who have a deep understanding of the techniques employed in night photography and who use the night and its illuminated landscape, be it man made or natural, to capture the distinctive, yet elusive, atmosphere of the world after dark through the camera lens.

In the Farmani Gallery exhibit, Steve Duncan's panoramic cityscapes from atop New York's magnificent bridges induce vertigo with their dizzying heights, while black and white diptychs from Helen K. Garber's LA Noir series entice viewers with the implied motion of shadowy figures suspended within architectural fragments. Robert Vizzini's jewel-like renderings of Manhattan's buildings and parks balance deep shadows against rich colors and shimmering lights, and Jill Waterman's graphic, urban views emanate the cool blue tones of midnight. Finally, Marc Yankus' impressionistic depictions of New York transform the city at twilight into a wash of foggy shapes and soft colored lights.

Several special events run concurrently with the exhibits. The first two are events for those interested to learn about night photography processes and hands-on techniques. On Monday, March 9, a night photography symposium will be held from 10:30 - 4:30PM in conjunction with B&H Photo. On Sunday, March 15 and 22, the co-curators will offer a night photography workshop in collaboration with Workshops@Adorama. The final event addresses the collector, and features a gallery talk with local artists in the Farmani Gallery and Safe-T-Gallery spaces. Scheduled to coincide with the last day of the AIPAD photography show, this event will be held from 2-4:30PM on Sunday March 29.Co-curators Daryl-Ann Saunders and Jill Waterman are both night photography specialists, whose photographs have been widely exhibited. Ms. Waterman has recently published, Night and Low-Light Photography (Amphoto, August 2008).

The Farmani Gallery is located at 111 Front St., Ste. 212, Brooklyn, NY in the DUMBO neighborhood between Washington and Adams St. By subway take A or C to High St., F to York St. or 2 and 3 to Clark St. Station. Gallery hours: Wed. - Sat.: 1 - 6PM; Tuesdays, by appointment. Information: www.farmanigallery.com or info@farmanigallery.com or ph# 718-578-4478.


Griffith Park Observatory Diptych 2
Helen K. Garber - Griffith Park Observatory Diptych 2.

Robert Vizzini - Winter Colonnade, John V. Lindsay East River Park, New York, NY 2007

Jill Waterman - Twin Towers, New York, NY.

Marc Yankus - Ancient.

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7.2.09

Fooled again....

I saw the above image by Thomas Wrede and immediately got a bit of a tingle and began think what a discovery. I was perhaps a little envious (nothing wrong with that, its what drives a lot of us to push a little harder) that I had not discovered the place myself and studied the image for about five minutes.. After a while something didn't seem right and a few things didn't add up. The dirt road, the cacti, the lack of street lights. Then it struck me. It was a set.....
Brilliant stuff, check it out! (images are a lot clearer on the site).

5.2.09

Penelope Cruz

I came across this wonderful dreamy image the other day by Patrick Shanahan and immediately looked for more of his work on line. I am finding it hard to put into words just how I felt about Shanahan's work and have to admit at looking at his work for longer than usually do. Is it the composition, is it the contrast, is it the ultra sharpness, is it the colours, or is it all of these things. In truth I don't know. Its good work thats for sure, I just don't like it.
I don't normally put up work on the outrageous B Mode I don't dig unless its so bad I want to wrestle a giant Pitt Bull, but this is different because it has everything I like but at the same time It leaves me cold.. Its a bit like Penelope Cruz (the actress), she has everything a man desires. Nice hair, bright eyes, fine figure, but so has my dog. Good looking lass, she just ain't my type...

With comments like these I should be on the telly (with Penelope Cruz..)

I have no issues whatsoever on criticizing others work if I have found it online, it is after all out there on public display and I welcome any such criticisms on my own work, gladly. Just so you know...

3.2.09

Leo Fabrizio



Leo Fabrizio's work is simply marvelous, especially the Bunkers series, a subject covered by many but these are quite special. His night work in the Dreamworld series ain't bad either.
I don't know much about the fella as his site is in a language I do not understand but wish I did, I believe he is Swiss.

Six Inches...

Hopefully the madness is waining now that the snow on the roof tops begins to melt. I trust you all had a nice holiday..
Despite what I said in a previous post (last April I believe) regarding the snow and how I would not take pictures just because it was snowing, and my more recent post on how I was doing less and less night work, I loaded up a few dark slides and headed out last night in the glow of the orange mercury vaporized clouds. Amidst the puzzled on lookers, and the odd curtain twitcher, I had quite a nice time trudging down my street, the cold air nipping at my baldy head.
It was nice to get out after a day realizing I am a lousy shot with a snowball (I thought I was good..).

Shot above is not the UK despite all this snow, its Montana, they got 2 feet in a day...!