Been walking past this scene nine days out of fourteen for the best part of two years at the same time every morning, 6:55am, and it has taken all that time for an idea to crystallise in my head.
This is ongoing.
Nurse of Pain
This was taken at one of my last visits to the Whitby Goth Weekend as a photographer.
At the top of the steps to the church there is a nice place to sit and you can catch people in quite natural poses as they get to the top of the climb rather than all the staged poses that are available throughout the town.
This woman seemed to breeze up the steps and pause for a moment waiting for her struggling companions, and I was really pleased with the photograph.
but what I wasn’t really pleased with was the pack of male photographers hounding young women to get the perfect shot, I felt tainted by what I saw that year and haven’t returned as a photographer, just as someone who enjoys the spectacle.
British Journal of Photography
As part of developing my photography practice I decided to subscribe to The British Journal of Photography for the more serious discussion and exploration of the art practice of photography.
I did subscribe to this before when I was part of the photography group at the now defunct Darlington Arts Centre and always appreciated the rigour of the writing and the breadth of works that were included in each issue of the magazine.
Really glad that they have a great app as well, especially for the sake of space as magazines just build up and tend to take over once you start collecting them. In fact there are two apps, one for the iPad for the main issue and the other for the iPhone delivering more regular content.
I do subscribe to another photography magazine and have for quite a while, Black+White Photography, and again this has a good workable app for the iPad. This magazine though full of good articles about artists and exhibitions also has quite a bit of practical information and project ideas.
I’m also looking for a third but this may be an art magazine like Aesthetica but I will have to play about and see what’s out there unless you have a recommendation for me?
First look – looking out
Well had my first look at the garage this morning and what a wonderful domestic space it is and it will take a bit of thought and planning about how to deal with it all to have a workable space.
What a hodgepodge of possessions, some left over from the previous owner including a lot of gardening chemicals which we will never use but don’t know how to dispose of (council pickup?), there’s even a couple of old photography works that arrived imperfect.
The biggest category of ‘stuff’ to move on though is my old gaming bits, models, cards, and books. Looks like I’ll be hitting ebay up soon to get these listed and convert them into money for chemicals, paper, and tools.
At least all that storage will be useful as it seems to seal very well as nothing seems to have suffered for over-wintering in the garage.
Now to see if we have any rubble bags in the garage.
Sally Mann. Penguin Books, (288p) ISBN: 9780241774540. Memoir, read 10/05/25, eBook ★★★★☆
Art Work- On the Creative Life
I’ve got to admit I have ‘Hold Still’ by Sally Mann on the shelf waiting to be read but this came up on Netgalley and I thought I may as well give this a go first.
Though this is a craft book the craft is explained through memoir and in the most loose of senses. It looks at different aspects of what it takes to be a photographer and then goes down a rabbit hole of experience to show this strength.
Each of the section was a rambling journey through her life that led her to the conclusions on her art that sometimes had very little to do with art itself but for me emphasised that art and life are not two separate spheres but are interlocked and refelct each other.
I was gobsmacked by the trailer incident…
If you are reading this for some technical help or real insight to practice this may not be for you but if you are willing to synthesise the lessons here with the overarching theme of the chapter you can at least get a look at how Sally Mann works.
She has an interesting writing style that does keep you hooked all the way through and the reflections are always edifying.
I really enjoyed the inserts and type-written extra to her friends and families, I also enjoyed how she held little reverence for her own work often penning off notes on the back of ‘failed’ prints.
Overall well worth a read, but more a memoir than a manual so know what you’re going to get.
I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Bit of a project…
Been having a lot of thrilling thoughts recently about art, especially about photography, and realised I want to get my hands dirty with it once more and probably make this a main pastime.
and to start this I’m going on a project to re-purpose our garage/shed from being a general dumping ground into a place where I can make cyanotypes and store materials for other art projects such as lino printing and book making (and combining all three to make my own art books!)
One of the first jobs is to empty out a lot of the bits that are in the shed and have traveled around the various houses with us and are of no use anymore, and to sell some (if not all) of the old Games Workshop and other miniature things to raise some money for the art materials.
This domain I’ve had for years and done nothing with since I stopped designing and hosting website is going to be a project record page, could be as simple as a photograph of some new tools, a book review, but it will definitely be about showing off my work when it’s done.
If you want to keep up with the project why not click on the subscribe button in the sidebar or pop up?