This is a private blog site to support the Photography AS/A2 classes I run in Bournemouth - I use it to share ideas, research, useful (I hope!) material, and point out good photography stuff on the web.
When I can I will add other relevant content - exam materials, handouts, etc. If you can think of something that should be here feel free to let me know. Some pages may end up being password protected….
If you think you should have access to the site, please get in touch.
Richard
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DeCarava – photographer who recorded Harlem
Posted on October 29th, 2009 No comments
Dancers, uptown ‘club dance,’ New York, 1956/1981
Roy Rudolph DeCarava was born in New York City’s Harlem, on December 9, 1919. From 1938 to 1940 he studied painting at Cooper Union Institute, from 1940 to 1942 painting and printmaking with Elton Fax at the Harlem Art Center, and drawing and painting with Charles White at George Washington Carver Art School in 1944. He originally purchased a camera (in 1946) to document his work in printmaking, but by 1949 photography itself was his sole artistic focus. He went on to establish himself as a post-war street photographer of daily life, specifically African-American life in New York. DeCarava was not the first photographer to shoot Harlem, but his commitment to interpreting it in artistic terms sets him apart from the history of social documentary established there.
De Carava died last week.
We need to think about the role photography plays, has always played, in perpetuating stereotypes – maybe that’s all a photo can do… Anyway – here’s another chance to see things from a different perspective.
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Jane Bown – Portrait Photography
Posted on October 28th, 2009 No comments
“Jane Bown exposed: on photographing Beckett, Björk and the BeatlesThe Observer’s longest serving photojournalist and one of the UK’s pre-eminent portrait photographers, Jane Bown talks candidly about hanging out with the Fab Four and persuading Samuel Beckett to have his picture taken.
Her definitive collection can be seen in her new book, Exposures, and at an exhibition of her work at Kings Place in London until 21 November 2009. Then touring to University Gallery, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne from 8 January to 26 February 2010″
This is a delightful little video about Jane Bown that fits the idea of portrait perfectly – and if you are worried by the need for lights, most of her work is about using windows as a light source if you listen carefully. I’m delighted she’s still using an OM1 – my favourite little camera… actually, you need to see this just for the eyes of Beckett and Bacon.
And of course there is a huge resource of other photography -related videos – I’m typing this while watching Martin Parr – just given me an idea for a new project… so a useful resource.
While we’re at it canI add a final plug for the Purbeck Film Festival, which rumbles on to its grand gala finale on Saturday. That and Tarantino on this evening – what more could you ask?
I’m really looking forward to the Gustave le Gray work, and the portrait research next week…
I suppose a link would help – http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/video/2009/oct/22/jane-bown-exposure-photography
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Jacques Henri Lartigue: The Boy Who Never Grew Up
Posted on October 25th, 2009 No comments
Bichonnade Leaping - Jacques-Henri Lartigue
Nick Danziger looks at the work of Jacques Henri Lartigue, one of the 20th century’s greatest photographers. Lartigue worked in virtual obscurity until 1962, when a chance meeting revealed his work to the world.
BBC 4 – 7.30pm this evening – just spotted it. I expect this is what iPlayer is for…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/photography/genius/gallery/lartigue.shtml
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The first era of photography – British Library collection
Posted on October 25th, 2009 No comments“It’s not an institution best known for its photographic collection, yet the British Library next week unveils an important archive of historic images which trace the development of the medium from its beginnings in 1839 to the early 1900s.”
Village near Yokohama, Japan, c.1869
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Nadav Kander – Prix Prictet environmental photography award
Posted on October 24th, 2009 No comments“Sponsored by the Geneva private bank Pictet & Cie, the Prix Pictet is the world’s first prize dedicated to photography and sustainability. It has a unique mandate – to use the power of photography to communicate crucial messages to a global audience; and it has a unique goal – art of the highest order, applied to the immense social and environmental threats of the new millennium.”
These are also great examples of the photo essay – a small collection of images around a central theme or subject, reinforcing the core message. Nadav Kander is the 2009 winner, from an impressive shortlist which includes Andreas Gursky and Edward Burtynsky. His work on the changing face of the Yangtze river is part documentary, part landscape, all art. In fact it bridges these three so well we might discuss it in class, so worth having a look.
Kander’s website is a wealth of material too – I particularly like the Arctic Circle work – www.nadavkander.com
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Hey, Hot Shot! – Photography Blog
Posted on October 24th, 2009 No commentsThere is a huge number of websites and blogs dedicated to photography – have yet to find many I revisit regularly – or even at all – but the serendipitous aspect of them can serve to alert you to photographers, styles and opportunities you would otherwise never see – especially here in sleepy hollow.
I came across this by accident this evening. It’s huge, and of variable quality, and does include some better known names amongst the hopefuls. See it as a chance to look at a whole mixed bag of photography that someone feels meets some kind of criteria, and make your own mind up about what you like/dislike, and why. An antidote as well to the famous dead photographers I have subjected you to so far – that’s ok to get started, but there is a lot of good stuff by live, unknown ones too.
As always, you take your chance with the content [and I'm not responsible for it or how it might change, or how some images might offend]…
http://www.heyhotshot.com/blog/contenders/
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test A2 post to page
Posted on October 23rd, 2009 No commentsRelated posts
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Sony World Photography Awards
Posted on October 23rd, 2009 No commentsThis is partly to test the blog post is working – but still useful to see the sort of work that gets selected for big awards. Lots of B&W still going on – especially in the documentary areas…
http://www.worldphotographyawards.org/2009.aspx
No photos – too many to choose from! 2008 and 2009 winners still on-line if you root around.
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Test email notification
Posted on October 23rd, 2009 No commentsif you get this could you confirm please – richard@richardjeffery.com
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Richard Avedon
Posted on October 18th, 2009 No commentsA small antidote to Irving Penn – Richard Avedon was another American fashion photographer whose work crosses boundaries. Have a look.
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Seydou Keïta
Posted on October 16th, 2009 No commentsI suggested you take a look at Seydou Keïta’s work at the very end last night – but couldn’t find the images I wanted to show. These are more than just examples of a photographer using a ‘busy’, patterned background. Keïta in many ways is at the end of the Victorian small town studio portrait tradition of producing images of his clientsd in all their finery – but with a twist.
Seydou Keïta - untitled
We live in a post-colonial society where much of the imagery we see has been – until recently – explicitly part of an Anglo-American cultural tradition and experience. There is a lot of Victorian ‘travel’ photography that reproduce in print exactly the real relationship between local population and colonial master – with the early days of ethnography not helping much. ‘Subject’ in all its meanings.
Seydou Keita - untitled
There is so much more. There is much to gain by looking at the photographic traditions of other cultures – not just to overcome the sense of an Anglo-American hegemony – but also becasue of the different aesthetics to be found.
I think Seydou Keïta serves as a powerful reminder of this – and they are also just great photos…
http://www.africanimagery.com/galleries/phpslideshow.php?directory=keita
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More Art/Science – 35 years of Microscope Photography
Posted on October 10th, 2009 3 commentsYou might need to look up some of the techniques used to achieve these photos – more importantly, is is art as well as science?
my money is on the Doxorubin…
Pleurosigma (marine diatoms) (200x), Darkfield and Polarized Light. / Michael StringerWestcliff
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Irving Penn, a giant of photography, dies at 92…
Posted on October 8th, 2009 No commentsPenn, who began as a fashion photographer, crossed the chasm that separated commercial and art photography. His works are considered icons… (read rest of report)
Much more than a fashion photographer, he shocked and annoyed the establishment by turning out equally immaculate prints of cigarette butts and rubbish from the late 60s onwards.
Marek has just sent me a link to another blog with a some better images – take a look at http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2009/10/irving-penn-fashion-photographer.html
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Beatles to Bowie: beneath the surface of 60s photography
Posted on October 3rd, 2009 No commentsJagger is pretty, Nureyev is pretty, Polanksi is pretty. But how much does a celebration of the 1960s through glamour photos and fan mags tell of the world of substance beyond, asks Jenny Diski…
Review in Guardian on new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/oct/03/beatles-to-bowie-sixties-exposed
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