Flickin One Off #3 ...

Well its been a while... but I'm back and fired up after ... eerrr basically being a lazy toad really, i wish i had an excuse but i dont. Get used to it and move on....

Well I'm back with a selection box that's ready to pop your head squarely of its shoulders. Kicking off with one of my occasional posts of great work from the website made of pure awesome, that is Flickr. So get your sunnies and sit back and enjoy the ride with the work of Bomobob and his circletastic collection of Ferris wheel photos and fairground rides.

All shot in glorious high colour. Using the delightfully un predictable 'cross processing' technique were by colour slide film is run through the 'incorrect' developing process meant for colour negatives. Result? Well see for yourself in the barf-o-matic, super saturated world of Bomobob




Bob uses a variety of different modern digital and film cameras for his wider range of work including brilliantly observed street portraits and very clever nature shots. But for this series he has picked old 50s and 60s box cameras with all their inherent fuzziness and 'surface noise' thrown in. As most of the fair ground rides he's shot with them are from the same era, there seems to be a great synergy in the shots.




Purists may well scorn that so much post processing is lavished on these shots but, for me its not about technicalities its about passion and beauty in all its ragged glory. However the result has been achieved, the images are evocative and heartwarming.

What more could you ask for?



Bomobobs fairground series is on flickr here and selections of his work are available to buy as prints and other 'stuff' here


more from me very soon

see you in the next life

LOMO; The Art of Rubbish Cameras

Lomography .... is a style of photography that was inspired by one particular camera the LOMO LC-A . A camera made by russians for russians, very simple in design a 'trabant' for photographers if you like.

Delightfully inconsistant Lomo cameras all have there own personality with ocasional light leaks and shutter lines, which all helps Lomography emphasize casual, snapshot photography. Characteristics such as over-saturated colors, off-kilter exposure, blurring, "happy accidents," and alternative film processing are often considered part of the "Lomographic Technique." Users are encouraged to take a lighthearted approach to their photography, and use these techniques to document everyday life, as the Lomo LC-A's small size, simple controls, and ability to shoot in low light encourages candid photography, photo reportage, and photo vérité.



Lomographey inspires a passion and devotion to photography that is both heart warming and accesable, it has an organic feel that runs totally in the face of the sterile digitally enhanced age we live in. Read more about it at the lomographers society. Have a look at it in their archive or in the 2 best (in my opinion) lomo flickr groups here and here

Check out my 'flickin one off no1' post about sunshine indoors whos work sums up all that is warm and special about LOMO

see you in the next life

Bluffers Guide to Photographers #02 Anton Corbjin

Anton Corbijn is one of the most iconic music photographers still producing worthwhile work today. Recently director of the Joy Division biopic Control, he's also a personal hero of mine, whose work i wonder at and career i'm inspired by.

Having photographed just about evey popular (and unpopular..) artist you could imagine, his work is as fresh today as it was when he first started working.

In his photographs, Corbjins’s subjects often seem solemn and distracted; smiling perhaps, but still worn down by the burdens of celebrity. His subjects are pictured as serious people, caught in intimate moments and far removed from their high-powered stage personas.

Born in Holland in 1955, Corbjins work was really came to my attention after shooting the cover for U2s unsurrpassed masterpiece 'the joshua tree'. I then discovered this amazing photo of Miles Davis. Corbjin says on his website 'Taken in his hotel room in Montreal, with light falling in from the window. In his very large pupils you can actually make out my silhouette. It was a very brief shoot but one of the most satisfying ever. It is also worth noting that this photo was taken well before the TUTU album shoot by Irving Penn and it has become one of my most well- known photographs. '





“Anton is not at all dead when he's taking photos,” says Brian Eno a life long friend and colaborator on the control movie. “He's actually a bit crazy, going all over the world to take pictures of people, but then acting as though it doesn't really matter in the least, sure let's do a few pictures now we're here, but don't let it get in the way of anything.”

If given the choice, Corbjin would almost always shoot his subject outside in a natural environment rather than the studio, even if it was against a plain white wall. “I'm a very, very basic photographer,” Corbjin says. “The main strength of my pictures, I guess, is the mood and feel I get out of the people that I meet. But technically I don't think I'm very advanced. That never interested me.”

His lack of interest in the technicalities of photography, stikes a chord in with my punk side...... His work never looses its edge and for me, able to ride above trend and fashion to hit a spot that says simply 'yeah thats just a brilliant photograph'.

For more of his fabulous work go here.

Enjoy

See you in the next life

Bluffers Guide to Great Photographers #01; IRVING PENN

So many of us have heard the name and seen his photos... his style has become a watch word for how a quality black and white portrait should look, perfectly exposed often using natural light.

Irving Penn had a profound influence on my own personal photography while at university, i gave up using flash and opened windows instead or used constant light sources. Suddenly taking peoples photograph in a studio became QUIET, the sitter became much less distracted and more was gleaned by my film.

Penns portraits are soaked in this intensity and to this day the 91 year old master can still get to the core of even the most closed off and unapproachable sitters.

With a cannon of work covering from Pablo Picasso to Kate Moss he still shoots with the same no frills attitude that he extolled in 1958 after being named one of "The World’s 10 Greatest Photographers" in an international poll conducted by Popular Photography Magazine. Penn’s statement at the time is a remarkable summation of purpose and idealism: "I am a professional photographer because it is the best way I know to earn the money I require to take care of my wife and children."



It really is difficult to imagine how modern portraiture would have developed, if Penn had not been around. His work looks so incredibly familiar purely because of the massive influence he has had on photographers working today.

Have a look here at his most popular work and see what i mean....

see you in the next life.....

Flickin One Off #2 ...

Sunshine on a rainy day

Following on with the 'intelligent graffiti' theme just take a look at this flickr set of the EINE ALPHABET from the dam fine work of 'sunshine indoors' todays featured flickerererer (is that a word?)

The photos show Ben Eines series of letters painted on roller shutter doors around London and the UK. There have been a few sets of Eines alphabet photographed but as yet i've not seen a better set than the one above, properly exposed and well colour balanced, its a great set and i'm lovin it!

Warm Cockles



As a lad i lived in Southend and later moved to within 10 miles of Yarmouth so this seaside set really strikes a chord with me, the glorious delapidation and faded majesty are captured in a warm sharp and graphic style. There really aren't enough people taking REAL photos and adding real personality on the way. You should adore them ... its the law.


Further to the great talent for snapping a neat lens based treat, I would heartily recommend you check out the particular musical flavor of Ally's soul funk stew of a blog at DUSTY 7s

Your restless feet wont regret it ...

trust me i'm a doctor.

see you in the next life

Banksy's Heros ....

I've unashamedly lifted this from the banksy website. I just thought the last few paragraphs were priceless. Enjoy.


GRAFFITI HEROES #03

In 1974 a 33 year old man named George Davis was convicted of robbing the payroll of the London Electricity Board in Ilford. He was nailed on the evidence of cops who were outside the bank at the time of the robbery and was sent to prison for 20 years.

However, his friend Peter Chappell was convinced Davis was innocent and inspired by discrepancies in the police statements and the fact that none of the bloodstains at the scene matched with the defendant, started calling for Davis' release. Chappall enrolled some friends and embarked on one of the largest sustained grafitti campaigns Britain has ever seen. Over the following months 'G DAVIS IS INNOCENT' appeared on walls, bridges and tunnels from one side of London to the other, some of which are still visible today.

The vandalism culminated in Chappell and four others breaking into Headingley cricket ground in August 1975 the night before a test match between England and Australia. Using plastic cutlery from a service station they dug holes in the pitch, filled them with oil and painted 'Sorry it had to be done, but George Davis is innocent' in large white letters on the wall as they left. The match was postponed and Chappell got 18 months for criminal damage.

The campaign brought the case to the attention of the Home Secretary who after a police inquiry released Davis two years into his sentence using the highly exceptional and controversial Royal Prerogative of Mercy.

The fight to free George Davis was one of the most spetacular campaigns ever fought against injustice, an achievement only slightly marred when a year after his release Davis was found guilty of robbing the Bank of Cyprus for which he served six years, and three years after which he was caught red-handed robbing a mail train.

George Davis is now a free man and happily married to the daughter of a North London Chief Inspector of Police.

It's all swinging over at Planet Mondo blog ....

Something special is happening over on the Mondo mans blog today (being a Friday of the most Swinging and Funky persuasion), whizz over and check out whats going on ...... HERE