Watch the Birdie...

For a while now I've wanted to get some wedding images onto a tumblr site. I don't necessarily want to market myself as a wedding photographer, but I've been getting a few enquiries and it's a nice way of presenting work.

I've called it Watch the Birdie, inspired by one of my favourite songs to dance to:

Any feedback welcome!

Happy New Year!

Firstly, I'd like to wish you all a rather belated Happy New Year. Only two weeks into 2012, and yet life has well and truly kicked in again after the lethargy and well earned break of the Christmas period. I seem to have done loads already this year; not all photography related, but there is one thing worth mentioning; three of my Retro Girls are being exhibited at Silverprint!

If you don't know it already, you should get to know it. Silverprint is the store for analogue photography supplies; film, photographic paper, chemistry, film cameras and some digital supplies. The welcome wall often features a small photographic exhibition, and when I used to go in there as a student I always thought it would be a cool place to show work. So when they asked me I was delighted, and didn't hesitate to accept.

Retro Girls are up in the store til the middle of February, so if you didn't get to see them in all their framed glory at Collyer Bristow Gallery last Summer, now's your chance! Silverprint is based behind the Old Vic theatre in Waterloo, on Valentine Place.

Reflections of 2011

2011 has been quite a year. It's the year in which I completed my first major project since leaving my MA, had my first significant exhibition, finally launched Brixton People as a book, got the cover of a national newspaper, was published in an international magazine, began teaching, and, perhaps most significantly, launched Portrait Salon, with friend and fellow photographer James O Jenkins.

It is this last which explains my rather scarce presence on this blog over the last few months. Portrait Salon was taking up an awful lot of my time, but it was well worth it. Set up as a form of Salon de Refusés, we aimed to show the best of the rejected images from the famous Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize, hosted every year by the National Portrait Gallery. What began as a little experiment escalated into a publication (designed and published by the lovely lads of Birch Studios) and a very well attended event at the Roxy Bar and Screen in Borough. We were even honoured with the presence of Anne Braybon (commissioner at the NPG), who was very supportive of our endeavors, and the project hasn't seen its end yet; in January we are taking the projection up to Open Eye in Liverpool, where we also give a talk.

This positive response has inspired us to continue this project in 2012. And who knows what else next year will bring? My new year's resolution: read more, write more, think more. Let's see I get on with that one.

In the meantime, I leave you with an image taken during the Festival Arbres et Lumières in Geneva last year. Merry Christmas!

BRIXTON PEOPLE: Book Launch

Almost two years have passed since I set up a pop-up studio in Brixon Market and spent a week photographing passers by. And how much the market has changed! Now it is full of award winning eateries, with some of the best independent restaurants in London.

A good time, then, to finally launch the book I have made to go with this project. Do come down to Brixton Village on the evening of Friday 2 December to help me celebrate the occasion at Brick Box, just a couple of units down from where my studio was. There will be a chance to view the book, buy it (just in time for Xmas!) and taste the delights of the market around you... Festivities begin from 7pm.

Wrap up warm, this is a night not to be missed!

Exhibition Listings Nov/Dec

This blog post is more for the benefit of my students. There are so many shows to see at the moment, I thought I'd list them here so they're all in one place. They are in chronological order of when the show ends.
To non students reading this; feel free to add any I've missed in the comments!

Other I; Alec Soth, WassinkLundgrun, Vivanne Sassen
Hotshoe Gallery, til 27 November
This is a show not to be missed. Curated by Aaron Schumann, it brings together three of the most interesting contemporary photographers.

Simon Roberts at Flowers
You've only got til Friday to see this, but go if you can! Simon is quickly establishing himself as one of the best British photographers around, and these landscapes of Britain are truly something.

Cabinet of Curiosities, Bill Jackson
The Front Room, til 30 November
Still time to catch this show in the tiny Front Room, run by Troika Editions. It is what it says on the tin; a collection of photographs of curios and stuff the photographer has found lying around, meticulously taken on a 5x4 camera.

Jeff Wall
White Cube, Mason's Yard
23 November - 7 January
I CANNOT WAIT for this! Jeff Wall rose to fame in the nineties with his large, staged photographs mounted on lightboxes. They are almost filmic in production, creating complex scenes and narratives. This show will be of new work, and shows a departure from lightboxes.. will be dead interesting, promise!

Michael Wolf at Flowers
25 November - 7 January
Wolf trawls Google Street View to find humorous goings-on, and isolates these scenarios into their own images. There are some featured in World Press Photo, and I have blogged about his work here.

AMPS/11 at Photofusion, 25 November - 27 January
Starting next week is the annual members show at Photofusion, showcasing work from 11 photographers. The work is diverse, complete with camera less photographs, digitally manipulated pics, and more traditional portraiture.

Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize, at the National Portrait Gallery
10 November - 12 February 2011, £2 admission fee.
An important show on the photographic calender, showcasing the best of contemporary portrait photography which has been selected from an open competition.

Shaped By War, Photographs by Don McCullin
Imperial War Museum, til 15 April 2012
This is a rare chance to see a broad collection of works by war photographer Don McCullin. McCullin has photographed in Berlin, Vietnam, Cambodia, Biafra, Bangladesh and the Middle East. There are loads of interesting events with this, too.

World Press Photo Award
Royal Festival Hall, Southbank
Important but often difficult viewing of some of the best photojournalism which has been selected for the World Press Photo award.

The Photographs Gallery at the V&A.
This has just opened and will be a permanent fixture at the museum. But it shows some really important work, including Julia Margaret Cameron, Henri Cartier Bresson and Man Ray.

Wapping Bankside
Always has good shows, and worth popping in as it's close to Tate Modern. Details of latest show on the website.

Other shows which should be seen:

Gerhard Richter at Tate Modern
til 8 January
Gerhard Richter is an important artist who uses a variety of media, including photography, which he often paints over. His work comprises of collections of vernacular photography, paintings, and mixed media. I haven't seen this show yet but I can guarantee it's not one to be missed!

And a couple of events which may interest you:
Portrait Salon
30 November, Roxy Bar and Screen
This was set up as a Salon des Refusés of work which was rejected from the aforementioned Taylor Wessing award at the NPG. The award gets 6000 entries, and they only show 60, so there are many which are rejected. This event will show a selection of those unsuccessful entries in the form of a projection, so it's a one off event with a bar etc.

Brixton People; Book Launch
2 December, 7pm, Brick Box, Brixton Market.
This the launch of my book! Come and buy one ready for Xmas!

A little gem

It's rare that I come across a photography show which I haven't heard about. But that's what happened today. On my way back from Tate Modern I popped into the Purdy Hicks gallery. And there... was a little gem.

It's Bettina von Zwehl's new work, a series of miniatures made while on a residency at the V&A museum. Inspired by original miniatures, von Zwehl took photographs of the assistants of the museum, facing a window which emits a glowing yellow light. One particular work, Made up Love Song, is a series of 32 miniatures of the same woman, Sophia, an assistant at the museum. Shot in exactly the same position, two or three times a week, on first looking the photographs appear exactly the same. On closer inspection, slight differences become apparent, as time passes, light changes and the relationship between sitter and subject develops over the six months.

©Bettina von Zwehl

There are single portraits of other assistants too; all women, all photographed in the same way and in the same location. The resulting photographs are so peaceful, so timeless. And there is something about seeing photographic miniatures in an industry which seems so obsessed with enormous images. These objects are precious, each one a little treasure. This gives them a status similiar to the painted miniatures back in the 16th, 17th century, used amongst the wealthy classes as a form of introduction; fathers would send miniatures of their daughter to possible suitors for example. The dagurrotype eventually replaced the painted miniatures, and I can't help feeling that this exhibition brings this history full circle...

The exhibition is on til the 7 November, and it is not one to be missed. Go see!

The Apocalypse

Today I went to Tate Britain with my Dad... the John Martin show is dramatic and a little kitsch; the 19th  century version of the Hollywood film. But the poster and the surrounding abstract design on the stairs inspired some colourful portraits...