It’s a closed shop Guvnor !
While the wife pondered over whether to conduct her weekly inspection of our beehives in this unseasonably cold weather we’re being subject to I ventured into town, camera in Crumpler. I also had an excuse since I’m in desperate need of some new bedwear for a forthcoming holiday, my current ones being about twenty years old, full of holes and seriously lacking in waist elastic. First port of call was Marks and Spencers, the nations purveyor of fine undergarments. I approached a young lady, ” excuse me love can you point me in the direction of night attire, pyjamas to be precise ? “. She was most helpful but to my surprise the M & S selection of night wear was piss poor which is why I found myself next door in Primark the building once occupied by Littlewoods. Again I approached a most helpful young lady, ” excuse me love can you point me in the direction of night attire, pyjamas to be precise ? ” and thus I came away with two pairs of bed shorts for eight quid which I folded up in their brown paper bag and stuffed in my jacket so as a) first and foremost not to be identified as a Primark shopper and b) to allow both hands for doing some street photography.
Outside on the mean streets it was business as usual. This being Saturday afternoon a number of choirs were performing for the shopping public one of which did a really pleasant rendtion of “Always on my Mind” – Elvis, Pet Shop Boys and no doubt sundry others. Not far away and just up from Ann Summers these two security guards were openly displaying their proficiency with a tape measure. Another shop the victim of poor fiscal policy I assume ? A current nationally well known photographer amongst contemporary circles has, following his large format critically acclaimed success on the English recently turned his attention to the latest recession. Well why not ? Here’s my contribution.
What on Earth !
Stood in the front garden talking to a neighbour yesterday and we were Google Earthed ! If I’d known they were coming around I’d have taken all my clothes off ! I seem to remember some Fartist in America sat at his computer and downloaded a stack of these images taken from the same vantage point on the roof of a car. A road trip of the States from the comfort of his laptop if you like. The work we were told ( or was that me ?) resonated with the work of Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Gary Winogrand etc and questioned and challenged etc the very notion of contemporary Photography todayblah blah. Sufficeth to say I can’t remember his name and I’m too damn lazy to look it up. So did this Google Earth thing cause me to question the very nature of photography, privacy and ethics blah blah blah ? ………Erm No !
Actually I was more concerned that my neighbour was having to pack up his Private Hire vehicle business because it was about to cost him about 2 grand just to keep on the road. He’d worked out that he’d have to do about 25 airport runs just to get this money back before he could actually start making a profit. Austerity is one thing, bleeding the working classes dry quite another !
Anyway I digress, talking of Contemporary Photography the Photographers Gallery is reopening it’s doors on Saturday 19 May 2012 Ramilies Street, London. In recent years this place has done sod all for British Contemporary Photography and judging by it’s opening exhibition Canadian photographer Ed Burtynsky’s OIL series, looks set to continue in the same vein. One day they might take their heads down from up their backsides and tackle what’s happening photographically in the UK , actually using their Arts Council subsidy ( tax payers money ! ) for promoting home grown talent. I used to enjoy a visit to the Gallery at Great Newport St not least because I knew the toilets would be clean and I could get a decent priced bowl of salad and slice of carrot cake. I remember going to a talk given by Martin Parr when he just launched his New Brighton series. At question and answer session he was rounded on by some BBC executive who lambasted him for his ethics and his unsympathetic portrayal of the working class in garish colour. No problem for the young Martin I assure you. Those were the days before Blue Peter ( the BBC for the benefit of my overseas readers ) were forced to apolgise for deceiving young children over a phone in competition of course. How times change ?
So I’m looking forward to my Google Earth image and on a similar vein I’ve discovered you can get digital cameras to attach to your dogs collar which I’m assuming will take images at regular intervals. My dog wants one ! Could be really interesting. In the meantime and especially for the Photographers Gallery in London here’s a nice image of a sunset I made earlier with the help of the wife and dog.
like an Eygptian
I’ve had a wonderful morning down in Chesterfield at the annual May Day Parade. Made lots of images I’m pleased with ,that’s what we photographers refer to it these days; spoke to an ex work mate of mine whose now a Councillor in this great town, had some Flapjack and bought a Taschen Wolfgang Tillmans book for a quid. Already I’ve reassessed my opinion of dear Wolfgang although I’m still not sure about those Concorde images ! Maybe I wished I’d got there first.
So this bloke and his mates had a bit of jocular banter with me, “who are tha with, MI5 ? ” The Left tend to be a bit paranoid about the Secret Services and I can’t help feeling that some of them would be little disappointed for MI5 not to have a file on them ? A kind of badge of honour. Anyway I replied ” Aah and MI6 and 7 and 8 ! “
Careers Advice
The other week I received an email from a young lass who’d found my details on some Art based website which I’d almost forgotten I’d put my details on. Here’s the email together with my response which I hope she found useful but since she didn’t bother to reply and thank me for taking the time, probably not ? I’ve changed the name to protect the innocent as it were. It occurred to me later that perhaps she was candidly trying to find out whether I needed an Assistant but then again perhaps I have an over inflated ego. Nevertheless I need an Assistant like I need a hole in the head.
Hi,
My name is Champagne and I’m 16 years old currently studying at Derby College.
I’m really interested in Photography and found your email address on the arts derbyshire website,
I was wondering if you know any courses/advice that would help me get into the Photography/creative industry?
Thanks,
Champagne
Well Champagne I’m probably not the best person to ask since I can hardly say I make a sufficient living at the thing myself but I thankyou for contacting me so I’ll tell you what I know or believe to be true.
Firstly you don’t say whether you’re studying photography at DerbyCollege? If so then good, if not then get yourself on a course part time or full time. I’m sure DerbyCollege do photo courses? If you haven’t got the time then buy a good instructional book on photography and devour it. In fact devour as much as you can on the subject and not just the technical stuff, the history as well. If you’re really interested then eat, sleep, drink and breathe the subject!! If you’re still interested then Derby University do degree courses and they have a reasonable reputation. The only problem is that they don’t have me teaching!
If you don’t want to go to University and come out of it some thousands of pounds in debt and very little experience of actually being in the industry then the alternative route is to try and get yourself a job as an assistant with a Pro or in a studio where most probably you will start by making the tea and sweeping the floor but over time with someone decent you will get to learn how to use a camera and most importantly how to produce good quality stunning work. This route will most probably teach you stuff you would not learn at Uni or College. To be honest if I knew what I know now, at 18 then I’d have got myself off to London and done just that. I’d have slept on the studio floor and lived on cornflakes if that’s what it would have taken but alas!
Anyway there’s plenty of courses knocking about and as I said Derby is probably as good as any. Avoid Sheffield Hallam, though I’ve heard bad things !!
So what other advice can I give you ? Well as I’ve said eat, sleep and breathe it. Know the history and the key photographers. Study their work ! It wouldn’t do you any harm to also study art history either. Obviously Photoshop is a must (wish I was better) but also know how to develop and print the traditional way. It wouldn’t do you any harm to familiarize yourself with graphic design packages either.
If you’re serious about the subject then you will have to work hard, be single minded and determined. Don’t waste your time messing about on Facebook when you’re time would be better spent studying your subject ! unless of course you get yourself on the Flak Network on Facebook which is a good one to be on !
Most important of all keep taking pictures! Be imaginative, original and creative. At some point you’ll need a strong portfolio with knock em dead images which are fresh and exciting. Start taking pictures now !!! Deal with what you know in a creative way. Your images must be aesthetically pleasing. At your age you are in the position to photograph life as you see it from you perspective. Your life, your mates, your fashions, your home, your spare time, your night life. Carry a camera about you always. Photograph the unusual, the unexpected or things which you notice or mean something to you. Don’t be shy with it.
I hope this is helpful ?
In return please tell your tutors I’m available for talks or lectures on the subject !
If you google Andy Greaves Photography you’ll find my other blogs which I hope you’ll check out.
In the meantime all the best and if you need further advice then please don’t hesitate.
Ta
Andy G
No Pressure
The ridiculously nice Nick Lockett purveyor of fine images ( he used to work for Carlton TV and has photographed all sorts of famous folk ) asked me to hang out with them for the latter part of Saturday at their most recent Photographers Place workshop in Wirksworth, Derbyshire. The Photographers Place workshop run by Dr Paul Hill MBE, Nick ( the click ) Lockett, Martin Shakeshaft, Maria Falconer FRPS and their indispensable most valuable helpers. In return for a slice of carrot cake, cup of coffee and a superb evening meal I was asked to take the group shot. Me taking a photograph of a group of committed photographers ? no pressure there then ! It’s actually the fourth time I’ve done it but even so I have to admit to being a little bit nervous. The guest speaker this time was Stephen McLaren co author of Street Photography Now, that’s him stood at the back in the middle just in front of the shop sign.
So anyway I thought for a bit of fun as an addition I’d try and produce something a little bit different and try replicate a well known image taken of a group of Magnum photographers. Here it is , not quite 100 % eye coverage but not bad. It’s no bad thing that some photographers just won’t do what they’re asked, they’ll go far. It was Nick the click who placed his 5 x 4 plate camera at the front just to drive home the point that these people are photographers, it’s that visual literacy thing again ya see.
All politicians
A quick check on Google gives Anarchism the definition:
” The theory or doctrine that all forms of government are oppressive and undesirable and should be abolished.”
Most people I assume would presume that “Anarchy” means lots of pillaging, rioting, general running amok and misbehaviour by large parts of the population, the kind we saw last year here in the UK riots. I’m also assuming that serious intellectual thinkers and sympathisers to the Anarchist cause theorize that something quite different would occur. Either that or they agree that general running amok would occur initially until a calm equilibrium is reached when everyone has exhausted their need to run amok and settle down to a more peaceful ungoverned co-existence growing cabbages, baking bread, keeping bees and fermenting potent drinks, that sort of thing. Anyway this gentleman doesn’t look like the ‘running amok’ sort, just an ordinary camera wielding Anarchist to me, but as I keep telling them at the library one should never judge a book by it’s cover. Anymore than one should believe a photograph as absolute truth in the same way this chap is telling us about politicians. Nevertheless the Anarchist symbol in the top left of his sign gives it away where his political leanings lie. That is if it his sign, he might have been just holding it for a mate who’d nipped off for a quick slash behind the bike sheds or something on this particular May Day rally down in town ?
Noise annoys !
There’s a lot of crap on the television these days ! If we’re not being told something, what to do, what to think or what to eat we’re being sold something. Something we don’t need and which won’t make our lives better despite claims to the contrary. There used to be a kids programme entitled ‘Why don’t you switch off the TV and go do something less boring instead ? ‘ . Exactly !
This flat screen TV in the window of a discount electrical store on the High St was on Manager’s special offer.
For some reason it reminded me of that Cabaret Voltaire track ‘Nag Nag Nag’ which if you’ve never then do yourself a favour and check out on You Tube. If you don’t like it then at least you’ll know what the hell I’m prattling on about.
Conspiracy theories
A recent short break to the East coast ( of England ) with the bag for life and 7 month old Border Terrier. Partly as a trial run to see how the little creature would travel a reasonably long distance, sleep in a different abode, bark at the waves etc and partly because we needed the break. I needed fish and chips by the side of the sea, the breeze cooling my bald head etc. Nevertheless I rarely leave home these days without a camera, in this instance my trusty pocket sized Lumix Gf2 ( and that’s about as technical as this blog is ever likely to get ) which is about all the wife would allow me being as I was under strict instructions to rest and recuperate without stressing over this thing we call photography.
Location – Whibty, amongst other things where Count Dracula first set foot on English soil and esteemed Victorian Photographer Frank Meadow-Sutcliffe did most of his work. Oh and where Captain Cook trained as a seaman ! him who was knocked over the back of the head and stabbed to death somewhere in the Haiwian Islands before being basted over an open fire. Perhaps he should have stayed at home as indeed should a lot of our English brethren who thought it prudent to go and find other parts of the world which actually weren’t lost in the first place.
So there we were in the car park of the Abbey and I notice this sticker stuck to a small electricty sub station which I find interesting in itself but with the Abbey in the background the message takes on a deeper contextual meaning and therefore I feel compelled to make an image. Why ? because Whibty Abbey ( that ruined building in the background ) was disestablished during the Dissolution of the Monsteries under the rule of that raving madman Henry the Eighth. That fat bloated git who believed he had divine rights to allow him to torture people and no stranger to conspiracy theories in between the mucking about he did with all those women and wives and upsetting the Vatican in the process ! We’ve come along way since Henry the Eighth ?
postscript : the bag for life would like me to point out that it was her who noticed the sticker first and not me thus proving an important piece of photographic equipment is your wife !
