On Saturday I visited the Whitechapel Gallery to see the survey exhibition of Zarinal Bhimji’s work. To be honest before this exhibition I was not familiar with her work. I went along with an open mind and was intrigued with the idea of seeing a mixed media presentation of work, with installations, photographs and film.… [Read more…]
I have just made a self portrait to be included in the ‘I am an Ironman’ series. It is interesting making self portraits. One puts oneself in the position of the subject, so that all the uncertainties that this entails are experienced personally by the photographer. My subjects often ask me what I want them… [Read more…]
I have been continuing with my candid portrait series of people viewing exhibits in Museums. Walker Evans’ ‘Subway’ photographs; Harry Callaghan’s portraits of women lost in thought on the streets of Chicago, and Philip-Lorca DiCorcia’s Heads are all precedents for this type of candid portrait series. see ‘(people) In Series, In Sequence’ and Exposed – Voyeurism,… [Read more…]
I have had a third photograph published in the Big Issue of the North….I am pleased as it was one of my personal favourites – a street shot captured at Piccadilly Underground.
I am just back from Hawaii where I succeeded in capturing two portraits for my ‘I am an Ironman’ portfolio. The process was far more difficult than I had anticipated. The main difficulty was finding suitable locations for the shoot which provide the neutral background I am looking for. Whilst traveling I will not be… [Read more…]
I am over in Hawaii and had hoped to complete two or three portraits for the ‘I am an Ironman’ project. Here are the portraits of my good friends Al Denbleyker and Tricia Totten who are from Houston in Texas. The photographs was made at their house in Kailua Kona, Hawaii. Kona is the location… [Read more…]
I have been experimenting with different film types for the Museum portraits project. Fuji Neopan 1600 is emerging as my favourite…lovely grain and great contrast. Here is a street shot taken with the film rated at 3200 iso….
I am a little annoyed….I missed the Real Venice Exhibition at Somerset House. The exhibition showed the work of some of my favourite photographers including Nan Goldin, Candida Hofer, and Philip-Lorca DiCorcia. I have had a good look at the catalogue and perhaps not surprisingly I was most impressed by the work of Hiroshi Watanabe… [Read more…]
I have had a second photograph published in the Big Issue of the North…this time they got my name and the caption correct. They published this to make up for the errors which occurred when the first photograph was published….thanks to Big Issue.
I have been working on a further idea for a portrait series. The concept is to capture portraits of people whilst they are viewing exhibits at Museums. Whilst engaged in looking at objects the subjects will be absorbed in their own thoughts about what they are seeing. The will not be putting on a ‘mask’.… [Read more…]
I have been testing out my new Fuji 670 medium format camera. This camera has a retro look with a collapsible bellows – a fixed lens of around 45mm (35mm equivalent). It is very light at around 1 kg and because it collapsed it is very compact. It shoots both 6×6 and 6×7 frames. I… [Read more…]
A few days ago I enrolled for the Level 3 Advance course in photography. I have been busy preparing and sending off some initial ideas to my tutor Moira Lovell. Moira was my tutor for the Progressing with Digital level 2 course and I found her input very useful. It will be interesting to see… [Read more…]
It has been a big day for getting things published. I was asked to write an article for the Puglia Blog and this I did. It was published today along with four of my photographs. The article is below…
My photograph of a lamb peering around a Henry Moore sculpture has been published in Big Issue of the North. Sadly they managed to both use the wrong caption. I had provided two photographs with the other one being a broad landscape of Stoodley Pike in the Calder Valley – nothing like a lamb?? Also… [Read more…]
I will keep reviewing my Artist’s Statement for this work as I assimilate information from my research. I have the sense that the original draft did not accurately reflect the documentary nature of the work. Ironman has a tangible visible form represented by the physical shape, clothing, hairstyles, tattoos etc of the athletes. My aim… [Read more…]
I came across this article whilst reading an article by David Bate After Postmodernism? . Bate is responsible for the Photography Studies programme at Westminster University. In this essay he argues that Post Modernism with its inter-textual referencing and ‘genre-switching’ …where one genre of photography is switched for another one…(usually a genre regarded as most irrelevant, indifferent or… [Read more…]
I came across the work of Brian Shumway on the Burn Magazine website. here Brian’s practice includes a number of portraiture series. The series featured in Burn is entitled True Men. Shumway’s Artist’s Statement for this work states… Gender can be a perplexing thing. Despite being flexible and malleable, it defines and confines who… [Read more…]

Glynis Greenough, UK, W55-59, St Croix US Virgin Islands
I realise that I need to take a decision on the subject for my Advanced studies. I believe now that I can proceed with the Advanced work in parallel with Understanding Visual Culture. My main subject area will be Portraits in Series. I will undertake a critical review of the genre and conduct several projects… [Read more…]
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Advanced Studies, Artist's Statement, I am an Ironman, Irving Penn, Nadav Kander, Portrait, Richard Avedon, Rineke Dijkstra, Thomas Stuth, Typology, Vanessa Winship
I came across a website which set out advice from Magnum photographers for young photographers. see http://erickimphotography.com/blog/2011/09/35-magnum-photographers-give-their-advice-to-aspiring-photographers/ I was particularly struck by David Alan Harvey’s thoughts. He is so strong on the overriding need to have something to say with your photography. This was the central point I gained from my workshop with him in… [Read more…]
February 12, 2012
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