Diary

December Planes

2012-01-05T21:05:00.000Z

_01

_02

_03

_04

_05

_06

Prima Donna, First Lady of the Stage

2012-01-05T21:01:00.000Z

Distressed 10x8" Polaroid

Ru, Slough

Zoe, Manchester

'Fox Watch'

Frozen Planet

2011-12-12T18:19:00.002Z

In my second Daily Mail inspired post of the winter months...

Today the Daily Mail reported that a scene showing the birth of two polar bear cubs was 'faked', as it was filmed in a man-made den in a German animal park instead of the polar bears native Arctic den in the North Pole.
A few hours later the Daily Mail corrected the article, stating that it was not filmed in Germany, but in fact Holland.

I think for most viewers this news will have come as no surprise, and won't have diminished or tainted our interest or enjoyment of this incredible scene in the slightest.
The reporting of this story is pretty fascinating though.

Last month the Daily Mail also reported how the Discovery Channel has chosen not to screen the final episode of Frozen Planet (entitled 'On Thin Ice') in the US.
This episode focused solely on the effects of climate change and the knock-on impacts to animals and the world as a whole.
Last week the Discovery Channel revoked their decision, so thankfully the episode will now be shown.

Lord Nigel Lawson who has in the past refuted the existence of global warming condemned this episode in his column in the Radio Times as being 'sensational'.
Now for the rest of this post I will turn to my own subjective thoughts... (and I hope won't go too Al Gore)

Why people who openly claim to be 'sceptical' about the state of our environment are given a public voice never ceases to shock me.

I remember learning this in Primary School...

Ice reflects 90% of the suns heat back into space, keeping the Planet cool.
But as the Earth warms up as a whole the ice melts.
Where the Ice once was there is now dark ocean which does not reflect the light, it absorbs it, causing it to warm up, causing more ice to melt.
Ice melts quicker in water than in air, so as more ice is turned to water, the rate of ice turned to water multiplies and multiplies, and the temperature will go up and up.

There is something abjectly relentless about the momentum of this process - the world tearing itself apart.

BBC's Frozen Planet was not 'sensational' - if anything, it was composed and calm.
What is sensational is Global Warming itself - it is more sensational, spectacular and sublime than anything we can possibly comprehend.
Ultimately it is humanities complete annihilation of the Planet that gave life to us.
Fuck.

2011-12-03T22:52:00.001Z

Part of tender #1 at 66.7%. I had a few of my negatives drum-scanned recently.

Andreas Gursky, Rhine II [$4.3 million (£2.7 million)]

2011-11-14T19:54:00.001Z

Of all of Gursky's photographs, his image of the Rhine has always been my favourite.
I vividly remember seeing it for the first time in one of Mark Bolland's lectures in the first year of my BA.
Mark showed a photograph taken at the exact same location as where Gursky took Rhine II - showing the giant smoke-spewing power plant that really exists there, and explained how Gursky had chosen to censor this element of the scene, by simply cutting it out. The severity of the horizon in Gursky's photograph (where the power plant should be) and the lack of detail in the sky has always made me imagine Gursky running a scalpel along the print and 'cutting it out' physically - I've always felt that's important.

In BBC4's Genius of Photography series when asked 'What is a Gursky' Ben Lewis replies:

Well it has to talk to us about Globalisation... and it can't just be a landscape, it has to be a kind of globalised, urbanised, semi-rural, mixed-use landscape and it can't just be a panorama, it has to have layers that conform to certain traditions of pictorial composition.

Isn't that great?!

Also, Ben Lewis' short film on Gursky is well worth a look: Gursky World

Here are some comments I took from the Daily Mail's coverage of the sale of Rhein II.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2060667/How-expensive-picture-Be-right-place-right-time-apply-spot-wizardry.html

2011-11-10T16:22:00.000Z

02, 03

04, 05

06, 07

The sublime - A subject trembling with its own might

2011-11-07T22:58:00.001Z

I thought it would be nice to share some of the things i've been writing in my notebook recently...

I once cried in front of a painting, but felt pretty mental after. There's so much sensuality in the world, it's rare I capture it on film. Sometimes I'm lucky, but the moments I'm truly lost in, I'm not looking to be found. All of my pictures to date were made with a 4x5/5x7 view camera.

Malerie Marder's biography on her website

How fantastic!

A Grayson Perry inspired paradigm...

How do we make others regress, so they are interested in out shit.

If a lion could talk, we could not understand him.

from Ludwig Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations (1953)

In the US 80% of those studying art history are writing about work made in the past 20 years.

The end, how beautiful.

Reciprocity, 2011. Andrew Bruce

woopsies

2011-09-28T20:09:00.002+01:00

After an epic gap in blogging...

A few weeks ago I was on a 10-day trip in India, assisting Anna Fox.
Instead of replying to emails I thought it would be nice to share some pictures that I can assure you will tell you absolutely nothing about the 10-day trip in India… except for the fact that they were taken in India, over 10 days...

...started at RCA on monday also...

The End of Electricity

Lizard [and dropped tail]

Bin

Teaching at Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology

Eating Grass

Grass Man 01

Grass Man 02

ABruce, Thrissur, India

Wing

Bar

Dark Cloth

Rain

Arles

2011-07-09T14:35:00.001+01:00

I've spent the past week in a lovely villa in Arles.
Here are 14 photographs which I think will tell you almost nothing about the photograhy festival.

Bullfighting, Arles

Dog watching Bullfighting

An Exposition

Installation of Douglas Gordon's 24 Hour Psycho

Cat (Day 1)

Cat (Day 2)

Wall (Day 1) [lines by myself and Thom Bridge]

Wall (Day 4) [and Mårten]

Wall (Day 4) [and Helen]

A New Friend

A Friend Lost

Pigeons

Mitch

Recently

2011-07-09T14:15:00.002+01:00

My work is featured in Fresh Faced and Wild Eyed 2011, run by the Photographers' Gallery
You can see the online gallery .:here:.
I'm chuffed!

and some unrelated photographs:

Still from Video Piece

Ikea

Photographer

Anna Fox - Resort

2011-06-20T15:41:00.000+01:00

I started assisting Anna Fox on her Resort series in August 2010. Alongside Anna there has been Vicki Churchill doing the lighting, and myself as first assistant (mainly working as a camera operator and in post) and a whole host of students from different years at Farnham.
Now nearly a year has passed and the show is looming. Unfortunately I'm going to miss the opening night as I'll be making my way back from Arles!
But anyway, the test strips are looking great, the gallery (Pallant House) is stunning, the connecting show is an exhibition of Frida Kahlo's paintings, which is going to be..... surreal!
And what is more, the work that is going to be on show at Pallant House is just a small section of this giant body of work. In fact, it is just a very small and carefully considered viewpoint of a much larger story that Anna has captured - and the story behind how it's been captured is pretty fascinating too.

The BBC has a great video-interview here: Butlins: 75 years of holiday history

And below is the invitation:

Google - Search by Image; Visually similar

2011-06-15T17:11:00.000+01:00

Today Google unveiled it's new 'Search by Image' function: http://images.google.com/
You upload an image, or paste in an image URL, and google will find what sites this image appears on.

Coming from a more everyday point of view; lets say that you saw an image of a beach without a caption and wanted to know more about the beach, where is that beach?... then google will find any other websites that feature that image of the beach (and hopefully one of those websites will tell you where the beach is) or, if that fails, it will find images that are 'visually similar' in their tone and shape to the image of beach, and maybe one of those images will be taken in the same location of that same beach.

This is similar to the TinEye Reverse Image Search Engine, only 'search by image' has the might of google behind it.

Of course, this search will be great for editors, and in the world of images I think we've all at one point found an image without a source, and would like to attempt to track down its maker.

The 'Visually Similar' selection really intrigues me...
I love the randomness that is inherent with the internet when it comes to images, you could say that this search goes some way to forming a more coherant network of images, in a way it is enriching images and making connections which inevitably will lead to richer meta content.
But then again, it is just superbly random, and I really appreciate the thought of a super computer somewhere judging what looks similar to one image and not to another.
The thought of this virtual judgemental eye was just too much for me.

So here is my series tender (2010) presented as 'Visually Similar' screen-grabbed selections:

tender #1

tender #2

tender #3

tender #4

tender #5

tender #6

tender #7

tender #8

Leaping Fox

2011-05-25T20:07:00.005+01:00

Manipulated found photograph, Andrew Bruce

Unknown sketch

Up up, 2006, Oil on Canvas, 160x190cm, Christer Karlstad

Red Fox, 2010, Oil on Linen, 16" x 22", Melinda Josie

Unknown Painting

Facts about male power

2011-05-25T15:42:00.000+01:00

Screengrabs of text
From the past year

three photographs

2011-05-20T20:56:00.003+01:00

Photographs
Taken over the past year
All scanned from contact prints

Forest

2011-04-30T13:27:00.005+01:00

Vanished. Forest Studies
By Tviga Vasilyeva

Tviga is a Russian artist, she was in my year at Farnham, and is also a member of Wandering Bears.
She spent much of her second year on an exchange, studying at TAIK / otherwise known as The Helsinki School.
Tviga has just designed a website for the work that was her FMP at Farnham.
It's a really stunning piece of work, infact it sent shivers down my spine the first time I experienced it!
It is quite something to experience the work on an HD projector in a darkened room, with high quality speakers. But it is also fantastic to see it online, and I'm really pleased that its now on the internet where it is free for people around the world to experience.

The website is for Vanished is: www.vanishedforest.com
Make sure your speakers are on!

Travelling Light

2011-04-27T22:44:00.001+01:00

Myself and Thom Bridge have been working on the design for an exhibition that will open in a few weeks at the foyer gallery in Farnham.
Travelling Light is an exhibition of 47 photography students and graduates from the University for the Creative Arts at Farnham, UK, and the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, India. The exhibition is curated by Maria Kapajeva.
We've put together a website - www.travellinglightshow.com which will serve as an archive for the work and the exhibition, and we're currently putting the finishing touches to a limited edition catalogue to accompany the exhibition - i'll post more on this once it's printed.
Please come and view the show, the invite can be found here: www.travellinglightshow.com/invitationpage.html
and a map can be found here: www.travellinglightshow.com/information/exhibition/
The show will hopefully go on to be shown in India.

Below are
1. initial poster designs
2. final poster design (A3+, Inkjet on crumpled flipchart paper)
3. website screen grab

RCA

2011-04-27T22:11:00.004+01:00

In October i'm going to be starting the MA Photography course at the Royal College of Art.
I'm looking forward to it.

and...
Some photographs taken recently:

Troika Editions

2011-04-18T16:19:00.003+01:00

I have a print for sale on Troika Editions.co.uk as part of the 1000 Words Collection
Go to: www.troikaeditions.co.uk/artists/andrew-bruce for the video of me and www.troikaeditions.co.uk/photographs/tender-4 for the print.
Please don't judge me - I don't do well in front of the camera!
Proceeds go towards 1000 words magazine, so a great cause. A publication that has done a lot for me and my work.
So please spread the word.

F Project

2011-04-17T21:30:00.001+01:00

My good friend James Gardiner has just finished a series about The Fox Project, a charity who dedicate their time to rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing red foxes in the South East of England.
In fact they're only based about 10 miniutes from my house.
James was my first assistant for making Vanitas and tender, and he was a great assistant.. it's great to see this project which is obviously very close to heart.
Go to James' site www.jjgardiner.com

March

2011-03-31T21:21:00.001+01:00

Sorry for the lack of posts!

Blood & Time

2011-02-22T14:50:00.004Z

Blood & Time opens this Thursday at Copenhagen Place.

I'm showing 3 images from tender, and one large mural print that I'm showing for the first time.. Accompanying my photographs there will be animal sculpture by Jazmine Miles-Long (taxidermist) and photographs by Alexander Page (artist, and runs Anselm Kiefer's darkroom!).

The opening is February the 24th
6-9pm
Copenhagen Place
86 Copenhagen Place, Poplar, London, E14 7DE
(click HERE for map)
Nearest stations - Limehouse (dlr) or mile end (underground)
The show then runs until March 5th.
Hope to see you there!

FlakPhoto

2011-02-11T23:21:00.005Z

My photograph #1 from tender is featured on the excellent FlakPhoto today
Link

Had a great day of talks from Paul Seawright and Donovan Wylie - both were really excellent engaging speakers showing exceptional work.
Then up to London to see the space where I will next be showing work (Copenhagen Place) and chat with Alexander Page and Jazmine Miles-Long, who I will next be showing work with (opening on the 24th Feb 6-9pm - then open 25th to 5th March).
Then back to Kent with Katie, red wine, and the weekend....

Take it Somewhere New

2011-02-08T12:22:00.006Z

So, the Wandering Bears show has come and gone, but will be back soon..
A big thanks to the Bears who put in the hours and effort to put the show together.

One more chunk of good news is that there will be a combined group show in the Foyer Gallery in Farnham of a selection of the work made by UCA/NID photographers during their exchange.

Installation and opening night photographs by Peter Haynes www.wanderingbears.co.uk
(apart from the first photo - taken by me on my compact camera that is literally falling apart)

Vixen on Road

2011-02-02T00:17:00.008Z

Vixen on Road, 2010
50x37" C-Type Handprint

2nd Feb 2011

2011-02-02T00:00:00.006Z

1. Advert found on Gumtree
2. Screengrab from Facebook
3. Working shot from photoshoot
4. Working shot from photoshoot
5. Thinking about the crop in my 'holding' images in tender
6. Katie, Dungeness

The New Year

2011-02-01T21:20:00.009Z

Hello February
As my last post was such a quick one, I'll have a quick catch-up...
Right.. lets me think.. Christmas was nice, lovely to have a rest. Then it was January, and now that has sped by at the speed of light.
I'm back teaching at Canterbury Christ Church University, there was the talk at Saatchi with Charlotte Cotton, Aaron Schuman, Anna Hardy and Clarisse d'Arcimoles, which had a mass walk-out in the first 10 minutes - why people felt the need to leave before the talk had even really got going I do not know, but I greatly resented the commotion. It was especially interesting to have the opportunity to hear a bit about Aaron and Charlotte's backgrounds. Aaron who has worked in many galleries and assisted Annie Leibovitz and worked as Wolfgang Tillmans printer - pretty incredible. It was lovely to hear about his motivation for starting SeeSaw and his passion for photography and journey to understand it's changing face.
The man asking about prints fading and disappearing with age was a highlight for all the wrong reasons - Aaron answered with a rumour that he had been told that the oldest surviving image in the world ("View from the Window at Le Gras" (circa 1826) Nicéphore Niépce)and when you request to view it, you are only allowed to look at it for 40 seconds, and then it is covered up again, shrouded in complete darkness, only has about 75 hours of life left if exposed to light. What a lovely thought, I hope it's true!
Doesn't Kodak state that it's current chromogenic paper if correctly stored can last something like 500 years? And as for platinum prints?.... Anyway, that isn't even the point, a print is for it's time, it will outlive it's maker and then if needs be it can transfer over to the historians and become something new - become an artefact, to be handled with cotton gloves and be kept in room with controlled light - that's exciting!
I've recently started reading E.H. Gombrich's seminal Art and Illusion, and so I've just been reading about the historical act of restoring a historical painting, to lift the years of fading or darkening but without altering the overall tonality of the scene - it's a fascinating read so far - and well, it seems like the archival and historical stability of the photograph is nothing in comparison to the issues of keeping paintings etc..

There was the RCA work in progress show, I especially enjoyed a video piece by Kevin Gaffney and Sally-Anne Kelly - The Unameable - you can watch it here: Link
The shot at 4 minutes in is really something.

There was the London Art Fair, Thom was nice enough to get myself and Katie free tickets, and there were three really excellent talks. Charlotte Cotton, Jason Evans, Trish Morrisey and Brad Feuerhelm discussing digital technology and the archive was a highlight, but also Anna Fox and Ben Burbridge talking about politics in photography, and it was nice to finally see Rut Blees Luxemburg talk about her work, which I've wanted to see for a long time, in a talk coinciding with Hotshoe gallery's excellent 'On the Ephemeral in Photography' show. Overall the LAF had a strangely depressing feel to it though.

On that note, On the Ephemeral in Photography is well worth a look. Photographs by Ori Gersht, Rut Blees Luxemburg, David Maisel, Julian Stallabrass, Steffi Klenz, Mikael Gregorsky, Lewis Ronald, Jeff Millikan, Jefferson Hayman, Frederic Fontenoy and vintage works. Curated by Daniel Campbell Blight and Brad Feuerhelm.
It's a really exciting show - the perfect amount on the walls, a really vibrant mix of styles and sizes of work, and the vintage photographs really, really give it an exciting kick. The special newspaper printed to coincide with the show is free and lovely, something you will want to keep, for sure.

Thom writes about his feelings on the show as a part of the Hotshoe team on his blog HERE

Me and Thom seem to be doing a good job at bumping into eachther around Farringdon, and this inevitably ends up in a visit to a gallery.
First I will talk about Philippe Parreno at the Serpentine - both Maria and Tim at Farnham advised me to go and see this, and I'm so glad I did. What an incredible show, I have been going on about it to everyone since seeing it. Myself ad Thom arrived in the gallery to empty room, blank white walls, nothing except the 'night lights' stacked up in towers around the edges of the rooms and the invigilators looking kind of awkward. I think my words to Thom were something like 'what a waste of space'... And then the lights dimmed and the film started - incredible quality, digitised 35mm film, amazing surround sound, and you are only viewing these screens from about 10ft away.
You can read more into these films, the process, the train carrying Robert Kennedy’s body, the images taken by Magnum photographer Paul Fusco, scratched film stock, water buffalo's etc etc... and they're incredibly poetic pieces of video art. But for me, the resounding message was just the experience of being forcd to engage with the gallery space like never before, moving from room to room, following the light or the sound, the fake snow blowing outside the window, not idly looking at walls for minutes, but moving with direction. I love that the exhibition takes 30 minutes, that's it.
Ofcourse myself and Thom re-watched it for a second time. And I hope I can make it back there for a third encounter soon.

We also went to Tate Modern to see the Gabriel Orozco show. Apart from a lone essay on Orozco that I'd read in an old copy of photoworks, I can't say that I was very familiar with his work, Thom on the other hand is a big fan and wrote about him in his dissertation with relation to the idea of the flâneur.
But anyway, I wasn't too sure what to expect. But basically, all in all, it was one of the warmest most and most informal feeling shows that I have ever been to. You were free to walk across the huge centre room, with masses of lovely free space and soft light, and to then move in and out of several other rooms around the edges of the centre room, no order to the experience, but a feeling of intrigue and just the sheer joy of looking that made you visit each room again and again.

Upstairs at Tate there is small selections of photographic topographies. Included within this is work by Rineke Dijkstra, Thomas Struth, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Alexander Apóstol and Thomas Ruff.
I was given a book on the history of art for Christmas, the book has only one photograph in it, it's redeeming eature is that this one photograph is the last in the book - the think-point, the ending note.. that photograph is the image of the slightly un-shaven man with the orange/yellow polo top and the braces (Stoya, 1986, 47x63" c-type) by Thomas Ruff.
Thom summed it up well, saying that for all that is written about this work by Ruff, this most seminal of seminal pieces, you really have to see the prints in the flesh to understand why they are considered the pioneering photographs that they are. Simply incredible. They draw you in, you feel their presence in the room. It feels very religious.

Today I was interviewed at Troika Editions, I am going to have an image as part of the 1000 Words Photography collection.
The image is #4 from tender (the robin)
A 15x12" image on 16x20" paper, C-Type handprint from 10x8" negative.
It's the first time I've ever really had a camera trained on me and been interviewed on the spot, which was certainly nerve-racking. I normally feel really free talking about my work to people, even to large audiences of people, as it's my work - it is what I do, it is my very own expertise. But under the gaze of the camera the words seemed to not want to come out!
Michael and Bridget at Troika have been lovely, and I know the final video will be something interesting.
The videos and interviews on Troika are well worth a look if you haven't already.
The whole thing should be finished and online in about 6 weeks.

1. Jock, Boxing Day
2. Photo at the Serpentine, the screen shows 'June 8, 1968' Philippe Parreno
3. Photo from 'Politics in Photography' talk, London Art Fair

WANDERING BEARS

2011-01-24T22:01:00.009Z

Wandering Bears are having our very first group showThe Wandering Bears are; Andrew Bruce, Andrew Ferguson, Alexander Milnes, Hailey Ford, Jake Kenny, Nik & Luke, Oliver Poddar, Peter Haynes, Ruth George, Roberta Mataityte, Stephen Cuss and Tviga Vasilyeva.
The show is entitled Take it Somewhere New
The show brings together around 2000 photographs from the Bears (between 100 to 200 images per Bear) - the images are 'snapshots' from compact cameras, phones, working shots etc... the images that are an intrinsic element of all of our identities as artists/curators/photographers, but that often never get to see the light of day, and in many cases inform our major bodies of work.
It's going to be fascinating, and I cannot wait to see the images that the other WB's have selected.
Please come along to the PV tomorrow (Tuesday 25th Jan, 6.30pm-8.30pm)

Take it Somewhere New

25-30 January 2011
Tuesday - Friday: 10am-3pm
Sunday: 11am-4pm

YOYO Gallery
24 South Street
Epsom
Surrey
KT18 7PF

Also, take part in the Pass the Picture project at Wandering Bears
Right now we have an image sent in by Tess Hurrell that was in reply to an image by Jason Evans.
Hurrell's photograph is waiting for a reply. Send images to hello@wanderingbears.co.uk

www.wanderingbears.co.uk

Cheers

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T01:42:00.010Z

So, it is Christmas Eve Day... I have so much to do before Christmas Day... so here I am on the blog.

Time has flown by since I last posted, not to mention I've been pretty forgetful recently.
SO what have I been up to recently (this is mostly for my benefit, sorry)
I've had an extremely insightful portfolio review with Clare Grafik of the photographers gallery, I've run another set of large format workshops in Farnham (this time for MFA Photography - who were a pleasure to teach!), I've spent many hours discussing photography education with Thom, this lead into a meeting with the staff at Farnham, I've been snowed in (like most of the country), I've assisted Anna Fox on another days shoot at Butlins, Bognor Regis and done some more printing (we were meant to do a two day shoot, but the snow prevented this from happening), I've attempted Christmas shopping, I went to the RCA open day with Thom and Maria, I've got countless trains and buses, I've had the most delicious christmas meal cooked by Helen, I've been to see the current photography collection at the V&A about 5 times now with Thom - that classic image by Mitch Epstein is something to look at for minutes at a time again and again and I've spent a great few days with Katie..

Today I received my copy of The Rapture of Death by Prue Gibson, published by Boccalatte (link)
The book is a critical enquiry into the use of deathly imagery in contemporary art.
It's an exquisitely made little book and I really look forward to reading it.

I have finished the new Indexhibit (HTML - Iphone and Ipad friendly) website for Adam and Olly, and it is now live, it replaces their old flash website - www.choppedliver.info

On a sad note, Portfolio magazine is no more.
Their final issue (issue #52) is a real treat though - with a portrait of Laura Noble by Neeta Madahar on the cover, Neeta's portrait of Anna Fox on page 7, and a really excellent piece on Richard Learoyd and his portraits on pages 44-51. Learoyd is someone who seems to be cropping up everywhere all of a sudden, and the more I see of his images and the more time I think about them, I really really grow to love the work. He has an unusual image in the V&A currently (another reason to go and see the current collection) of a heavily pitted old mirror.

Also, It's been confirmed that I will carry on teaching in Canterbury. I will be doing a series of workshops on studio lighting and general use of flash.
I will also be running a similar workshop for the second year students in Farnham, and also I will be running a photoshop workshop for the third year students.. all in January/February.

I've been thinking so much about photographic education recently (tied in with the meeting I mentioned above) - and thinking alot about how the world of photography is going to have to adapt and transform itself if it is to survive as a truly rich and challenging medium. I also took part in a pretty interesting debate via email with Mårten Lange and Maria Kapajeva discussing academic art - I got a lot out of really thinking deeply about this subject. And the RCA open day was an interesting think-point for this topic too.

lastly...
Merry Christmas, have a good one

.......................................................

First image is Anna Fox in Butlins
Next few images - giving the Farnham MFA students a large format master-class!
Third image is Thom, HUGE THANKYOU for explaining view camera movements so well, so much better then I could.

snow (arrangements ruined and I'm bored)

2010-12-02T18:52:00.003Z

I don't do dead animals and big view cameras all the time...

Fox

2010-11-25T19:39:00.008Z

Sorry about this glut of found imagery...

1. Unknown Fox
2. © Stephen Cuss
3. © Simon Czapp / Solentnews.biz
4. © Peter Gibby (my Grandad)
5. © Fox rozen in the Lac de Joux, Panoramio user; head1962

Post no.150 ... or ... 'New Sublime'

2010-11-25T18:27:00.019Z

FOUND

1. © John Isaacs
2. © David Claerbout
3. © Barcroft Media (Daily Mail)
4. © Caters News Agency Ltd (Daily Mail)
5. Unknown (Argentine Rally 2009)
6. Unknown (A Liger, Daily Mail)
7. Unknown
8. Unknown
9. © Johann Grobbelaar / Solent (Daily Mail)
10. © Daniel Firman
11. © Steve Bishop

Found Photographs

2010-11-25T18:06:00.018Z

1. © Ren Netherland / Barcroft Media
2. Unknown
3. © Flickr user Johanna
4. Unknown
5. © Flickr user X POSE

Review of the Shen Hao FCL 810-A

2010-11-25T17:14:00.027Z

After one year of use...

So, I normally wouldn't go near an equipment review on this blog... and not to mention it really is very not-cool to mention kit at all as a photographer...
BUT
The internet is a wealth of information… unless you're looking for advice to shoot 10x8".. so I guess I will buck the trend and share my dirty camera secrets.
There doesn't seem to be a single decent review of this camera, and let alone reviews, there is hardly enough decent information on the specifications of this camera.. just a lot of speculation, so I felt the need to write a bit about this camera, to maybe mention the kind of things I wish I could have read a year or so ago... so I hope this is informative and useful.

My previous 10x8's, or if you are elsewhere in the world; 8x10's
(personally I think 'ten-eight' rolls off the tongue better)

Lets set the scene... My first 10x8 was a Bender (great name huh? 10x8" self-assembly kit camera) - I bought it already assembled for pennies off ebay, this simple little camera was enough to get me hooked on huge negatives, but the problem was that the camera really did just live up to it's name, it was so SO bendy and flexible, no matter how hard you locked down the knobs, when you went to load the darkslide, or attempt to angle the camera down at all, then it would move.. and when you're using film this expensive and using film this big because you are after the ultimate quality, then having a camera that is anything but rock-solid just isn't going to cut it.
So I quickly sold the Bender and bought a Cambo SC 10x8" monorail off bay. Between these two purchases I had also gathered a set of 5 mint Fidelity double darkslides and a quality Sinar branded Rodenstock Sironar N f5.6 300mm MC.
The Cambo was great, and looking back, having the full 3D movements on both front and back standards was really key to the production of my series Vanitas - when getting the animal perfectly centred quickly without hassle, over a range of locations was key to getting the job done..
Late 2009 I found out that I had been successful in securing a grant to travel to India for a month, and I guess my logic was that, as I was getting a trip to India paid for I would offset that by buying a 10x8" suitable to take with me to India.
So, very quickly (I think in a matter of hours) I had scoured the UK for used 10x8" field cameras, to find none… this is not uncommon... Those people who own Phillips, Gandolfi's, Deardorffs etc certainly don't let go of these cameras in a hurry, and ofcourse the joy of the large format camera is that it is never ever old news.. On the other end of the spectrum, I recently visited a certain London camera shop who had a Gandolfi for sale for £4,000 and a Deardorff for sale for £6,000 - they explained that they were not expecting the buyer to use these cameras to take photographs, but for the buyer to put the cameras in a glass cabinet - cameras for collectors.
It would have been great to wait and buy a used camera, this would have been ideal. But I had a matter of weeks to buy a camera for the trip, leaving on the 5th of January.

So, what are the options for a 10x8 field camera?

Phillips Compact/Explorer, Wehman, Ritter, Lotus View, Ebony SV810/RW810, Tachihara 810F, Gandolfi Variant/Traditional, Deardorff, K.B. Canham wooden 8x10/JMC8x10, Chamonix, Toyo 810M, Wista, Walker Titan 8x10... and ofcourse the older older cameras like the Kodak 2D.
Let me know if I've missed any out...

It should be noted that I haven't seen the great majority of these cameras in the flesh, they are cameras that rarely if ever can be seen for sale, many of them are out of production and for those which are still being produced, many lack importers to the UK - that is not to say that with time, effort and most importantly, money, then you could get your hands on many of these cameras.

10x8" is a pretty niche thing nowadays, and the companies that are still producing the cameras today are very small and specialised operations, and most importantly, are masters in what they do, so there are some seriously expensive cameras in the list above, way way out of my price range, but cameras that are nonetheless good value for money, considering the quality and size of the market.
The Phillips (now out of production) and the Wehman's and Ritter's are hand-made (Dick Phillips used to only make about 40 cameras per year) and with the level of care that goes into their production comes a pretty significant waiting list and production time, also these are all companies out of the UK, so sadly what with the speed I needed to get my hands on a camera, they were out of the question… These cameras have the most exciting and refreshing designs in my opinion, and if time/money was no object I would definitely be getting myself one of these. The Ritter's are incredibly light and compact, the Weman are indestructible - with a really ingenious system where the metal base folds round to armour the entire camera, as well as an ingenious plexiglass groundglass .. and well, the Phillips are legendary.

But back to the real world...

The cheapest camera of all of these is the Tachihara, and this is pretty readily available in the UK, it is made by the Wista company and based on the Wista 10x8", I can't comment on the quality difference between the Tachihara and Wista, however I understand that there is one. At a first glance, I was very put-off by the looks of the Tachihara, it's SUCH a showy camera, just a bit OTT, as if a 10x8 isn't enough of a sight, I'd rather not have a camera that is gleaming red and gold.. also at this price point, right at the bottom of the market I think there is a significant quality drop, and a few things, like non-removable bellows and a relatively short extension, worried me (it's hard to remember what was going through my head a year ago).
I then looked into the Wista. I had handled the 5x4" Wista's quite a bit and knew what great cameras they were. I got on the phone to Robert White, who informed me that they were not currently stocking the Wista 10x8 and they had a lot of negative feedback from customers about the cameras flex, but that they did have stock in of the Shen-Hao, which they considered a much superior camera.

I was very aware of the Shen-Hao when they brought it up, a price-point above the Tachihara, it was good to hear that they considered the Shen-Hao to be such a quality camera. So my next step was to fervently try and read as much as possible about this camera, ofcourse what little information I found about this camera wasn't very useful at all - which brings me full-circle to why I'm writing this post now. Of course I did decide to buy the Shen-Hao from Robert White, at the end of the day the camera was at the right price-point, it appeared to be well-made and designed, it was in stock and could be dispatched to me the next day - it was a bit of an impulse buy, I was taking a chance, but it was a chance I certainly haven't regretted taking.
I should add that it was a real pleasure dealing with Robert White.

The Dick Phillips camera (Compact & Explorer) is the camera that seemed to really re-invent the 10x8 design, that didn't just take the classic Deardorff folding shape as the be-all-end-all of LF camera design, and it is the camera that seems to be used by basically every serious well-known 10x8 shooter out there… (Thomas Struth, Sally Mann, Joel Sternfeld, Richard Mosse, Alec Soth). It's also the camera that the Shen-Hao (and also the Chamonix) is modelled upon.
The cameras have a long screw running the length of the camera, this screw is what drives the front standard back and forward and thus the focusing, this means focusing is done via a knob at the back under the ground glass, two bolts holding an (upper base to a lower base) allow for swing of the rear standard as well as extra control of extension, and rise/fall/shift/tilt/swing is all pretty standard, run on grooved rails (the rear standard has two small friction controlled prongs that stop the rear standard when it reaches 90' (normal parallel to the front standard), but can be moved back to allow a good amount of tilt.
The Chamonix and Shen-Hao are modelled in wood and metal, while the Phillips in super-modern metals and plastics (Teflon, Derlin, epoxy coatings, fiberglass composite -making it the lightest 10x8 out there by a pretty good margin). On both the Phillips and the Chamonix, the front standard must be unscrewed from the base for folding (and there are 3 holes at different lengths, depending on what length of lens/subject you may be using/shooting), on the Shen-Hao however, the front standard is a copy of the Ebony folding design, so doesn't need to be unscrewed (which means the whole camera can be unfolded or folder in a matter of seconds, it's really easy), there are the same holes on the Shen-Hao for mounting the lens at different lengths, however personally I just use the extra control of extension that you get on the read standard - I know that with my 300mm lens mounted in the most-far-forward hole (the hole which the standard sits in naturally when you fold the camera) then if I shift the read standard forwards so it is in-line with the join of the last piece of wood that makes up the base of the camera, then my lens is pretty perfectly focussed at infinity. This is good to know, and quick to set up. If I'm ever taking a landscape photograph, then I now automatically just set up the camera like this.

The Shen-Hao bed and Chamonix have significantly beefed up axles in comparison with the Phillips (where the bed connects to the rear standard) I expect this is to keep the upper-base part as stiff as possible, what with the flexibility of the wooden designs in comparison to the all-metal Phillips. The Phillips features a bail arm (although I think this was an optional when ordering the Phillips) and a ground-glass protecting sheet (just a sheet of plexi that attaches to the back via velco patches when the camera is not in use) while the Shen-Hao and Chamonix do not.

*Update - in 2011 Chamonix updated the design of their 10x8, enlarging the size of the bed (the bed now spans the entire width and the height of the camera and is made of carbon fibre, before it was a 'T' shape and, I think it was made of wood) thickening certain areas for added rigidity, adding a bail arm, removing the pointless bellows-support arm, and generally adding more nice carbon-fibre bits - these improvements have added 2.2lb to the overall weight, but considering how light this camera is, it's nothing to shake a stick at.
The chamonix website is a good source of information, and I don't want to digress from the Shen-Hao too much.
The chamonix in carbon fibre and wood is available in lighter Canadian maple (8.42lb) or slightly heavier dark walnut (8.64lb), chamonix explain that maple is a slightly softer wood, thus better at keeping vibrations to a minimum, though the differences in hardness between the two woods is something only noticeable in lab conditions (i like straight-talking honesty!) - the images on the Chamonix website show the dark walnut version of the camera - from the looks of it, this looks exactly like the wood that makes up my shen-hao (although shen-hao describe their camera as being made in 'black walnut' - more on that in a second)

So the specs of the Shen-Hao are as followed:

The wood is black walnut (the camera isn't black, but it is dark wood, I would describe it as being a light chocolatey brown) with aluminium alloys.
The bellows are removable, there are also wide-angle bellows available, personally I think the standard bellows are easily flexible enough.
Shen-hao make a specific soft padded case AND a specific aluminium padded case (i have the soft padded case, although I now use this for my darkslides, however I have used this to carry the camera as hand-luggage on flights as it is the perfect size for the camera plus a laptop and a few other small bit and easily within hand-luggage size limits). The soft padded case is pretty basic, but then again its very cheap and while it has some kind of plastic inserts on either side, these aren't rigid enough to feel confident that they would protect the ground glass fully, I haven't seen the aluminium padded case so I can't comment - would always travel with the camera as hand luggage, so have no need for this kind of case, and if I did I imagine I would get some kind of Peli case. Anyway, this is a bit off-topic!

I usually carry the camera in a Lowepro Photo Trekker AW (PLEASE NOTE - the photo at the bottom shows my old Photo Trekker Classic, which has less room and much less uncomfortable straps then the new Trekker AW). In the trekker AW I can also fit 3 DDS, lightmeter, loupe, darkcloth, cable release, and still have a good amount of room - I could easily fit another big copal.3 lens in it if I had one. I'd like to get a Photo Trekker AW II as the shoulder straps are much improved. The only bag that is completely and specially designed for the 8x10" field camera in mind is the f.64 BPX (Extra large backpack) - I've noticed this is the bag that Alec Soth uses (don't ask me - but this seems strangely comforting, I get the impression that mr.Soth would only go for the best of the best) the great majority of users of this bag have complained about quality issues, a lot of ripped straps etc, which just isn't good enough, also the bag is right on the cusp of being too large for air travel. So I will stick to my lowepro photo trekkers for now.
My current tripod (an old Gitzo thing) is far too big to strap to the side of the bag, but once I have a smaller tripod, this should be simple, and I look forward to being able to travel with the whole kit in such a compact form.
The shen-hao uses a Sinar board, but is comes with a matching wooden Sinar to Linhof technika converter board (to be exact it comes with a Linhof copal 0 board)
The GG back is good quality and bright with a grid (1.5cm spacing between lines), it is removable to rotate between portrait/landscape.
There is a 4x10" and 5x7" back made for this camera, but no 5x4" which is a bit odd, but would be easy enough to make one yourself, this is what Bruce Wehman suggests for his cameras. There is also a lens-hood, but I haven't seen this, so can't comment on it - it is on my 'to-buy' list.
The Shen-Hao is described as a double-extension camera, but what with the movement on the rear-standard (which provides another 7" of extension) I generally think about it as a triple-extension camera.
Two large-style tripod screws.
Ground glass features cut-corners for checking coverage.
As seen below, the Shen Hao will fold VERY THIN, with just 2.75" of extension, however this is with the base of the camera protruding quite a way out in front of the lens, I wonder if this protrusion would be an issue when using super wide lenses, however this isn't really my thing and I'm afraid I don't own any super wide 110mm or 150mm's) Apo-Symmar L's so I can't test this. Personally I haven't used anything wider than a 240mm and don't plan on using any wider. Like Isay, super-wide lenses aren't really my field, and so I am not sure whether many/if any field cameras can successfully take such wide lenses. I think you may have to tilt the standards to drop the bed of the camera so it dousn't come into the frame of the super-wide 150mm lens, but I have never found a solid answer to this, and like I said, I've never tried any lens anywhere near as wide as this.

Folded, the camera is 14" x 13", with a thickness of just over 4" (with the exception of the Phillips and Wehman, this makes it the smallest folded 10x8 out there)
Maximum extension 27", minimum extension 2.75"

Movements

Front Standard:

Rise 80mm, Fall 40mm (could drop or rise the bed to get more movements, though I doubt you would ever be in that situation!)
Shift 50mm either way, Swing is limited only by the bellows.
Tilt is also only limited by the bellows. To tilt the lens so that the bottom of the lens was further forward that the top, you would simply use the axis tilt, basically in the same way as when you fold the camera, to tilt the lens so that the top is further forward than the bottom, just loosen the bottom knobs and push the bar closest to you towards, so the front standard is then released from the 'stops' that keep them vertical. There is also a way of achieving this front tilt with an axis tilt movement (i've shown this in the second image down) where you slip the lens-board bit out of the grooves that keep it inline with the overall front standard, and tilt it to whatever angle you like - this is a little more restrictive than the base-tilt way I described before, but I imagine it could be useful in some circumstances. (Sorry if that's hard to understand - basically, you couldn't ask for more, and tilting the lens is simple and quick, done on one or two motions). Even with my heavy 300mm lens, the knobs lock down tight enough to keep the lens suspended at some pretty impressive angles!

Rear Standard:

No rise, fall or shift. This is a field camera so we do without these luxuries!
To tilt the rear so that the bottom is farther forward than the top, you just push back two prongs and you get a generous 30' of tilt. To tilt the back the other way (so top is further forward than the bottom) then you just losen the main (largest) knob, and fold the camera down to whatever degree in the same way as when you fold the camera when putting it away, this is only limited by the bellows.
For rear swing the Shen-Hao site lists this as 16' either way, the camera can swing much more than that, so yet again I would say this is just limited realistically by what the bellows and lens allow you to do.

Some camera weights compared:

(okay, the Shen Hao isn't the lightest, but it is still incredibly light!)

Phillips Explorer - 5.9lb
Ritter - 6.4lb
Wehman (lightweight model) - 7.2lb
Phillips Compact II - 7.8lb
Wilderness 8x10 from BHcamera (The specs of this camera are changing all the time - starting to see some really positive reviews though) - 8.2lb
Canham lightweight wooden 8x10 - 8.4lb
Argentum Explorator 8x10 - 8.4lb
Chamonix (new lighter Maple version, 2011 update) - 8.42lb
Wehman - 8.7lb
Ebony SW810 - 8.82lb
Canham JMC 8x10 - 9.13lb
Canham 8x10 standard - 9.4lb
Shen Hao - 9.7lb (*see my note below)
Walker Titan XL - 9.9lb
Tachihara 810F - 9.92lb
Wista 810DX - 10lb
Ebony RW810 - 10.56lb
Ebony SV810U (lighter Mahogany version) - 11.02lb
Lotus Rapid Field - 11.24lb
Deardorff - 13lb
Toyo 810M - 15lb

* please note, while Shen-Hao state a weight of 9.7lb, my shen-hao weighs exactly 8.730lb.
Add my hefty 300mm 5.6 lens to the front and the whole thing weighs 10.778lb - not bad!

Camera operation

It's a great camera, it's a joy to use. it's a field camera, and so I'm not going to go comparing it to any monorail out there. The range of movements and rigidity of this camera is really impressive, especially as it's very much on the light-weight end of the field camera spectrum.
All movements lock down very solid and inspire confidence. I'm always gentle when using the camera, always careful when loading darkslides or careful to wait a second after touching the camera before triggering the shutter, but this is just me being fastidious. It's a wooden camera, so when you move it, you get that dullness (hard to explain if you've never used a wooden camera) that is the reason why wood is so perfect for this kind of camera - keeping camera-vibration to a minimum. Every bolt gets a plastic bushing, which helps to lock down really firmly. And there are areas of the camera with what I think is a teflon coating, to smoothen things out.

I've put this camera through it's paces, it's been on four flights, it's been in extreme heat in India, it's been in extreme cold in England, I've used it pointing straight down, completely vertical, and it's not shown any signs of sagging. In heavy wind I've got perfectly sharp shots (this is always going to be a problem with 10x8, but I think the relatively low surface area of the Shen-Hao - compared to other 10x8's - keeps this to a minimum).

The bellows are good quality, mine have an ever so slight twist to them, I'm talking ever so slight, almost unnoticeable - but I guess is what you get with a camera at this price point, but this doesn't effect use in any way, they seem very well made, they fold down VERY small, and fold very well. I'm always careful when folding the camera, but they never show any sign of folding wrongly or pinching. They are supple though, and like I said before, I can't see any reason why wide-angle bellows would ever be needed. Even at full extension they do not seem over-stretched, and infect the bellows draw seems a lot more generous than many other much more expensive cameras I've seen.
I think I've covered a lot of the operation in the specs above, everything works as you would hope it to really.

The copal 0 lens board it comes supplied with is a bit random - How many lenses with 10x8" coverage are copal 0? Any? I ordered a copal 3 lens board when I ordered the camera.
I expect this is (once again, to do with the price-point) the copal 0 lens board being more of a token than a well-thought out addition. The Sinar-to-Linhof Technika board is a great feature though, being probably the two most common lens boards out there. Personally I mounted my lens in the Linhof board, as the linhof board is only a little larger than the lens shutter, so it takes up the bare minimum of space when not attached to the camera.
The camera is a pretty dark wood, a shade that I don't think any photographs online show accurately (I've tried my best to capture it in my photographs, but this kind of thing is impossible, also it should be noted that I was using the morning light coming in through my bedroom window, so that accounts for the slight colour temperature and exposure changes in between a few images). I've seen several earlier models around the internet, with knobs that do not feature a rubber cover, and currently on Ebay there is what I expect was a pre-production test model that is made from a much lighter blonde wood and also features a larger base (not as minimal as the final model) and no carry-handle - I would be very wary of these models as they are probably designed in cheaper heavier wood.
I have also seen some earlier models of this camera which, while being made in the correct wood and featuring rubber-covered nobs, have no locking bolts at the front of the camera. Again I would be wary of these. Some dealers in the US and Asia seem to sell the camera with a fitted aluminium case - while some do not.
I think it's an attractive camera (though it is a modest looking camera - which is a great thing) with what I would call contemporary styling.

I know there are people out there who say that the Chamonix and Shen-Hao are ripping off the real masterful camera designers like Phillips and Ebony - but I've heard that Dick Phillips approves of these companies keeping up the tradition of his amazing design, now that he's stopped production. I hope that is true.

Some of us really just don't have the money to be picky. I have no doubt in my mind that the Shen-Hao was designed by someone who really knew what they were doing, the addition of the folding front-standard is a really great feature - something that neither the Chamonix nor Phillips have.
I doubt Ebony was the first camera designer to feature such a folding front standard design and I doubt they will be the last. A competitive market is a good thing, and the Shen-Hao definitely is competitive.

What could be improved?

On the back, is a little ridge of wood, that I have since seen makes up part of a ground glass protector, however my camera didn't come with this, and I have only ever seen one FCL with this feature. It would be very easy to fashion one out of some plexi, or something harder even, and I'll probably do that soon, but it would be nice.
There are no spirit levels - it would be lovely to have spirit levels machined into the wood, so they are flush. Maybe this was too much of a luxury, or they just wanted to avoid them to keep the camera as rugged as possible. Personally I've never felt the need for them as I don't use movements very much and so the sprit levels on my tripod head suffice - it would similarly be easy to stick levels on, or to fit a hotshoe-type piece that you could fit a spirit level to when needed. Am I being picky?

Finally, I have to say, in awkward conditions (camera way above your head, pointing at some crazy angle) a bail arm would be great! Even if it would add extra size and weight.
I had used 5x4" field cameras without bail arms with no problems, and I thought would be the same with the 10x8, but it really isn't. Of course you can take care and be as delicate as possible, but I do really think that a bail arm would be an excellent addition to the camera.

Maybe I've focused too much on the negatives, all in all it really is an excellent camera, a hell of a lot of camera considering it's price.
I still get a real kick out of using it, it does everything that I want it to, and makes the whole job a pleasure - what more could you want.
So... I'm very pleased I bought the FCL 810-A and I would strongly recommend it.

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* 01/12/10 Thanks to Mike Johnston, mentioning this review on The Online Photographer (Go To)

* 09/02/11 I updated some facts about the Chamonix camera that have changed since publishing due to a redesign.

* 18/04/11 I've retired my old alluminium gitzo, with Manfrotto head.. for a new carbon fibre Gitzo with a magnesium head. See below for a review of these.

* 23/08/11 I've just seen a new FCL 810-A, and noticed that it has two spirit levels on the rear-standard, just above the ground-glass. This is a great addition, I wish my (older) shen-hao had spirit levels built-in.

*10/11/11 I'm now using a K.B. Canham ground glass protector - this is a really simple, but great designed object. It is made of thin clear plexi, it slots into your camera like a darkslide and wraps round to cover the outer side - so both sides of the glass are protected - also, due to it's design I imagine it should fit basically any design of 8x10. I bought mine from Robert White for £33.00, which is a lot for a piece of plastic, but i'm used to paying 'large format' prices by now - and it's not too bad for giving you piece of mind.
Having experienced how easy it is to smash 2mm thick 10x8" ground glass (on my old cambo) - if you are going to be using a 10x8 then you should definitely be looking for a glass protector - and this canham protector is great.

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Gitzo GT5541LS and G1570M
After a lot of oresearch I decided on the GT5541LS legs, with G1570M head.
As usual, while I could find plenty of info about these legs on nature photography sites, for people looking for tripods to support their huge 600mm lenses, I could find hardly anything from large format users.
Basically, I wanted a tripod that when folded was shorter (so it could comfortably be cradled in the tripod pouch on my backpack, and could easily be fitted inside a suitcase for travelling abroad - and ofcourse, was also significantly lighter).
If anyone is reading this and is confused by Gitzo products, i don't blame you... but basically, gitzo seem to have an unrivalled reputation as being the best tripods in the world, by far... however you get what you pay for, and they are exorbitantly expensive - the only thing that will make you feel better is the thought that (hopefully) you will never have to buy another tripod again. Gitzo rate the strength of their tripods (and with that, the thickness of the legs) from 1-5.. 1 will only be suitable for light cameras, 5 will be suitable for the heaviest of heavy cameras (or lenses), and etc between... SO naturally I was looking at the series 5 tripods. Within this strength range they have different series, such as the 'explorer', 'traveller' and 'mountaineer' which have subtle differences depending on what kind of use they are geared to - I was looking straight at the systematic tripods - as the series 5 tripods are only available in the systematic range - this was fine with me, as the systematic tripods come to you in the box a lot more 'standard', ready for you to customise them to your preference. So for example they come without a centre column. This is good for me, as I had already decided that I was going to give up the luxury of a centre-column to save weight and space.
The GT5541LS has 4 leg sections, so it is just 60cm long when closed, and can go up to 153cm when at maximum height. It has Gitzo's top of the line '6X carbon', ALR and 'G-lock' - i understand that this means that the legs don't rotate when you try to do them up or loosen them, that the legs are very stong, sturdy and light and good at dissipating vibration, and that the leg locks require little turn to go from loose to fully-tighten, and that the weight of the camera actually increases the rigidity of the locks. I'm not a fan of technical jargon.... BUT I can very safely say that al of these features work - it really is light... It is a heavy tripod (at 6.28lb/2.85kg), but considering it will take the camera to a height that is basically above my head, and will support up to 55.11lb (25kg) - over five times what my camera and lens weighs - it is incredibly light. And it is certainly of a weight that is in no way uncomfortable. When i pick up the tripod with camera attached it still surprises me with how light it all is - you look at it, and you expect it to be much much much heavier. The anti-rotating legs are great, it really is easy to loosen and tighten the legs, infact you can loosen all of the legs at once, and they smoothly slide out. It's a great set of legs.
And the head, the G1570M - this is a magnesium low-profile head (it will only add another 105cm of height to your legs), meant to be as low as possible to keep your camera centre of gravity down. When I was at Uni, the stores tripods had the older aluminium models of this head attached - and apart from changing the material from magnesium to aluminium and changing the grips, and maybe smoothing a few lines - little has changed between designs. It is an odd-looking head when compared to your average manfrotto 3-way head, but I would say, if you are looking for a 3-way head, for use with a 10x8" large format camera, then there is no better, or rather, no better suited head. It seems to be the popular choice to use a large heavy duty ballhead with your 10x8 field camera - such as the arca-swiss B1.. and for a while, I was looking for something like this too. But I decided I'm too interested in keeping things level and in-line for a ball-head, and that staying with a 3-way would be the wiser choice.
So, like the legs, this head almost overkill, with a maximum load capacity of 10kg/22lb (of course overkill is a good thing - it's what you want and need in a tripod). This means that the head will easily support my camera, with minimal effort, and can put it in whatever direction or strange angle easily.
The original alluminium G1570 head was designed in the age when giant sinar 10x8's were the standard, and like i said before, the design has hardly changed - so basically everything about the design of this head is geared towards the LF user. I noted a few people had written about the stiffness of the controls, especially the left-to-right 'levelling' tilt.. however as soon as you get your heavy camera on, then the slight stiffness is no problem and is in fact very welcome. And the 10" long handle (similar to that found on video heads) that controls the main tilt of the camera makes flipping your camera up and down easy. Most of all, it is the 6.5" long and 4.5" wide camera platform that makes this head what it is. There is no quick release, you just screw your 1/4" or 3/8" screw (both are supplied) straight into the camera - and the huge camera platform (topped by some rubber) makes this a real confidence-inspiring connection - and I've found it makes a huge difference to the overall rigidity of the camera - that base just stops any movement between the head and camera, and makes them feel like one. If your prone to carrying your camera around, screwed to the tripod, over your shoulder (i'm not) then this is one head that will inspire confidence.
So overall i'm pleased with the head. I suppose the only other real contenders would have been Manfrotto's Universal View camera head or Manfrotto's 3D Super-Pro head (i noticed recently in a video that this super-pro is what Alec Soth uses) - but i'm not a fan of the short-stubby controls on both of these.
The G1570M is not without its flaws though. When I tilt the camera so that its facing up towards the sky then I get to a certain point where the camera hits on the panning lever, so can go no more. So if you wanted to get an extreme view up, you would have to mount the camera in reverse on the head. Also, the lack of spirit levels on the axis is a real annoyance. I used to say that I didn't miss not having spirit levels on the Shen-Hao as I had them on my tripod head, but not any more. There is a spirit-level bubble on the base of the head, but there is also a bubble on the legs - both telling me the same thing, and bearing no relevance to what the head is doing it panning and tilting. If I'm honest, this really hasn't affected me, as I always line things up on the ground glass - but maybe one day I will need a perfectly levelled head.
Also, the screws. My 10x8 is generally the only camera I use with a tripod. I generally take the philosophy that if a photo needs a tripod, then I may aswell use the 10x8... however when I do need to mount my SLR or 7II, they both use the smaller 3/8" screw. While the head does provide a secondary screw slot in the camera platform area, to place whichever screw your not using - you have to take this screw out generally, when placing your camera on the tripod. Leaving you with no place to store the screw. Wouldn't it have been easy to find some place on the head to securely attatch whichever spare screw you weren't using - Manfrotto have a few different nifty places to store spare screws on their heads. This is no big deal, its just a worry if you're forgetful as me!
My previus tripod and head weighed in at 7.2kg, and my new tripod and head weigh in at 4.2kg -it's a huge difference. In fact it's the difference between wanting to use the tripod and not... what more can I say.
I will try to upload photos as soon as I can.

Found

2010-11-24T20:37:00.007Z

Found Photographs
Typology - People with dead animals

Bellows

2010-11-24T20:06:00.008Z

Found Images.
The top two images are of the Sinar E, a scarce model that you strapped to a computer and set where you wanted your focus to be and how great the depth of field and the camera would calculate the perfect aperture/movements combo... I think Sinar stated that the camera would usually save you a stop by getting the perfect amount of tilt/swing/extension.. pretty amazing..

I sold my Cambo SCX last week. Below is a photograph I took of it some time in 2009.
What with investing in my 10x8" field camera, I could no longer justify having the 5x4" monorail... and that obsession for the insane resolution that 10x8" plants within you probably has a bit to do with it too..
But anyway, I sold to Farnham first year Daniel Cope, really pleased to sell it to a student, and I hope he enjoys using it.
I purchased a Bowens Quadmatic 3Ka system along with several stands and softboxes, partially funded with the money from the sell. So looking forward to shooting.

Interview with the Telegraph

2010-11-24T19:54:00.004Z

My 1000 Words interview with Aaron Schuman has been republished by the Telegraph
You can see it HERE

Working Shots

2010-11-16T23:13:00.003Z

Just searching through old files from my SLR and I came across these

14th Nov

2010-11-14T16:10:00.009Z

remember remember

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On Tuesday I met the 3rd years at CCCU for the first time. I was introducing my work and my professional practise as a whole (I went on a bit of a rant about production to be honest!) and then taking this on to discussing how I approach 'networking'.
It was all very subjective talk, as I was in their position just a year ago, and I felt a bit cautious about discussing my work... but anyway, I feel that it was a real success.

......................

Myself, Katie, Thom and Helen took a trip into the city on Thursday.
First stop was Shadow Catchers at the V&A (Camera-less photography) which I really enjoyed, especially Floris Neusüss and Susan Derges' work (Neusüss' giant simulacrum of Talbot's window which was commissioned for the show - incredible!), the presentation of all of the work was really fascinating, and I really engaged with the relationship to the 'real' in its many different forms and abstractions in the work shown. A really nice show, as you'd expect really.
Next stop was the Saatchi gallery, mainly so Thom could check out the bookshop, but also to have a quick look around the current show Newspeak - really nice to see Idris Khan's "Every Bernd and Hilla Becher ......." as well as a series of Anne Hardy's empty spaces.. also finally I was really pleased to finally see work Steve Bishop and Tessa Farmer's "Swarm" in the flesh. I was impressed to see Clarisse d’Arcimoles series "Un-possible retour", which I last saw at Fresh Faced and Wild Eyed. I think we were pretty taken aback by Jonathan Wateridge's stunning giant canvases also.
Then off to Tate Britain to see the Eadweard Muybridge show and for tea and cake. I really enjoyed this show, though it was strangely edited, and it was just one of those shows that took a lot out of you.. I enjoyed his early work the most, the landscapes, the particularly impressive 360' panoramas presented as giant 17foot books.
Next up was HOST gallery for Aaron Schuman in conversation with Richard Mosse
Really exciting talk! I've liked Richard's work for a long time now, although somehow I don't think I've ever mentioned him on here. He's a 10x8" shooter and his photographs are intelligent, shamelessly beautiful and perfectly sublime - of course I'm going to be a fan.
Richard was every bit as fascinating as you would expect, and if anything I think he really played down the level of planning and deliberation that goes into the work.
Hi advice to me was, whenever someone asks you whether you're good at what you do... just say yes, don't think about it, just say yes.

Aaron has been in dialogue with Richard for a while and the culmination of this will be an interview in the coming issue of Aperture...

images © Richard Mosse (from The Fall and Infra)

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Spent a good two solid days contact printing for Anna Fox
Really great to see all of Anna's images, this work is going to be quite something.

2010-11-04T17:24:00.010Z

I've been long listed for the 2010 Terry O'Neill award. I'm one of 30 photographers selected from over 600 entrants. The shortlist was being judged today.

.................................................

So, last week myself and Thom did our second day of Large Format workshops at Farnham, this time we were doing two workshops for the third years.

.................................................

Myself and Katie went to see Myths, Manners and Memory : Photographers of the American South
This is definitely worth a visit, if only for the pure reason of seeing prints by Eggleston, Soth, Lipper and Christenberry in the flesh.
The Walker Evans inkjets were a bit of a disappointment though!
Susan Lipper's images really stole the show, her dark corner was really effortlessly calming yet disconcerting... really great.
oh and SO GOOD to see photgoraphs in frames!

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Things I've seen recently...

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Lastly, a week ago today myself and Thom went to Blood & Time at the Woodmill Gallery space in Bermondsey. This was the first half of a two-part show, the second part I will be showing Vanitas in (showing Vanitas in contact print form for the first time, which I'm really excited about). I also got to meet Jazmine Miles-Long who will also be part of this show. Jazmine Miles-Long is an ethical artist/taxidermist who've work I've known about and admired for a while, so I'm really looking forward to showing work with her.
A few days earlier myself and Katie had been to see her work at Ryantown and it just looked great, so nice to see the work as it is, instead of images on a screen.

Assisting and Teaching

2010-11-04T16:53:00.008Z

Myself, Katie, Pez and Vicki Churchill assisted Anna Fox a few weekends back.
I'm assisting Anna with her RESORT project at Butlins, Bognor Regis, for the next 10 weeks.
You can keep up to date with her work, on her blog, here: Anna Fox news page

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Financial Times Weekend Magazine
This special relaunch issue (published October) featured the shoot which I assisted Adam & Olly with, Photographing David Cameron and Simon Schama at no.10
The magazine features 4 photographs in total, including the cover image

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Myself and Thom spent a day doing two large format workshops for second years, it was a really great day and I think the students got a lot out of it. On the curriculum was a slideshow of LF virtuoso's, discussing LF production such as developments, labs and different printing and mounting techniques, a full guide to camera movements, a guide to different view cameras (with monorails, field cameras, from 5x4 to 10x8 at hand and a slideshow with everything from polaroifd land cameras converted to take 5x4 film, to tp giant 20x24" cameras), the wonders of being able to change lenses from camera to camera, LF shooting philosophy, and everyone loading, shooting and developing their own film.
Myself and Thom got a lot out of the day, and had a really good time, I also think the different way we utilise LF also made for an especially interesting mix!

Cheers

back to the blog

2010-11-04T16:17:00.009Z

So, sorry for not blogging in so long...
I've been pretty non-stop for the past few weeks..
Anyway, it's been a good few weeks for animals, I found a Mallard and a Pheasant, both road victims, but in really pristine condition.. the pheasant especially is just beautiful

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I also got the chance to see two prints by Richard Learoyd, and I have subsequently been back to see them several times.
Learoyd is a fascinating artist, there's a nice interview in issue #2 of 1000 Words Photography, although it doesn't answer half of the questions I have about his work, and like pretty much everything I've read about him, it gets way too caught up in the technical details... having said that, the technical process he employs is pretty magical and the results are stunning! Really magical unique photographs (and I think I've read somewhere that the process is pretty unique to him, as he has the only Ilfochrome/Cibachrome machine large enough to do what he does in the UK).
Two prints by Learoyd are on display at Art Loco Gallery, in Ticehurst, as part of the Mad as a Hatter exhibition. Apparently the work has stirred up quite a bit of controversy, which is simultaneously a bit of a shame and also quite brilliant that they're stirring some emotion! I don't know how a little rural place like Ticehurst (where you can't drive down a road without seeing something dead and flattened) can take issue with these images, and anyway, they are the most tender photographs. Had a good chat with the gallerist there, who was lovely, so go and check it out.

Image © Richard Learoyd

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Farnham has a 10x8" enlarger!
I am seriously so excited about this... I can finally print my own work, until now I have never printed any of my own 10x8" negatives and have only contact printed them.
In my 3 years at Farnham they had two broken 10x8" enlargers, and only now have they finally replaced them with one new fully functional enlarger..

SABS

2010-10-08T00:16:00.007+01:00

The SABS, or the 'Hunt Saboteurs Association' describe themselves as The only organisation that works directly in the field to protect wildlife from the hunter.

These images are taken from the SABS archive..

After this then I will move swiftly away from the politicisation of nature.

the desktop of vernacular

2010-10-07T23:55:00.004+01:00

Sotovictorj:

"It's horrible it is not a "nature morte" (still life) which is another thing"

"Gloomy is not "still life", it is a style pictorialism (or photo) where it is used either to humans or animals only with compositions of objects or the kingdom or mineral vegetation animal ever. Not dead animals or men."

"It is disgusting and as one more picture of those to be deleted from the memory unusable"

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Andrew Bruce 1000 Words Photography Interview

2010-10-05T14:44:00.008+01:00

Thud
Aaron Schuman interviews Andrew Bruce for the fall 2010 issue of 1000 Words Photography Magazine (issue #9)

Brighton Photo Biennial 2010

2010-10-05T13:01:00.005+01:00

So, Friday the 1st myself, Katie, Helen and Thom (Thom with a dire craving for fish and chips after returning from India just the day before, where he had been for the past month) got stupidly early trains down to Brighton for the opening talks of the Brighton Photo Biennial.

Did I mention that it was POURING down with rain all day Friday and Saturday? and I mean POURING!

First up the opening talk by Martin, followed by Stephen Gill, Rinko Kawauchi and Alec Soth talking about the work that they had made in Brighton.
I like so many poeople would have loved to see Alec wandering the streets of Brighton with his 10x8", doing the same kind of thing that he did with Niagra - playing up to the romanticised/tacky/cliché parts of Brighton that we know and love - it would have been great! but it will never happen, and I can see (forgetting the whole Visa muck-up fiasco) why he wouldn't want to play up to that. I really respect what he's doing right now with his work.
And I have to say, he spoke so well about the work that he really won me over. And the 'Bunny Boy Book' is absolute genius! The work on the wall as well really works, it looks great - the images ARE really good - they work far better on the wall rather than in the book or online.

Rinko has also made some great work - and interestingly enough she told Thom that she would like to show the work again, but with different presentation - it's nice to know that she sees the work as more than just 'some commission', and a valuable part of her work as a whole.

I really like Stephen Gill as an artist, but I felt a little let-down by his talk - no doubt the work he's produced is really fun and exciting, and it feels the most complete of the three pieces made in Brighton.

Anyway... enough about the talk..

After a good 3 hours sitting in Harry Ramsden's, drying off, and watching people outside getting blown about and the torrential rain that just wouldn't stop... we dared to go outside and met up with Anna Fox who had come with two of the new MA students at Farnham. Anna had arranged to meet up with Paul Reas at a pub nearby so we went along for a pint, killing a bit of time before the shows started to open in the evening.

First up was 'New ways of Looking' at the former co-operative department store- this was a real highlight - apart from the vegetables (which I had high hopes for) all of the work shown was really brilliant. Viviane Sassen's images were the highlight of the whole weekend for me, and I really liked the work by Suzanne Opton also.
We were first confronted here with the 'no frames' issue... Martin Parr had earlier that day proudly announced that this was the first frameless photography festival, and also that all of the prints were done on-site in Brighton on HP inkjet printers.
This was a source of debate between us - and while Viviane Sassen's images looked great on thick photo-rag type paper that emphasised the kind of 'muddy' colouring in her images (and I say 'muddy' - I mean that they are stunning! the subtle way they are printed a little bit off - they're great) and also had enough rigidity that it didn't sag too much from where it was held up by pins/magnets, while Suzanne Opton's prints - half of them done on a different paper that was more of a semi-gloss - just didn't have enough rigidity to lie flat on the wall without some sagging. But more to the point, these images are stunning, they are delicate and tender, they deserve to be lavishly mounted and behind glass- to feel special.
Martin Parr explained how nice it was to work with 'new' photographer who apparently are less picky about how their work is shown, and how it was so good to free up time and money and dealing with sending prints from place to place... and I like the utilitarian-element and the equality of a frame-less show... but come on, their is a reason we do all this stuff - if I didn't believe in how important a good print and mount was then I'd be a hell of a lot richer today - and you think I don't wish I was a lot richer? This stuff IS important, it's VERY important, and without it, you may as well just see the work on a screen, online... and in some cases work did feel very much like I was browsing a blog or something - and in this day and age we should be making the most of the differences between the internet and the gallery.

The old co-op was a great space though - really exciting, and despite the weather there was a really great buzz that evening.

We then dared the rain again to wander across to the Museum, where Alec, Stephen and Rinko's work was being shown. I think i've said enough about them, earlier.
Shiho (see in one of the photos below) has been assisting Rinko with her work in Brighton, and she's had a great time doing so.

The next day the fringe kicked off and myself and Katie (still very wet!) got up early to walk into town and see as many shows as possible.
We first went to Queer Brighton - don't ask, this show made me really angry- are these really the best photographers they could get for this job? anyway, if I understand correctly this was a bit of a fiasco in itself.

A night in Argentina - Alejandro Chaskielberg and Esteban Pastorino Diaz - a really good show. I'd been looking forward to seeing Chaskielberg's work for a long time, and when it came to it I enjoyed Pastorino Diaz's work just as much - but did I really experience the work properly? No matter how many people tell me, I'll believe it when I see it, but Inkjets just aren't anywhere near as good quality as proper photographic prints, and there were annoying little flaws in the printing for both of these photographers. Considering that Pastorino Diaz uses the gum bichromate printing process - then I can't help feeling that I've kind of missed out on an element of his practise.

The floor above and below, and the building next-door to 'New ways of Looking' at the former co-operative department store were now open, showing work as part of the fringe.
The floor below housed 'Nothing is in the Place' a curatorial project by Jason Evans - really great! A top highlight for me alongside Viviane Sassen's work - just go and see it! This was originally shown as part of photomonth in Krakow, so It's great to see it in the UK.
The above floors had a lot of really different work, and the space was really exciting, Simon Robert's Election Project really stood out a mile, and I mean in a good way.

We popped into IN SITE at BlueDogGallery, and then to Fabrica for The House of Vernacular - yet again, just go and see it.. Really amazing what they've done there.

SO all in all a great weekend, I'm looking forward to Martin's show Cerceri (which is on it's way back from Krakow)
Still a huge amount to see..

I didn't mean to write this much....

by the way, the last picture is from the bus that me and Katie had to use to get home, replacement train service...

Cheers

Enter The Void

2010-09-25T22:32:00.009+01:00

I first saw Enter The Void in October 2009, and I remember feeling a slight pang of sadness that I would never see it again in a cinema - the massive noise, the huge screen - the ripple of everyone in the cinema jolting upright in their seats at certain points - it was an incredible cinematic experience.... but, well.... luckily I got my second chance to see it on the big screen, at Curzon on the 24th Sept 2010.
I went along with Steve and Katie - and I was really excited, I thought that my memory of the film was pretty fresh, but I had forgotten huge chunks of it.. and second time around it felt an altogether different beast... I was really tense the first time I saw it, *who knew what to expect from the man who gave us the infamous 9-minute rape scene* but the second time around I was a lot more relaxed, Enter the Void gets you in a completely different way to Irreversible... Irreversible hits you in waves, while Enter the Void is all the more subtle than that.. I found myself de-focusing my eyes and letting myself be taken in and beaten around by the film.. and does the film really beat you around? yes, YES...
In every way possible it plays with you, It would be impossible to describe this - you have to experience it... I didn't know it was possible to have a film hit you like such a ton of bricks before this - and for all of the differing reviews of this film, I feel that this is the one constant..
Do you come out of this film feeling dirty and confused? yes...
But the thing is that this unlike any other film ever made *pretty heavy statement!*, I'm so glad that Gaspar has been quoted saying the film is meant to be like 'high art' - because that's it.... It doesn't conform in any way to the usual codes of interplay between viewer and film... It's an experience, it's something that will stay with you... It's tragic (and this is my one critical point - often far too tragic! but I think that's kind of the point)... its painful to watch these characters who are so doomed from the start... the most horrible things happen in Gaspar's films, and I know this isn't for most people... but things a hundred times worse than anything Gaspar could ever throw at us happen for real, everyday... and personally I can't help but question the deepest darkest elements of humanity.

One thing that I did notice is right at the end, when the baby is born, and it looks up at its mothers face, the image blurred, you can just see enough to distinguish that it's Oscars mothers face, not Linda's - so as with Irreversible there is this cyclical pattern, this mobius strip - where from one life comes another - but than again, we know that Oscar is doomed - and I guess that's where the title comes in - Enter the Void...

The next day I went to see Irreverisble, which was also being shown at Curzon, to celebrate showing Enter the Void and Gaspar being in the UK.
I've watched Irreversible many times, but hadn't seen it on a big screen.. and it really was worth seeing it big. The closing scenes *the ones that really count, but everyone forgets* where really incredible... Alex sitting in the park reading J.W. Dunne's An Experiment with Time while the camera spins up to Beethoven's 7th Symphony, then the throbbing noise and the strobing light - amazing!

Katie didn't enjoy Enter the Void one bit, and I felt awful that I had put her through it - we disagree pretty strongly when it comes to these things - but after a days though she wrote a really great review on her blog here: CLICKKK
far better than my review here... I urge you to read it.

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On a completely unrelated note
When I was working at A&O's studio a while ago, a song came on itunes and I asked Olly if it was Nick Drake - it was not...
It was infact Olly himself singing, and his band.
So I hope he won't mind me posting this here, but Frankly are really brilliant.

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If you havn't heard the whole story about Alec Soth, work Visa's and the BPB, then you've been living on a different planet...
But interestingly there's been a lot of hate recently on the subject...

FOTO8 on twitter:

"Soth commission wasn't free. Did his daughter earn it? Not according to " the customs official", What happened to those public thousands?"

"Alex Soth Brighton tale smells bogus... 2 yrs jail, work permit, 7 yr old, vernacular photography. What says public funded BPB? Mr Parr??"

"How can picture of Brighton be vernacular if the indigenous photographer is not asked to shoot them.#bogusphotospeak"

"So apparently its ok to pay a seven year old child labourer in UK and not a commissioned artist? If no pay then customs law is rubbish."

"Firstly why does Brighton need to be shot by Soth and secondly how does his daughter not break the same bogus law? http://bit.ly/9VyYrF"

Can you smell the angst?

Personally I'm not one to really judge, especially not until I've seen the finished article.
And I'm a huge fan of what Soth does, and I have huge respect for what he's doing right now with his career.
It's nice to know that organisations like FOTO8 are confident to shout out what they believe in and shout out even louder if they think something is a muck...

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Before I went to see Irreversible on the 25th, I had to pop a long to check out the bookRoom at London Art Book Fair at the Whitechapel gallery.
The bookRoom stall looked great! I really mean that, some of the most interesting pieces there. Too many big companies with exactly the same titles as you'll find in your average waterstones, and while there was a good show of really interesting intricate artists books, a lot of them playing with text - there was a real lack of good photography on show... and who cares how pretty your book is if the work inside is ****
I did stop off at the Morel books stand for a little chat, and to buy My Shit is Gold by Paul Herbst.

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Kodak says: "There is a very real resurgence for film"
click HERE for full article by the BJP

"And the most exciting thing is to see the younger people adopt film. It’s almost a generational thing. They have not shot film growing up, but once they do get a hold of film in a university, they just seem to fall in love with it. And that’s exciting. It just seems to have a lot of influence."

".... what we’ve done is to look at realistic workflows today where the majority of films, ultimately, are getting scanned even if it’s printed back out on photographic papers – it’s still scanned along the way."

I love what is said about young people adopting film - that's my generation, that's where the real passion lies!
but the second part is something which I will never understand - scanning - why oh why!
The negative to positive process when you print optically is the most perfect procedure - that's how film and photographic paper where designed to be used - I could rant on for another few pages.. but I'll stop now.

Cheers

A&O and the PM at no.10

2010-09-23T18:42:00.006+01:00

Well I look pretty stupid in that photo... but it just had to be done.

I Assisted A&O on a shoot at 10 Downing Street- portraits of David Cameron and Simon Schama...
so.. the cabinet room became a studio for a few hours and I got to shake hands with the PM... all in all a great day!
Number 10 is a really incredible place, really beautiful.

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Take a look at a new blog by Anna Fox: The Farnham School

And this... SaveTheArts.org.uk
David Shrigley's video is brilliant.

And this... Conscientious - Richard Mosse (Joerg Colberg interviews Richard Mosse

Redesign

2010-09-18T14:58:00.005+01:00

If you're a regular viewer you may or may not have noticed that I had a pretty hefty re-design of this blog last week - I hope you approve, it's a lot cleaner and (I hope) a lot easier to navigate... anyway...

*Shot by Adam & Olly - spotted by me on the platform at Goodge Street and shot on the new camera.
(the TV ads for the programme - not shot by A&O, but the same concept - are also really cool)

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Prompted by a few commercial jobs that I've had and a few more that I've got in the near future, then begrudgingly I've bought a new DSLR... my 4 year old Canon 30D (my first ever dslr) now takes the back seat to a sparkling new 5D mark II with a 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM.
First impressions are very good - i'm really really impressed by the quality. In terms of resolution the sensor is never going to hold you back, the only limitation is how sharp your glass is and how well you use it. It's so nice to zoom in as far as possible and find that you meet the details going soft - whereas with the 30D I would find myself looking at giant square pixels way before I could ever see how sharp an image my lens was making.

For the first time I think photographs taken with the ISO's right up (1600 and 3200) actually look NICE! - with good tonality and little grain.. and not over-stretching the colour to look unnatural.

The 24.70mm f/2.8 L lens is great - although ridiculously heavy - but for f2.8 throughout the range then this is a price i'm prepared to pay! I can't wait to use it properly in low-light.

Another thing that really excited me about this camera is VIDEO - i've been put-off for a long time by this - I'm a photographer, a stills photographer - there are plenty of moving-image people, and that's what they specialise in - I don't want to tread on their toes... but I can't fight it any more.. I really want to do some work with moving-image... Adam & Olly have definitely been a big influence on me feeling this way.
The stuff being filmed on the 5DmkII's is awesome and I can't wait to make something really interesting with it.

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I was at the opening of Quetzalcoatl: Photographs by Manuel Alvarez Bravo, at Diemar/Noble Gallery.. This is where Katie (and Christina) intern right now, and it's well worth a look.. A really fascinating series of photographs that feel surprisingly contemporary.

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Finally, I'm going to be doing some teaching this year on Canterbury Christ Church Universities Photography BA course. It's my mission to get the first years all up to speed with the workings of the camera (focussing mainly on analogue capture - but analogue/digital: it's all interconnected, and this is something I want to make sure they really appreciate) - I'm hugely excited about role, and I feel it couldn't be a more perfect job for me.

Cheers

CAIRO. RETURN

2010-09-08T20:38:00.005+01:00

POP issue 23 had this shoot by Adam & Olly that I assisted on.
29 pages long!
this was great fun to work on - two very long days work!

2010-09-08T19:16:00.003+01:00

stuff and stuff

2010-09-08T17:58:00.008+01:00

Two images that I took in Lyme Regis..
I hate making any kind of edit or scans without having a proper contact print - so doing something productive with what I shot is going to have to wait until I get in a darkroom again... not to mention I've still got 10 rolls of 120 to dev - i'm doing them by hand, and I just have a universal tank - so only 1 roll of 120 at a time... so it's coming along pretty slow.

...........

I had the pleasure of taking the installation photographs for Haris Epaminonda's show Vol.VI at Tate Modern.
I was assisted by James, and we spent 4 hours in the space after closing time, it really was a great experience spending such time, so intensively getting to know the space, and it was a really beautiful show.

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Cheers to We Like Art for featuring my work and Self Publish Be Happy for featuring my work and details on my upcoming book.

Cheers

2010-08-09T19:52:00.005+01:00

Sorry for the lack of post, i've been on Holiday!
Now I have many many rolls of b&w 120 to develop...

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First up - Steve Cuss has a new website - check it out http://www.stephencuss.co.uk/
"Steve is currently in Africa, having the time of his life"

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URBAN FOX HUNTING HOAX - watch the video

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I managed to get a photo of a fox in my garden on the 7II yesterday, I hope that comes out....

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Spent the day in the studio assisting Adam & Olly today. Olly was editing a video they shot of the american rap group The Roots, one of the guys in the video goes off on a little rant at one point.. he says something like...

We think we are so special, but we only have one skill.. humans have only survived through imagination, other animals have all kinds of super powers, some can change colours, a humming bird can flap it's wings so fast that it can hover in the same place, there are manta rays that can give 600 volt stings.. we can't do that.. our only super power is our imagination, and it's our imagination that makes us think that we're different from all of the other animals, that we're special.. all our imagination is good for is imagining that we're better, that we're on a higher level and that all of this stuff counts... it's a matter of perception.

After listening to this a few times over, I found it pretty profound.. bold, blunt but true...

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Cheers

FFFFOX

2010-07-28T23:47:00.004+01:00

found imagery... I didn't take them...

Sally Mann, Joana Vasconcelos and Polly Morgan

2010-07-26T22:45:00.007+01:00

On Friday I trekked up to London, first to 6 Burlington Gardens (which is an amazing building which through it's history has been owned and used by the University of London, The British Museum and the Royal Academy of Arts amongst others)... Right now it houses Haunch of Venison gallery. HV are only using the building temporarily for around 3 years, while their previous gallery space is renovated... but this is a bit of a shame really as the space is stunning and they really make the most of it.
Far from being one of those annoying commercial galleries where you have to ring the bell to enter, only for your every move to be scrutinised by an invigilator, HV is an incredibly gallery, the space, and I mean the massive amount of space, is something to really enjoy just in itself... let alone the artwork within it.
There are two shows currently going on at HV.
'I Will Survive' the first survey exhibition of Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos work.

I Will Survive - taken from the tune made popular by Gloria Gaynor in 1978 - transports us to a world of embroidery and crochet, sex and simulacra. Of particular interest is the way in which contemporary technological and ethical advancements challenge traditional ideas surrounding identity. Finding her inspiration in the popular imagination and examining various themes of daily life, Vasconcelos focuses on the politics of gender, national identity and class.

Although I didn't really get the identity, gender politics and class (and the only hint of a discourse with the simulacra any more meaningful than... well, everything... I could see was a keen interest in reclaimed dog statues).
But that's not saying that I didn't like the dog statues (that hung on leads from a motorised conveyor, above the remains of many more smashed dog statues).
There were also many animals sculpted and painted, and then covered in crochet - I overheard a man complaining about foxes, while he stood over the sculpted fox.

*I have become one of these annoying people who feeds the foxes in my garden, I can't help it.
I can watch them from my window.

There were also giant knitted sculptures hanging from the ceiling, or curving around walls, or even strapped to a wall.
There was one room, that I won't describe, you have to experience it... which really really took my breath away, in a way I have never felt before. I urge you to experience it, you will know what I mean when you see it.

The main reason I visited HV was to see the work of Polly Morgan, who i've been aware of for several years. Infact I think I first saw her work in an old issue of POP magazine back in 2006, and then most recently reminded of her when I met Taxidermist Kim McDonald and then more recently the 'Art is Child's Play' programme on BBC1 as part of the Imagine series, where Morgan proudly showed off her own freezer of animals.

Psychopomps is Polly Morgan's first solo exhibition with Haunch of Venison. It consists of four suspended taxidermy sculptures, each poised between metamorphosis and flight. Named Psychopomps after the mythical creatures that conduct souls into the after-life, their historical representation includes Hermes and Charon from Greek mythology, the Valkyries from Norse myth, Anubis the jackal-headed Egyptian God, and in various cultures, horses, bees, birds and shamans.

It is very obvious why I have an interest with Morgan's work. I can't help feeling an affinity, and I really like the new direction she has gone in.
If I'm really critical, the one thing I've never got, is the fact that she sells prints, photographs, of her sculptures... I'm not just moaning as a photographer, I just don't get it, it defeats that most holy of holy objects, the fact that the sculptures are formed with the skins of animals, painstakingly arranged.

To coincide with the exhibition HV released a book of her work, signed, for £16... so I snapped that up.. along with the catalogue from a previous exhibition in 2004, entitled 'Animals'. I've yet to look through it properly, but there is some interesting work that I haven't seen before, and the essay at the start looks great.

..................

After that, I jumped on the tube, one stop, to meet Maria and then Katie at the NPG
We were there to see a talk with Sally Mann, led by Photographers' Gallery Senior Curator Camilla Brown.
Arriving early we had a look round 'NPG/BT Road to 2012' which had two projects commissioned to celebrate the Olympic games coming to the UK, one series by Bettina von Zwehl (hello 10x8" colour negs and handprints!) and one (slightly less my thing) by Brian Griffin. There's something a little bit twisted about photographers being commissioned to make work about the Olympics, when budgets are being squeezed and priorities are changing.
But anyway, you can see an interview here about the work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OcMXVyqMiA and Bettina will be doing a talk in September that I think I'll have to go to.
I felt this one image of Victoria Pendleton stood head and shoulders above the other images... I don't know, the gaze, it's intense, much harder to read than the rest...
(you have to see the print in person)
* I also really want to see the Camille Silvy show, but right now I resent the £5 entry fee

...........

SO... Sally Mann
I'm a huge fan. I was really really excited about this, and it did not disappoint.
She was every bit the sincere, clever, honest and fascinating speaker that I expected.
For someone who I'm sure has been asked the same old questions over and over again, she answered the questions with a freshness and fascination as if it was the first time she had been asked it, and as if it was the strangest thing to ask..
We were treated, as her daughter Virginia was there, and even got up on stage to answer a few questions of her own.
The majority of the talk was taken up discussing six photographs from Mann's new work in progress, a series of very intimate and tender portraits of black American men. We were lucky enough to be the first audience that Mann has ever shown them to. A bit of a debate ensued about how the historical collodion wet-plate type of photography that Mann used firmly anchored the photographs within a dialogue of voyeurism and the history of the slave trade. Mann explained that it all began with her interest in just interacting and getting to know black men, I've never visited the southern side of the US, where Mann lives, but I think we all know that race relations are a world different there to how they are here in the UK. It was nice to have an open debate, to discuss things that are not normally talked about. The way Mann talked about the work, and her interest, had a childlike fascination, I don't mean that in a simple way, I mean that it was very refreshing to see.
Overall, I felt that the punctum of the images was the beautiful tenderness, the appreciation of the intricacy of the lives and characters of these men.
I wondered if maybe we could see the historical process as a kind of act of reclaiming history, but maybe this is too basic... an over simplification..

I'm sure I'll remember this talk for a long time..

Cheers

2010-07-21T23:33:00.003+01:00

I thought I'd succumb to a long-term desire of self-sufficiency and live up to the convention of the classical photographer - and start developing my own film in my bathroom.
So with my rodinal, a paterson rotary tank (designed for developing paper, but equally good for developing 8x10" sheet film), and using the bath tub as a bath for the dev tank.. etc etc.. Good to go.
Me and Katie shot off some sheets and then went home to try developing. And glad to say they came out perfect. This was fun.

2010-07-21T23:18:00.004+01:00

2010-07-21T22:51:00.003+01:00

Show

2010-07-13T14:12:00.003+01:00

photo courtesy of James Gardiner

A&O

2010-07-06T17:04:00.006+01:00

I'm back doing some work for Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin.
Firstly I've been designing a website for them, egyptiansurrealism.com
It's a fascinating topic, basically untouched.. I would particularly reccomend the 'surrealism, politics and culture' essay by Neil Matheson, which goes a bit more into the nitty gritty of questioning surrealism, and a lot of his debate has especial emphasis when applied to photographic thinking...
The site is still very much under construction right now!

I also assisted on a shoot they were doing for POP magazine.
It was an intense two days (22 hours in the studio), but great fun, and a fascinating and challenging shoot. POP will be coming out in September.. I can't wait to see the final product, I know it's going to look brilliant.

2010-07-06T15:28:00.009+01:00

Sally Mann at the photographers gallery. There's been a lot of things said about the PG recently, that interview with Chris Steele-Perkins has certainly done the rounds... but they did Mann justice - thank god for that grey-pinky paint.They're also showing the documentary 'What Remains' in the gallery on a loop. If you can't be bothered to wait then you can watch it here: What Remains: The Life and work of Sally Mann
After that then I purchased enough books to put the bill into triple digits.
Me and Katie booked to see Mann give a talk the NPG, however sadly Mann had to stay in the US due to her husbands health problems. Hopefully it will be rescheduled.

That reminds me, there is a Phillips compact II 10x8" on ebay right now. If you know what this camera is then you'll know that this is the camera that Mann uses (with film), along with Sternfeld, Struth, Ruff, Gursky, Esser and many more.. it's what my camera is based on. And this is the first for sale in the UK for probably the last 5 years.. enough said.

...........................

I got an invite for the private view of Wolfgang Tillmans new show at the Serpentine. I won't say much about this, you should see it for yourself. It's a great show. The installation and the flow through his greatly varied work is first rate. It was amongst the busiest opening I've ever been to, and I'm going to have to go back so I can have a proper look - it's a bit of an overwhelming experience as it it, and for several days after I was still thinking about it.

The masses gathered outside the Serpentine

...........................

They're renewed the on-display at the V&A, and it's well worth a look.
It's the most contemporary collection of work I've ever seen them show and there's a bloody good pick.
In my eyes then Mitch Epstein's giant print of his father in water *you know the one* stole the show.
I also loved Masahisa Fukase's print from his Ravens work, although I wasn't so sure about the visible film sprocket marks on the print - that lost a bit of the magic for me, the beautiful grain was enough to remind me of the photographic-ness of this amazing scene.
I was really pleased to see a large Bill Henson print, although I think the white wall setting of the V&A did no favours for the image.
Right next to the Henson print was a Crewdson, just a little bit larger that the Henson. I've heard a lot of bad things about Crewdson's print quality, I've heard people say that 'it doesn't look like it was shot on 10x8' however I was pleasantly surprised, it definitely looked 10x8.. the print quality wasn't perfect, but it was very very good, and I probably spent the most time standing in front of this, trying to take in every detail.

+++++

2010-07-06T14:34:00.007+01:00

'tender', aswell as a bit of an interview was featured on www.oitzarisme.ro
I'm glad to get a bit of text which is a bit more down-to-earth and frank out there..

..............................................................

I met Clare Smart while getting my FMP work printed at Michael Dyer's. One thing that has to be said is that Michael Dyer's is such a great place for meeting great photographers and lovely people. Like me, Clare was getting her FMP work printed there. I guess I sensed a mutual stress and fear about the absolute intensity in the emotions invested in our work. Clare did the part-time photography course at Westminster. So, me and Katie really looked forward to seeing Clare's work at Freerange, we were not disapointed.
Clare showed a book, a video piece and prints, each as strong as the next (which is quite something!). Me and Katie were really touched by the work, I won't say any more than that as it would be futile.
Check out some of Clare's work at: www.claresmartphotography.co.uk

..............................................................

Also from Westminster, I really liked the work from Tereza Zelenkova. I had seen images from Tereza on the Source graduate index, and I was intruiged then, but seeing the work in the flesh, with installation, was something else - a bit Shirana Shahabazi mixed with Grant Willing....
Thom later told me that the work would be shown at Hotshoe, and well, it's up now, so go see it!
I'll be checking it out this week some time.

2010-07-06T12:29:00.005+01:00

Steve Cuss is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet, and he's one amazing photographer.
He's in Kenya right now, and I hope I get to see what he's shot out their pretty soon.
Steve has a tumblr, he can also be found over at Wandering Bears, and Pete assures me that Stevecuss.com is underway - watch this space.

The two photographs below are by Steve, and for obvious reasons, they catch my attention!
The second image especially, I think is pretty intense...

Steve says about it;

On the 28th may, a fallen deer becomes an important meal for the foxes and badgers and any other scavengers seeking food for their young. It has an interesting twist with the untouched fawn still attached to the umbilical cord laying besides its fallen mother.

I don't know if it's just me, but I think that's amazing.

................................................................

I've been super busy recently, more on that later.
As well as graduation, I moved out of the student village in Farnham (three years of living there, so many good memories)
Myself and Katie went to Hop Farm Festival this Saturday.
It was a great day, we saw Seasick Steve, Pete Doherty, The magic numbers, Ray Davies and Bob Dylan.. and the cider was good once you got it...

................................................................

Photo by Maria Kapajeva
From her new blog here: Maria Kapajeva's blog

Graduate

2010-07-06T12:02:00.006+01:00

so... as stated in the previous post.. I am now a graduate.. (First Class BA Hons Photography)
Over on Katie's blog, she posted details of her feedback for her final major porject, and I thought this was a kind of interesting idea..
It seems to be a long-running joke that the feedback for your FMP never meets your excpectations - in a way, after three years of study, how could any feedback/advice/criticism ever live up to what you feel you really need.. however, the feedback seems to usually fall several miles short of this..

Anyway... I agree with some of the points made in my feedback, and I disagree with some... We usually keep these things so wrapped up and I guess I just wanted to share the ridiculousness of this feedback, and the ridiculousness of that little bit of paper that you get out of your three years of intense study.
It certainly makes you think.

So, this was my feedback (the project they're talking about is 'tender')

A well considered and researched photographic series exploring death and mortality. Your research is very strong and this work can be developed further.

Although your technique is good and the subject is well performed we felt that the presentation and crop undermined what would have been an even stronger presentation. The glossy images framed would work better mounted on diasec or printed on satin and mounted simply on alluminium emphasising the dark void which frames the snarling badger. There was a general feeling that the buried fox is not the strongest images and is very different. The crop of the self portraits was too close in. What were powerful self portraits lose impact.

You have produced a powerful set of photographs, now you need to listen to advice and reconsider your wall presentation. Well done for a tender and poingnant set of photographs.

No espere más / Wait no more ~ 9-18th July

2010-07-06T11:30:00.006+01:00

It's been a while hasn't it...
I have a list on my wall of things to blog...

First up, I'm showing my series 'tender' as part of a mixed media show No espere más / Wait no more ~ 9-18th July

It is ofcourse really cool to have a show so quickly after my graduation, it will be a really good experience, and maybe something good will come from it

So, I would love to see you at the preview on Friday 9th July from 6pm

Pop-up Gallery. 4 Cheshire Street (just off Brick Lane). London, E2 6EH

2010-06-18T00:38:00.006+01:00

'tender' featured on Don't Panic's roundup of the Photography graduate work

While I'm reflecting on the show... Major credit goes out to Peter Haynes and Ruth George who really were the driving force behind Objectif Show - they did an incredible job.
Pete's new series 'An Index to Photography' is really cool, images Pete has found in old photography catalogues.

Objectif Show

2010-06-16T16:57:00.004+01:00

Objectif Show has been and gone now.
It was a brilliant complete and utter sucess.
I'm really chuffed with how it turned out, the response has been amazing.
Ofcourse there were highs and lows, ofcourse i managed to basically not take a single photograph the night of the private view... Ofcourse one of my prints got dripped on and damaged... but whatever, it was awesome.

In the last few images you can see me with three images on the wall from 'tender', I also had the 5 completing images from tender in a portfolio box. I also had one large 47x60" print from Vanitas. It was have a kind of connection between these two projects, as they are very much brother and sister work.

Busy Busy

2010-06-16T16:07:00.013+01:00

Since my last large format workshop with the students from NID, we've had another great day playing with 5x4 and 10x8, this time at Fiona's house.
Fiona was kind enough to house us, feed us and provide us with film and development/printing for the day.
It was a great day.

I. 10x8" contact prints by Shine Bhola (a portrait of me, taken on our workshop)
II. Nik & Pete at the Photographers gallery. Nik and Pete were part of the team that put the Self Publish Be Happy weekend together, and now that i've forgotten how swealtering hot it was in the gallery, then it was a damn good event!
III. Image from Erik Kessels 'In Almost Every Picture # 8' - Kessels placed something on his pet rabbits head and took a photograph everyday, this image was taken after the rabbit sadly passed away, Kessels promises that it was not due to the stress of having objects placed on the animals head repeatedly.
IV. I purchased Mårten Lange's book 'Crows', Esther Teichmann's 'Drinking Air' and Ricardo Cases 'The Frozen Wolf Hunt'... Grant Willing's 'Svart Metal' book looked stunning also.
A rather hideous picture of Christina, Myself and Katie can be found halfway down the page on the SPBH blog HERE, enjoy!!
V. Anna Fox organised a day out for the NID student. Firstly, a car boot sale... I purchased two cibachrome prints of greyhounds for 50p, they need a bit of restoration, but other than thet they are stunning! The seller told me that they were once in an exhibition organised by the Observer, but couldn't tell me any more. I've been trying to find who the photographer was, but no luck. I might post the images on here soon, ask for any ideas.
VI. After a quick dash to sainsbury's for supplies
VII. Picnic & Pimms

Busy Week

2010-05-29T21:55:00.014+01:00

My work is on the wall, it's been marked, just got to wait now..

I ended up calling the piece 'tender'
Right now its been too soon, and I still don't know how I feel about the work.
My accompanying text was pretty simple, short and sweet, and a bit of a headache to write to be honest...

'tender' is a meditation upon life, death and our increasingly detatched relationship to nature.
It is an act of compassion.
By embracing the animal, I try to embrace the inevitability of death itself.

40x29" C-Type Handprint
37.5x29" C-Type Handprint
23.5x29" Silver Gelatin Handprint
5x 16x20" C-Type Handprint

Like, I said... I'm really not sure about anything in this piece right now.. the photographs themselves came so much from my essence, from some raw feeling, as supposed to any kind of thought process, that trying to think out and verbalise the piece in any way has been so impossible.. Maybe give me a month or two and I'll know what to say, or maybe I'll suddenly feel really happy about the work itself and the text.. but right now, no..

this is a really crappy installation shot. Will do a better one next week, and when it's in London too..
The 5x 16x20" prints are in the portfolio box on the table to the right. I'm yet to properly digitise these portfolio images (or the fox in the grave image), so they're not on my site yet.

The students from NID are here for their months exchange, Thursday and Friday I ran large format workshops. It's been an absolute pleasure working with them. On Monday we're going to be shooting with Ortho film at Fiona's house, and might try some alternative stuff like cyanotyping, should be fun.

My work along with 13 others has been uploaded onto the Source.ie website as part of their Graduate Photography showcase. I've had a quick look through the other work online and I'm really proud of the work coming from Farnham. Please judge for yourself though.. The work speaks for itself. Find Farnham's page HERE

Finally, two great Farnham photographers Nik Adam and Luke Norman were published in this months British Journal of Photography and their FMP work is currently in PRIME position on the wall opposite my own work in Farnham
Find them at www.elplusen.co.uk
Check it out
And that reminds me, I want to go round and take some installation shots of my favourite projects from Farnham, put them on here. The projects that really deserve to be seen, and trust me, there are amazing projects.

Stuff

2010-05-22T16:16:00.010+01:00

The weather is beautiful, my smaller prints are in sleeves in a box, my large prints are framed, in bubble rap in Uni, my wall is looking good, I'll put on another coat of paint on Monday... where has the time gone.
It seems only yesterday that I was excited about the prospect of coming to University, now it's so nearly finished... On Wednesday I'll be all done, handed in...

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Thom Bridge has just updated his site, it's all change, with new work 'stops', 'mothers tongue' and 'noise' now online, the new projects compliment his FMP work 'six small trees make a coppice' perfectly.
ThomBridge.com

Image by and © Thom Bridge, from 'Stops' (Göteborg, 2010. Analogue Silver Gelatin Print)

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Vanitas has been featued on a few more blogs recently, (though lets not think about the tumblr's showing my images of dead animals next to anorexic girls).
One blog that I have really appreciated showing one of my images is offffice on redmei.com
it's a really great blog, well worth a look.

Fox

2010-05-19T23:37:00.006+01:00

Re-blogged from James Gardiner - thanks James!

I've added a few images to brucebruce.co.uk
I've added one image to the 'New Work' page, and 5 images to my 'India' page. They are byno means part of an edit, I just wanted to put some images up.. and I'm really happy with those images (they look a world better as 20x24" handprints, but you'll have to take my word for that)

Fresh Faced and Wild Eyed 2010

2010-05-15T15:25:00.007+01:00

Anna Linderstam's 'Triptych: In Unheard Contradictions'

This is the work for which I assisted Anna last summer.
It is currently on display at the Photographers' Gallery as part of Fresh Faced and Wild Eyed (14th May - 6th June)
Sorry for the crappy snapshot, I took it on Thursday at the private opening, so I was trying to be discrete!
Anyway, it looks stunning. Go and see for yourself!

My good friend (and one of the six photographers from Farnham who I travelled to India with) Maria Kapajeva - work 'Call Me Early' is also on display and looks stunning!

Number 100

2010-05-15T14:31:00.006+01:00

My 100th post on this blog

And a bit of and off-topic post..
I just came back from the library.

This book is stunning.

The Painter's Pool by Jem Southam (Published by Nazraeli Press in 2006)
Jem is a favourite, he's one of those photographers who everyone you meet tells you what a nice guy he is. He gave a talk at Farnham in 2007, which was one of the most fascinating and inspiring talks i've ever had the pleasure of attending. Since then i've grown to enjoy his work more and more and I'm pretty certain he was subconsciously a big factor in my decision to buy a 10x8" camera. The other week I was lucky enough to meet him again briefly at Michael Dyer's while he was having some prints made, and I was dropping off film to be developed. I think he was a bit miffed at the speed I was shooting off boxes of 10x8 (and to tell you the truth, I'm still a bit miffed about that, not to mention the gargantuan hole in my wallet) but he expressed an interest in my work, which was... well, you can imagine how I felt about that.
One of his other books is titled 'Shape of Time', which points to the slow, contemplative way that Southam works; making series over years rather than days, weeks or months... capturing the subtle nuances and changes as time goes by (rocks falling, leaves changing, landscapes sculpted.. etc..)
The shape of time is also something to bear in mind when you view the Painters Pool book. I can always find it easily on the shelves of the library, it's bright red cloth cover stands out a mile. I look at it probably several times a year. Each time I notice something new or a new idea comes to my head. It refuses to be consumed all at once, the tiny little details. Many of the views in the book are repeated several times over the years that the work was made, though this can often be pretty challenging to notice, as the changes are pretty astounding, only a little hint like a recognisable notch of wood or some windy branches give you the visual clues, and the pages where there are two images on the same double-spread, where the date indicates that they were taken on the same day, often you can see an element of the scene in both images, so you can start to really visualise the space three-dimensionally. The whole premise of the book, the beautifully woven subtext to it all (which is what I especially love about his series The Pond at Upton Pyne - hearing the stories about this work from the man himself was something very memorable) is something very special, but i won't go into detail about that. The essay in the back, after you finally see one of the Painters Paintings is very nice.
Spend some time with this book...

Also, check out this article in the Guardian about one of Jem's photographs; Jem Southam's Best Shot

08/05/10

2010-05-08T22:19:00.006+01:00

I've added a 'Diary' page to brucebruce.co.uk.... Find it at www.brucebruce.co.uk/diary.html
What with the excitement of the new 7II and carrying around the S90 in my pocket everywhere I go, i've been taking a lot of photographs recently. Just wanted somewhere a little bit more designed, or maybe less designed, to show this stuff.

Also, had 3 prints for my FMP done. Photo of me standing in front of one of them taken by Katie.
I had them done at Michael Dyer's, and i'm really pleased with the results. With all three prints it was the first time I had seen them enlarged, i'd just seen the 10x8" contact prints, and in every case, the scale made such a big difference. In the image above the fox appears life-size in the print. Looking at these prints close-up, i'm reminded why i love 10x8... Just that little more detail to preserve all of the scenes uncanny ultra-reality.... or something like that..

Roberta Mataityte

2010-05-05T18:57:00.006+01:00

My good friend Roberta Mataityte has two images from her series '80 Hours' featured in this months Photoworks. Go to http://www.teaserama.co.uk/
A brilliant series..

p.s this issue is a cracker, along with Roberta we have Adam and Olly, Viviane Sassen and text by Jason Evans.

www.objectifshow.com

2010-05-01T16:47:00.004+01:00

www.objectifshow.com

Objectif Show is now online
Not all of the work is up, but the majority

You can also follow us on twitter: twitter.com/objectifshow

And find us on FreeRange: FreeRange_ObjectifShow

And on Fotofolios: Fotofolios 2010

And Pete is showing a great selection of the work on his FFFFOUND

Objectif
PHOTO Week 2
Private View: Thursday 10th June
Friday 11th June-Monday 14th June
UCA Farnham Photography
F Block. T1
The Old Truman Brewery
Brick Lane
London

Week in Photographs

2010-05-01T15:35:00.008+01:00

1. Assisting Katie with her project
2. Spotted this FreeRange banner up at The Graphic Centre (Covent Garden). Has the listings for all of the FreeRange shows - Objectif Show
PHOTO Week 2
Private View: Thursday 10th June
Friday 11th June-Monday 14th June
UCA Farnham Photography F Block T1
3. The view when you are just pulling in to Farnham station on the train, I like this view.
4. Two snails.
5. James has been assisting me again. Looking through my camera.
6. My Mamiya 6
7. My Mamiya 7II - well, I bought the Mamiya 6 in my first year at Uni, they're such rare cameras, infact I've heard that only 2000 6's were ever made, the small size, weight, built-in meter and collapsable lens were big inscentives. Not to mention this is the camera that Ken Rockwell called the perfect camera.. I think I used this camera exculively for about a year after I bought it. For quite a while I've been fed up of the 6x6 format, and so i've been quietly looking about for a Mamiya 7, anyway, the time came and I was offered a good price for my 6 - so I exchanged it for a mint boxed Mamiya 7II with the standerd lens - very pleased.
8. FOTO8 is a fantastic publication and organisation. I visited their gallery (HOST) last week to see the Jane Hilton exhibition (stunning colour hand prints and amazingly detailed images, really enjoyed it). My good friend (and housemate) Christina Panayi is working with them right now. But anyway, while I was working with Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin I spent quite a while scanning and editing images for print in an interview that now appears with the new issue of FOTO8 (Crossfire) - it's a brilliant interview, one of the best i've ever read with them. Check it out.
9. Also stopped off at the NPG. Found this image of Tim Berners-Lee (the guy who invented the internet!) on their database - it's by Adam and Olly, I spent a while getting a good scan of this image for print in another magazine.
10. I bumped into Roberta at Waterloo, which was lucky, had a good chat and catch-up on the way home. At one point the train stopped and outside the window there was a beautiful little lake, there was something special about seeing this precious view at a pace that is anything less than fleeting, just as I clicked the shutter another train sped past and blocked my view.
11. The sign on the door of Katie's darkroom space
12. I love the Farnham darkrooms, and I especially love the people that frequent them. Stephen Cuss (who can be seen in this image) is working on what will no doubt be an incredible series, the 6x7 contacts he's been printing are looking incredible - credit to him just for lugging a RZ67 around Africa!
13. James' screwed up film.
14. Katie also got herself a new 6x7 rangefinder this week. It's a Fuji GW670III, and it's mint and boxed (only ever had 18 rolls put though it!). It's considerably larger than the Mamiya7II, but is a lovely camera to hold, and inspires you with it's sold feeling. The telescopic lens hood and built-in spirit level are nice features, the ergonomics of the aperture and shutter dials on the lens are perfect. I can't wait to see what images Katie starts making with it.
15. Lastly, a sneak peak of my new work. Will be having prints made next week. A massive thankyou to Anna Linderstam who was a real help yesterday. All of a sudden I'm feeling good about this work, it feels fresh.

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Simple Things

2010-04-24T20:19:00.006+01:00

Skype has the interesting feautre of letting you see the screen on whoever you are skyping with, while they simultaneously see yours. Of course inevitably you end up maximising the window with your skyping friends screen in, while they maximise the window with your screen in - so you get this infinity effect, you looking at their screen which is your screen which is their screen which is your screen etc etc... Simple things!

I'm the kind of person who considers almost everything a bit of a sociological experiment, so I was most intruiged when a Spanish man posted these comments on two of my images of dead animals on flickr (had to use one of those crude online translators, so sorry about the grammer!)

"It's horrible is not a dead animal 'still life' which is another thing"
"it is disgusting and a one more picture of those to be deleted from the memory card unusable"

It's strange that he picks up on the 'still life' element, and takes offence. I very much intentionally took on the literal French translation of 'still life' - 'nature morte' (dead nature) as a play on words, and play on the idea of the classic Baroque 'memento mori' still life.
It rarely occurs to me that anyone would really find my images offensive, shocking maybe yes, but offensive no... this is life.
This does remind me of why I joined flickr though...

brain not working

2010-04-22T00:20:00.010+01:00

Printers booked, studio booked, lights booked...
Portfolio images nearly all printed.
Too much to do and too little time.

I went to Stephen Bull's 'Seven photographs in seven days' talk at the photographers gallery yesterday. Brilliant talk, reminded me how much I love the world of imagery, in all it's confusing shapes and sizes. Stephen is ofcourse the new (well, not so new now) BA photography course leader in Farnham, Anna now solely running the MA.

This is very late, but I just wanted to mention the photographer's in the current New Nordic photography prize. It's a great prize and the photographers are always ones to watch.
In the MA selection: Stine Ofelia Kildevang, David Molander, Jóna Berglind Hlynnsdottir and Lovisa Ringborg.
In the BA selection: Simon Berg, Nora Bencivenni, Thom Bridge, Agnes Thor, Nelli Palomäki, Ida Andersson and Frida Klingberg.
Thom is a Farnham photography graduate, current Farnham artist in residence, an exceptionally talented photographer, and a good friend. Thom will be updating his website www.thombridge.com soon, with lots of new work, no doubt I'll post another link when he does, keep your eyes peeled!
Thom is also one of four UK and four Argentine photographers to be part of The British Council's 'Sporting Nations' photography project in Argentina. Another Farnham graduate Chris Linaker is also one of the four UK photographers to be selected.

On the New Nordic theme, Anna Linderstam has been taken on by a gallery in Stockholm (Christian Larsen) and has been having her first solo show - i wish I could see this.
The number of people who find themselves on my site/blog/flickr through searching for Anna is pretty incredible - sorry for finding me instead!

'insomnie'

2010-04-12T20:01:00.011+01:00

I recently took 'Insomnie' (as well as 'The Toilet Scene' and 'Miscellaneous') off my site.
Insomnie was made in during 1 week in France and Germany in January 2008.

Insomnie

fox

2010-04-11T21:42:00.003+01:00

Easter Joy

2010-04-10T20:09:00.013+01:00

Robin

2010-04-03T16:26:00.005+01:00

Yesterday I got a text from Helen, she told me she'd seen a robin on her way to work. After getting instructions on finding the poor thing, Katie and myself set off. It was raining heavily, and by the time we found it, it was drenched and it's feathers were full of mud and grit from the splashing rain and cars driving by. Other than the dirt, there were no visible signs of injury. It was beautiful, such an elegant animal. A very sad sight.
We took the poor robin home, and I gently wiped away the dirt from it's feathers and we dried it (admittedly now so dignified- we used a hairdryer very gently -it did the job though) slowly the bright red of its chest became more and more red and you could start to see all of the intricate tones to it's feathers, the browns, blues and greens... Please don't judge me, but it was a beautiful experience, bitter-sweet with feelings of sadness and awe. So tender, caring for such a beautiful animal, showing compassion and respect to the poor thing.

Taxidermist

2010-04-03T15:43:00.008+01:00

This Thursday I got the chance to meet Kim McDonald, a lovely chap - taxidermist and expert on the legal side of animal mounting...
There's an interview with him here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/may/24/workandcareers

Was fascinating seeing his workshop. Kim is obviously very passionate and very good at what he does.
Thanks very much to Kim for everything, and thanks to Samuel Bradley who introduced me to him.

Indian Reflections

2010-04-03T15:08:00.006+01:00

In January 2010 I travelled to India with a large 10x8" view camera. I worked slowly and meticulously, searching out stillness and beauty in a landscape that is so chaotic and crowded. The result is a body of work that exudes a classic tranquility and romantic spirit that fits the tradition of the Western explorer, but also captures as honesty and appreciation for the reality of the moment.

..............................................

Applying to galleries has forced me to try and philosophise what I made in India quicker than I would normally like to... the above text is what I've got so far...

This body of work is so far from being resolved, sadly it's had to take back-seat, and I still have 8 negatives to develop - I haven't even seen all of my images!

For me I saw it as a chance to make a cathartic departure from Vanitas, which was so constructed, such a staged 'holy' moment and not to mention emotionally draining - in India I just wanted to document. To look, and enjoy the act of looking, to be a flâneur... However I really don't think things turned out that way - I was uncomfortable with my Western gaze - I was uncomfortable being the voyeur (even if the locals were just as much of a voyeur of me) - I sought quiet moments of tranquil silence and tried to find some form of uncultured nature - my images are full of wildlife - in this sense I see the project as a new chapter of Vanitas, and Adam Broomberg was quick to notice this relationship between them...

2010-03-31T22:25:00.010+01:00

I'd love to see a typology of fogged paper..

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