Don McCullin video clip

I knew that I could find a video clip of Don McCullin on youtube! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WChKloSEGto

Liz Lock & Mishka Henner

Image copyright Liz Lock & Mishka Henner

I first came across Manchester based photographers, Liz Lock & Mishka Henner's work, in the book "Our House". On their website they have a stunning set of pictures from China entitled "Metamorphosis" and closer to home a look at Hattersley in the series "Hinterland". To see more of their work go to: www.common-eye.com

Quotes

I am sometimes accused by my peers of printing my pictures too dark. All I can say is that it goes with the mood of melancholy that is induced by witnessing at close quarters such intractable situations of conflict and joylessness. -Don McCullin.

Don McCullin

Image copyright Don McCullin

Don McCullin has been given an award by The Royal Photographic Society http://www.rps.org/ well done, I should bloody well think so! Although he has a C.B.E I have never understood why he has never received a Knighthood. He has covered nearly every war since Korea and even now at the age of 72 is still working.



He is one of the reasons I switched from wanting to be a painter to wanting to be a photographer. He was one of the first photographers whose work I really looked at and whose work I really wanted to know about. I read his autobiography over and over again, it was like my Bible for a couple of years. I remember My camera was an Olympus, and swapping it for a Nikon when I found out that was what the great man used, and of course the story of how it stopped a bullet when he was photographing in Vietnam.



To read more about this legend go here: http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.horvatland.com/images/entrevues/mccullin-02.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.horvatland.com/pages/entrevues/06-mccullin-en_en.htm&h=450&w=312&sz=42&tbnid=xmOfmkQ8t3GptM:&tbnh=127&tbnw=88&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddon%2Bmccullin%26um%3D1&start=2&sa=X&oi=images&ct=image&cd=2

Satanic Apartments!

Image copyright Mark Page


And so to finish domestic week it's back to Manchester. Royal Mill at Ancoats is for me your archetypal "Satanic" mill. It has of course been converted into flats, or perhaps "Lofts" and I'm sure that inside they are very cool, but for me it still bares a remarkable resemblance to "Strangeways"!

Julio Bittencourt

Image copyright Julio Bittencourt


OK, so we may as well make this "Domestic week" here at Manchester photography. Today I give you the winner of this years Leica Oskar Barnack Award Julio Bittencourt. Hailing from Brazil, the 26 year old made portraits of the residents of a Squatted apartment block in Sao Paulo.

"The residents of 911 Prestes Maia Avenue, a twenty-two-story ramshackle apartment tower located in the center of sprawling São Paulo, Brazil, were surprised to learn in March 2006 that they were to be evicted within twenty-eight days. After all, the building had loomed conspicuously empty for over a decade, neglected by its tax-delinquent landlord; in 2003, a coalition of housing activists calling themselves Movement of the Homeless from Downtown had organized hundreds of homeless families who moved into the capacious tower. After the new residents successfully drove out the vermin and the drug dealers, and cleaned up the place, the building became home for 1,630 people, including some 468 families with 315 children. Prestes Maia was more than likely the largest squat in South America, complete with a library and a site for workshops and other educational activities. As of May 2007, only a quarter of the original residents are still living in Prestes Maia, most having moved to public housing complexes far from downtown. For those who remain, the future is uncertain" Read more here: http://www.aperture.org/store/pr-0701.aspx



And see more of his work here: http://www.juliobittencourt.com/

Back to sunny Manchester on the morrow!

Bert Teunissen

Image copyright Bert Teunissen


Bert Teunissen's work fits beautifully into the domestic theme. His stunning photographs taken over a decade, record mainly domestic interiors from around Europe and also Japan. A modern Dutch master of the interior? http://www.bertteunissen.com/



Photographing the Light in Places That May Soon Be Lost
By KATHRYN SHATTUCK
But for the occasional modern accoutrement — a microwave in Belgium, a row of 2005 calendars in Spain — Bert Teunissen’s photographs of Europeans at home could have been captured in the remote corners of the continent a century or two ago. Weathered faces gaze out from surroundings patina ed through generations of use. Fireplaces the size of caves radiate heat across stone-slab floors. Hams and sausages age on hooks dangling from massive wooden beams. A dog wiles away a lazy lifetime at its owner’s feet. Read more below.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/05/arts/design/05dome.html?ei=5088&en=aa14109bc8f1b23d&ex=1333425600&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

Colin Pantall

Image copyright Colin Pantall

Staying with the theme of domesticity, I recently stumbled across the work of Colin Pantall http://www.colinpantall.com/ on an American photography blog http://www.alecsoth.com/

UK at Home

Image copyright Mark Page


As I mentioned in my last post I was very keen to get involved with http://www.ukathome.co.uk/ and submitted the above image. It was also an opportunity to swat up on my panorama and stitching skills. (The above image is over two metres long!) I am due to photograph from Ian Simpsons flat at the top of Beetham Tower next week and envisage using panoramas to get in as much Manchester skyline as possible. I'll show you the results here in the next couple of weeks.

postless

Image copyright Mark Page


Am not going to be posting for a couple of days as I really want to get involved with http://www.ukathome.co.uk/ So once I've got some shots done I'll be back!

Boogie

I am always a little bit torn when it comes to the work of Boogie. It can't be denied that the blokes got balls. A photographer, from Brooklyn. However he never shows his subjects in a bad light, in fact he strives to make them look as cool as possible, so why would he have anything to fear from them? Nike have even used his images in ad campaigns. And this is where I have problems with his work. The people that he is making look Cool are exactly the people who he should be showing for what they are, Twats. Gang bangers with guns & Nazi skinheads. Don't lionise these dicks..... The above image is called "It's all good" you decide. http://www.artcoup.com/

The kebab eaters

Along the same theme as yesterdays post.........

Exploitation or reporting?

Image copyright Mark Page


I have been debating with myself as to whether taking pictures like the one above is right. I took it a while ago, and to be honest I was on the look out for something like this to photograph for a while, to be included in a larger body of work. I only had to wait a week or so as it's a fairly common sight here in central Manchester. Since taking the picture my conscience has been pricked and I have thought about whether I should show it. In my defence it is one image from a series, so on it's own it is out of context. I also told the police about the lad and didn't just leave him. My conclusion is that people lying about in the Street is wrong. I don't know why but it just seems wrong. We as a country have a problem with drink and 12 months after twenty four hour drinking, sorry licencing, things haven't got any better. In fact they are worse, which is partly why I am sat up at bloody 3.36 am on a fucking Tuesday morning. Due to drunken renditions of "Daddy wants me to go to rehab" oh the irony!

If photographers are OK to take pictures of Iraqi women and children who are getting the fuck blown out of them though no fault of their own. Then I guess I'm OK to take pictures of drunk dicks on my home patch...

New at work toy!

Those lovely people at Google have just released this, it's pretty interesting. You can watch as people upload pictures to blogger in real time. I have spent far to long trying to catch my pictures as they are uploaded. This of course is the equivalent of trying to look at the back of your head. Sorry have you never tried that ? http://play.blogger.com/

800

Image copyright Helen Palmer


Second post with a connection to Liverpool in as many days, so back down the East Lancs. 800, not another dodgy CGI film oh no, 800 is a project put together by a photographic collective called popcultured. http://www.popcultured.co.uk/ It is 800 portraits of the good people of Liverpool to mark the city's 800th anniversary. Originally shown at Albert Dock it was so popular that it is to go back on show at St Johns shopping centre. more details at the above website. Community arts projects like this are normally a lovely idea that turn out crap photography, but in this case the portraits are truly fantastic!

Rachel Daws

I quite like Rachel's pictures, to see more go to http://www.capturedlight.org.uk/photographer.php?photographerID=17 she is soon to be moving to the North-West, Liverpool to be exact.

Proper pubs!

Image copyright Mark Page


Why is it getting easier to find a fucking tapas bar than a traditional Manchester pub?

Andrew Brooks

Image copyright Andrew Brooks


"Photography has more in common with poetry than with painting". So said the influential American art critic Clement Greenberg. With the work of Andrew Brooks I'm not so sure. I wrestled with whether to include his work on this blog, as it doesn't fall into one of the photographic genres I wanted to look at in these pages, IE Documentary/photojournalism. And besides it opens up that whole digitally manipulated photography "can of worms". Is what Andrew does, photography? I for one am not sure, so lets not debate it here, you can do that in the comfort of the pub over the weekend! What no-one can debate though, is the sheer mastery of what Andrew achieves. Perhaps it's not photography, perhaps it's illustration, who cares, whatever it is, nobody does it better than Andrew Brooks. http://www.andrewbrooksphotography.com/

Rachel Marsden

Image copyright Rachel Marsden


Calling for submissions for this blog has been a bit of an eye opener. I knew that there would be many, many Documentary & fine art photographers along with photojournalists here in the North-West. What I didn't know was that the North-West stretched as far as London! And that holiday snaps on myspace nowadays counts as a portfolio! A little closer to home and a LOT closer to the kind of work I am interested in showcasing, is the intriguing Work Of Rachel Marsden, based in North- Staffs. Yes I know that's not technically the North-West, but good works good work. I even changed to a more suitable typeface in honor. http://www.rachelmarsden.co.uk/

Paolo Pellegrin

Guantanamo by Paolo Pellegrin http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essays/guantanamo.aspx

Art car parade

Down at Cathedral Gardens outside Urbis, last Saturday http://www.artcarparade.co.uk/ was a good crack. I even spotted Paul Herrmann from Redeye clicking away!

Pablo Nieto

Image copyright Pablo Nieto


I always intended Manchester photography blog to reach further than just Manchester, and already it's being read in Argentina, Texas, Italy and now Huddersfield! Which is where Pablo Nieto is studying. Not a usual Yorkshire name granted, but looking at Pablo's website he certainly appears to be well travelled.http://www.the-corner-stone.com/eportfolio.html pay special attention to the sections "Connected lakes project, Kenya" and "Mencap, Castle Hall, Huddersfield" which for me work best. Both projects are handled with a wonderful, gentle touch.

Broken Army?

Image copyright Stuart Griffiths


Is something that much of the media seem to be asking this week. Indeed "Broken Army" was the title of a debate on last nights News Night. Have the British people lost respect for the army? Is the army overstretched? Do we ask too much of them and then treat them badly when they need our support? In keeping with my theory that you will always get the best pictures from photographers who really know their subject from personal experience, I give you Stuart Griffiths, And he was brought up in Manchester to boot! http://society.guardian.co.uk/gall/0,9730,1475566,00.html

A Tale of Two Cities

Images copyright Mark Page

As The Manchester Evening News reported today http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1015/1015651_report_shows_state_of_city.html

At last the council has woken up to something that most people knew. There is a massive divide in this city between them, with and them without. What I can't understand is that it took a report to show sir Richard Leese this. Surely just a set of working eyes would have done that?

David Dunnico

Image copyright of David Dunnico


Take a look at the work of David Dunnico. David is a Manchester based photographer who is soon to be having his first solo show in Salford. Although I can see from his CV that he has already been published widely. His show entitled Memento Mori can be seen at Salford Museum & Art Gallery between 20th October 2007 & 13th January 2008. See that work and more of the above CCTV work at http://www.dunni.co.uk/

Redeye

Much as I respect REDEYE, and have in the past found it a very useful resource. For introducing me to the wonderful work of John Darwell alone, (http://www.johndarwell.com/) I shall always be grateful. However I think that one of it's problems is that it tries to be all things to all photographers. A visit to the forum seems to just be various people asking for advice on where to get canvases printed. Now I know that practical advice is always needed but it would be good to have somewhere photographers could go to, to discuss farty things sometimes, and a place to see the best new photography that Manchester has to offer. So if you want to see your work showcased here please send as attachments to info@manchesterphotography.com Also lets chat about things like, why Manchester, which apparently has the largest concentration of photographers outside of London, has no dedicated photo gallery. We have jazz festivals, literary festivals, Christmas festivals, festival festivals, big fucking German sausage festivals, but no photography festivals........ Please Discuss.

Name change,

I thought it would make sense to rename the blog in keeping with the website. so from this day forth Mark's blog shall now be known as Manchester Photography. I thank you..................

Gary Winogrand

Gary Winogrand

I thought after my last post that some people may be interested in this piece about Gary Winogrand. http://www.ocgarzaphotography.com/documents/ClassTimewithGarryWinograndfinal2.pdf

Diana's legacy.

I tried to stay off the subject of Diana, but like the tabloids I thought I would exploit the ten year anniversary. One of the legacy's of her death I believe, is the public perception of photographers. I have often pondered when this change took place, and I believe that one of those shifts came in the tunnel in Paris. If anyone reading this has ever tried taking photographs of people in the street or in fact any kind of "street photography" then you will know just how suspicious people are of photographers and their motives.

I don't think it has always been like this, even in my ten years or so of taking pictures I have felt this change. But there was a time when it wasn't like this. Think back to the sixties, in this country people thought photographers were cool, David Bailey was like a rock star. For me the hay day of street photography was America in the 70's I wonder if Gary Winogrand, the godfather of street photography met with such resistance? The way that those photographers were blamed for Diana's death, (and believe me, I think that "paps" are at the bottom of the photographic gene pool) has helped to add to the public conscience, a pretty negative view of photographers in general.