Spot Sodley-on-Sea.

Remembrance Sunday Sodley-on-Sea

Sodley-on-Sea Is Showing As Part Of This...........

Sodley-on-Sea has taken on a life of it's own. It's moved on from just being some daft c**t sticking bits of paper together in the back room of a semi in Salford, to being an Arts Council funded project. Funny how things happen.

So not only did it receive funding it's also going to be shown as part of Enlighten Manchester - Festival of Light and Sound Art 2015  at Central Library Manchester this coming December.

If you click on the link it tells you when and how you can book. Although it's free you still need to book. You can also book onto a couple of workshops that I'm doing starting this Saturday (14/11/15) They are not free. 

Penny For The Guy, Sodley-on-Sea.

Sodley-on-Sea Gets Grant For The Arts award.

 Sodley-on-Sea gets a grant from the Arts Council. It's to fund the production of  light boxes, exhibitions and run workshops based around Sodley. Further details to follow. Big thanks to Andy Brydon from CURATED PLACE for all his help and advice.

Group Show 46 F*CKED UP.

 

 Sodley-on-Sea pictures featured in HUMBLE ARTS FOUNDATION, GROUP SHOW F*cked Up. It's the picture Beauty Spot Above Sodley-on-Sea, HERE

Ten Grand Wedding At Sodley Hall.

Ponies On The Council Estate Sodley-on-Sea.

Anti-Social Behaviour On The Mount Pleasant Estate Sodley-on-Sea 2015

Like many towns in Britain Sodley-on-Sea has a housing estate called Mount Pleasant.

At The Beach Sodley-on-Sea.

 

Sodley beach. I like to think of this picture as the bastard love child of Martin Parr's beach photo's and the traditional Bamforth dirty postcard...

Untitled Sodley-on-Sea.

It was a lovely clear morning....

Beauty Spot Near Sodley-on-Sea 2015

The doggers are going to be well pissed off but at least they will have somewhere to sit.

Beauty Spot Above Sodley-on-Sea 2015

 

That fucker from behind the shops is at it again.

Summer Fete Sodley-on-Sea

The Sodley summer fete annual 'Vegetables that look like a cock prize' is attracting more visitors each year and Sodley Council are happy to encourage it.

Ukippers, Sodley-on-Sea May 2015

Unsurprisingly enough Sodley-on-Sea had been a UKIP target for a number of years.....

Stabbing At The Kebab Shop 2015

You may notice it's the chap from my first picture of Sodley-on-Sea. It's all very sad. HERE . You may also notice that the Kebab shop is next to the White Lion pub HERE once I get a map made it will help getting your bearings.

Come On Salford Let's Vote Bez!

Snack Van Along The B1234 Near Sodley-on-Sea 2015

 

Can you see the sea yet?

Seaview Residential Care Home, Sodley-on-Sea 2015

Fuck Dragon's Den.

 

Good ideas don't need a telly programme. If I had one musical bone in my body I would upload it HERE and get me a single and you can too Pop Pickers. Pop pickers, that wasn't one of uncle Jimmy's sayings was it? Can you still say Pop Pickers?

I reckon this idea could be as big for muso's as blurb is for photographers. And of course it's come from here in Manchester. If self publishing has been the big news over the last few years then go HERE to the new kid on the block and self record deal.

Hens, Sodley-on-Sea 2015

The girls from HERE are out and about in Sodley enjoying the sun. I don't think it will be the last we see of them.....

Behind The Shops, Sodley-on-Sea 2015

 

Even a town as idyllic as Sodley has it's dodgy bits.

The Manchester Mafia presents.......

The Manchester Mafia are once again bringing us The Manchester International Festival! Reuniting chums Hans Ulrich Obrist, Maxine Peake, Bjork, legendary Mancunian Damon Albarn, Peter Saville (no relation to Jimmy) and the oldest swinger in town Dave Haslem. All together again for another money spinning year.

Ed Watts Does William Eggleston.

It's about time Manchester Photography did a post about a Manchester photographer. It's Ed Watts I'm referring to. I'm sure a lot of you know him. He's been organising photo related stuff at The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester and further afield with gems such as The Alternative Camera Club, Roast Beef and such like for ages.
Here though I'm interested in what he's been up to with his own photography. The above picture, that even the most photographically illiterate provincial council art gallery curator should spot is William Eggleston's 1973 piccy Greenwood Mississippi.
Watts, and I'm going to call him that rather than Ed so that I sound more impartial and professional, has been thinking about this photo for years. I can testify that he has wanted to recreate that space for donkey's. Well thanks to the folk at this years FORMAT Festival he's going to build that ceiling as a life size installation/sculpture and invite others to photograph this iconic scene. I wonder if that room was ever photographed by anyone else? It's so famous a ceiling but it's the only photo I know of the place which is unusual because as we all know photographers love to photograph the same thing over and over again. Just look at that canal/river in Hackney, I'm sick of the fucking sight of it.
Anyway Ed, I mean Watts is going to give all of us photographers the chance to photograph that red ceiling again and again and again and we can flood the internet with shit loads of versions of it so when we next type in Greenwood, Mississippi 1973 we will get the same but different.
As I said in the last post too many photographers call themselves photo artists without doing anything more than point and shoot. Watts is screwing that notion up with this piece.

Greg Stimac

 

Every now and then I get sent a link to a photographers work. Mostly I love it when that happens and I'm always a little bit flattered, but what do you do when your not that keen on their stuff? What is the correct internet protocol?

 I do one of two things. Pick the picture I like most from their website and post a link to said website and that's your lot or I do nothing and delete the email.

Now this might make me seem like a bit of a cunt but at least I don't make up a bollocks submission policy make you jump through hoops, say I'll get back to you in a few months and then fuck you off anyway.

 

None of those problems though with Greg Stimac Greg just sent me a link through to his website. No explanation no artist statement or project statement (in 100 words or less) just a link. And I'm so glad he did. I've been aware of his work for a while and I already had a link to his website in my links list so fuck knows why I've not posted about him before. Sometimes you think you've done something and you haven't like feeding the cat or posting about a really interesting artist like Greg.

 

 

Greg is that rarest and most interesting of photographic artists one that uses other things in his work as well as photos. Take for instance the above 3D work. No info on the website about this other than the materials it's made out of, the boots are real (size 12) and they contain asphalt and truck bed liner. Get on the road Jack.
 

There's a lot of the American road trip references in Greg's work. It's a big American thing isn't it the road trip? The pull of the open road especially for American photographers. It is for them what the seaside is for English photographers and what pissed mentally ill people are for Eastern European photographers.
 It's not a celebration of all things American with Greg's photos though. There's a cynicism running through his work that I love all the more because it's so hard to normally find in American photography. Even when American photographers are showing the under belly of the country I always seem to be left with a sickly feeling in my mouth like I've eat to much of that maple syrup shit they love. It's a kind of romanticism especially for the landscape that they just can't seem to resist.
Greg resists and represents The Great American Road Trip with bottles of piss. Brilliant. I hope America gets his work, if not he should move here to the UK because we'll love it.

www.gregstimac.com

Hen Weekend, Sodley-on-Sea 2015

My latest diorama. I think Sodley is the kind of town that would attract hen do's. When I was rummaging about on the internet I found this B&B and thought it looked fantastic. It's in Blackpool and gets really good reviews so it became the inspiration for my B&B. Although I think my B&B  Cluney View  would get less fantastic reviews.

 
All source material courtesy of Google images and of course the good folk who uploaded photos to the internet.

 

Foam Talent 2015 Opportunities For Photographers Six Feet And Over.

 
There's not really a height restriction because that would be stupid. Just an age restriction. http://www.foam.org/foam-magazine/talent

Your Chance To Show In London And Be Really Really Famous.

A new exhibition opportunity in London town. Only £6 to submit which I don't think is bad. http://www.newstudio.org.uk/new-page-1/

As an antidote to a weekend of Match of the Day and the shirts..

http://youtu.be/LctPleLOgqk?list=PLQ2ZVW2TA2rgFAwmFcQ84Rxi0y_OpJ01I

Jerwood/Photoworks Awards 2015

 I'm sure there used to be another photo prize with Jerwood in the title? Anyway this Jerwood prize has announced this years winners and they are, Joanna Piotrowska, Tereza Zelenkova and Matthew Finn who's picture is shown below because his series Mother is to a simple soul like me, the most accessible.

More details about the prize and winners HERE.

It's Competition Time !

This just in from Manchester Uni....

The Sustainable Consumption Institute (SCI)

 

PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION 2015

  Call for Entries

  The Sustainable Consumption Institute (SCI) Photography Competition 2015 is a juried competition that invites submissions from students, academics and members of the general public. Entrants are asked to submit (a maximum of three) images that depicts the social organisation of ordinary and habitual everyday practices in which consumption takes place and how they relate to  changing infrastructures, policy and power.

 

All shortlisted entrants will have their work mounted and displayed in the offices of the Sustainable Consumption Institute. Both the winner and runners-up will receive a cash prize (1^st prize £100; 2^nd prize £50, 3^rd prize £50 plus 2 x runner ups @ £25 each) and also feature on the SCI website.

 

The competition begins on the 1^st February and closes for entries 1^st April 2015

 

To upload your image(s) please click on the link below:

 

https://www.flickr.com/groups/sci_photo_competition_2014/

 

 

Please find attached a flyer giving more details of the competition which can be printed and placed on noticeboards within your area.

 

 

 

Susan Hogan| Institute Manager | Sustainable Consumption Institute | School of Social Sciences   |  Faculty of Humanities  |  188 Waterloo Place, Oxford Road|  The University of Manchester, UK M13 9PL  |  Tel : (0044) (0) 161 275 4030

 

For the latest news on SCI activities visit our website at http://www.sci.manchester.ac.uk

Sometimes I Bloody Despair Of Photographers.....

 

You may have seen this story and image floating around social media. It's a tale of a painter who's used a photo he's seen as the starting point for a painting he's made. Photographer finds out gets pissed off and thinks "nice one I can make a quid I'll sue the fucker"  it goes to court. It's a bit like the Richard Prince type thing only this time the photographer wins. Art world is a bit miffed, freedom of artistic expression they cry, conservative photo world declares victory for copyright and the status quo. Anyway you can read the tale and common sense comment HERE

Now you may be thinking that I'm having a go at the photographer Katrijn Van Giel well I'm not. It's a strong portrait that's been appropriated by a well known successful artist so I understand their reaction, although in this case I think both the photographer and the law are acting daft. If it was one of my pictures and a top artist like Luc Tuymans decided to use one of my photos I would not only be chuffed to death but I would also milk it like fuck. Still Van Giel is quids in.

It's not a good decision for art though and the reaction from a lot of folk in the photography world just shows their plain ignorance and lack of understanding when it comes to issues being raised by contemporary art. This worries me (as far as photography goes but not like global warming or the new bus lane on the East Lancs Road) because it's some of the movers and shakers of the photography world who think this is a victory. 

I copied the below post from someone on facebook. I've not said who it is so I hope they won't sue me over copyright.

"You can see from my photos that I brave the elements to make them-I am up in the middle of the night, or early morning- or outside in the very cold. They are my point of view- the way I see things - my work and the photographs are the end result, unless I want to do something else with them. I am always talking about how much I resent painters saying they want to paint my photograph. I think painters should find their own subject matter- and go out and take photos if they use photos as inspiration. I think, I can paint my own photograph, but other's should not. I get testy. Of course I have no control when I post them. The choice seems to be that my photographs get seen every few years in a gallery setting, and they are seen no where else, or I post them online, and obviously, I chose to post them. It is, to me, a question of morals, integrity and originality
http://hyperallergic.com/176138/luc-tuymans-convicted-of-plagiarism-for-painting-photo-of-politician/"

PS I just saw this! https://www.lensculture.com/articles/katerina-belkina-paint-a-series-of-photographic-self-portraits

Seafront, Sodley-on-Sea 2015

I thought it was time to have a bit of a look around Sodley and get a bit of fresh air. The picture is once again made using images from the internet that are then made into a diorama and photographed. My latest diorama from Sodley-on-Sea.

Fight Night!

I'm sure it's not going to turn into a fight I'm just rolling with the styling of the poster. Mishka should have got Hodgson to come up here to Manchester for it. They could have done it in the wetherspoons at Piccadilly.
Should be interesting though, I would give it a go if I was in London, and it was free.....

Hunter S Thompson Say's The Bigger Your Camera/Applemac/Software The Smaller Your Cock.

Or words to that effect......
http://petapixel.com/2015/01/19/hunter-s-thompson-problem-focusing-much-technicals-photography/

What, page three yer dirty bastard?

What people think you do when you say your a photographer. 

Louis Porter

I recently did a bit of pruning of the blog. I went through all the links and got rid of any dead ones. In all I removed over fifty links to photographers websites that no longer exist.
I also realised that I was a bit behind as far as adding new photographers to the list. I will rectify this starting today by adding London based photographer Louis Porter. The picture above is from his series Capsule. It's about that Great British Icon the old red phone box. Inside and out there's little clues about Blighty. Sex drugs, crime, religion and filth it's all here.

That's the work of one lazy arsed phone box painter above. A succinct comment in a photo. Lovely stuff.

Gabriel Orozco: "Mirror Crit"

Following on from the last post... This seems more useful than a shitty boring portfolio review, and I bet you could still make a quid out of them.

Portfolio Reviews Are Fucking Nonsense.

Save your money..

Unlike Most of The British Press It's Viz Who are really Je Suis Charlie.

http://viz.co.uk/curtains-al-qaida/

Stephen (C) Nuttall.

 

 

Stephen (C) Nuttall is a home grown satirist. This Manchester based illustrator has been taking folk to task using a pencil for donkey's years. He also makes pictures like the one below which is called Conway Line Painter. See more of his work HERE.

John Myers. I'm So Sorry.

I love John Myers pictures. I'm ashamed to say I only found out about them a couple of years ago via the Grayson Perry curated show Unpopular Culture. I'm not surprised I was late in finding his work. If you look at his exhibition CV it's a bit crap. I don't mean that in a nasty way it's just that he's not had that many shows either here or abroad. The ones he has had have mainly been around his home area of the Midlands. I doubt the London galleries give a shit about pictures of Stourbridge or anywhere else in Middle England, then or now except perhaps when Richard Billingham had his five minutes in the sun back in the 1990's when being pissed and poor in the province's became de rigueur. Not that there are many similarities between Myers pictures and Billingham's. Myers pictures are quiet, they have a hint of New Topographics about them, that show was in 1975. Many of Myers pictures predate them. The picture above of suburban houses pre-dates my Semi-Detached series by thirty plus years! He was lugging a big daft plate camera around the British Midlands long before the legions of beardy Sothists  fawning over Sleeping By The Mississippi in the college library were even thought of let alone born.
I'm not the only one to think he has for too long been overlooked and undervalued, here's what Francis Hodgson has to say on the matter. It's true if Myers had of been working in America I would not now be rushing to add his website to my links list before anyone notices it wasn't there. So sorry John.