Fraction Magazine

Found out today that my just finished "25 Potential Weapons Descending In Order of Desperation" http://www.manchesterphotography.com/gallery_174768.html series is to be featured as part of a group show on typologies, in the next issue of Fraction Magazine www.fractionmag.com out November 8th.

It's the first time that my work has been featured overseas (as far as I know) and I'm well pleased............

Tom Wood Interview.

Image copyright Tom Wood

Regulars will know the high esteem with which I hold Tom Wood, so imagine how chuffed I was when I found this interview!

JWD: But with “Photieman,” which is the nickname you were given over the years, that means people must have sort of accepted and liked the fact that you’re the man with the camera.

TW: Yeah, but that related to my own particular neighborhood in New Brighton. I’ve got to know many people and I’m pretty open about the whole thing and I live there amongst everyone else and I’d always give them copies of pictures. In the Chelsea Reach nightclub, drunk partygoers would say, “Hey take our picture,” and you would take it just to shut them up. And then I’d bring it back and give it back to them and they’d be made up. And then the next time I saw them I’d say “Hey, how you doing?” and after a while I could maybe photograph them freely without asking them. And some people would always resent me.

Carry on reading here: http://www.issuemagazine.com/i8artfeature.html

Back to Basics.

Image Mark Page

Thanks to Colin Pantall www.colinpantall.com

Funny as F##k Friday.

This is probably only going to be funny if you like/own a cat. I do so I found it funny. I give you "Simon's Cat"

Stefan Abrams

Image copyright Stefan Abrams

I love candid portraiture, and Stefan Abrams is a flipping master at it! www.stefanabrams.com

Nexus Cafe, busy busy busy.

I have to hand it to this lot they certainly are "pro-active". Out of all the Arts organisations, galleries etc in Manchester town this lot have to be one of the most hard working and inclusive lot there is. They always seem to to be calling out for submissions, open to all and following through with shows. Well done to you lot, less talk more action fair play! And this is the latest call from them:

"Nexus Art Cafe is a busy venue in Manchester City Centre. We are looking for artists to exhibit in the following exhibition:

"GIFT"
In a season of gift giving and receiving this exhibition offers the opportunity to pause in a culture dominated by consumption. Does you work celebrate or examine the idea of Gift and Gift Exchange? If so then please submit it for consideration. Any medium will be considered.

Deadline for submission is: 31st October

Exhibition dates: 1st December 08– 11th Jan 09
For further details contact: Ben Edson on 07951170511"

www.nexusonline.org.uk

Hanne Van Der Woude

Image copyright Hanne Van Der Woude

I really love Hanne Van Der Woude's striking portraits in her series

" Natural Red Heads" (English translation) http://www.hannevanderwoude.nl/index.html

Found over @ Lens Culture http://www.lensculture.com/van_der_woude.html?thisPic=100

Fuck Shares Buy Art!

Why not take a leaf out of Charles Saatchi's book and start your own Art collection?

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/ now there's a man who knows how to make a few quid. You could start this weekend at Urbis, as "The Buy Art Fair" rolls into town www.buyartfair.co.uk Over 40 galleries showing/selling the work of artists from all over Europe, prices apparently start from as little as £100. what else could you get for that? Well OK at the moment probably a British bank but under normal circumstances what could you get for that?

It promises to show work in various media including photography, and I know that Richard Heeps for one will have work there www.richardheeps.co.uk

Buy Art Fair this weekend @ Urbis, Cathedral Gardens Manchester. www.urbis.org.uk

Brandon Sorg

Just came across Brandon Sorg's "Where Fun Goes To Die" great stuff take a look, www.brandonsorg.com

Test Your Colour Vision

When I was doing my foundation year at college, We had a painting tutor who brought in two trestle tables and several bin bags of paint swatches all cut up. Before he let us do any painting we spent a whole week laying them out on the tables in order of hue and also colour saturation. Well I found this digital version http://www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77 over on Rachel Hulin's smashing "A Photography Blog". http://rachelhulin.com/blog/ It's called Test your colour ID

I got 64 which is really crap, all the commenter's on Rachel's blog seemed to get below 5 (0 being the best) I think they "fib". Although I am colour blind and my monitor on this laptop is rubbish and the cat kept scratching at the door and I'm in a bit of a rush and.........

If Photographers appeared in Fairytales........

This Man, Miroslav Tichy or as he is also known the "Stone age photographer"

using this camera and other equipment of similar design, made images like the one below.

You couldn't make this shit up.
Here for what I'm talking about: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/aug/02/art.photography
And here for the website that looks after his lifes work www.miroslavtichy.ch

It all reminds me a bit of the discovery of Angelo Rizzuto's photographs found by Michael Lesy http://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/art/15229/ wonderful & sad at the same time. I would love to know what the MET would make of these pair? http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/news/Antiterror_police_defend_campaign_targeting_suspicious_behaviour_of_people_with_cameras_news_195594.html

Sub-plotting, It's The New Bitmapping.

Last year at The Cornerhouse you had Bitmapping http://www.cornerhouse.org/art/info.aspx?ID=364&page=0 and now for the second installment Sub-plotting.....

Want a photographic challenge? Sign up to Sub-plotting!

A new mobile phone / photography project invites you to take part in a unique story-telling experiment that promises to put YOUR photographic ideas on a gallery wall, at Burnley's Mid Pennine Arts.
You'll be sent an image to your mobile at any random time (daylight hours) and you have just 3hrs to respond with your own image which moves the story, this image will be automatically sent to the next person in the chain and so on. All images will be exhibited in the gallery. If you can't get to the gallery to see your photo, visit the online gallery www.subplotting.com
It's a visual game of Chinese Whispers...sign up & join a story.
To sign up simply text.. BITMAP SITE to 60300

For details of what happens next and for terms and conditions visit www.subplotting.com. Texts cost 50p

Will Steacy

Image copyright Will Steacy

www.willsteacy.com

Seba Kurtis @ The Kiosk Gallery

Finally got off my increasingly fat arse and made my way down to The Kiosk Gallery http://www.kioskgallery.co.uk/Artists/index_CurrentShow.html to see Seba Kurtis's "700 Miles". The Kiosk can't be the easiest space to put on a show but I think they've done a good job with this one. I loved the way that a lot of the work was shown as pages from a scrapbook, I thought that this really added to Seba's non fussy photographic style which in turn works so well with the subject of the work. Nice one Seba. www.sebakurtis.com

Sunday

Image Mark Page

Funny As F**k Fridays

Following on from the last post, the brilliant Bill Hicks.

Now don't get me wrong, I can see that smoking is a pretty stupid thing to do. That's the ex-smoker in me talking. I quit after 26 years of caning them. I'm proud of that fact, although it had more to do with the drug Zyban http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/medicines/100004174.html than any great will power on my behalf, I can't even open a bag of Haribo http://www.haribo.com/planet/sprachauswahl.php without scoffing the lot, but this new campaign is too much. It's just bullying, plain and simple.http://www.independent.ie/national-news/antismoking-images-for-cigarette-packs-1374934.html?start=2

Maybe we could start putting pictures of car wrecks on cars? yeah or rotten livers on bottles of Cotes du Rhone ? or how about pictures of fucking bankers on loan applications.............................

It's nice though to think that photography still has the power to shock.

On being Mark Page

Today I was contacted via my home page with this message:

"Hi Mark,
Have you just registered markpagephotography?I looked a couple of weeks ago and they weren't registered, in the meantime I was looking for a cheap host and then oops it's gone. Anyway at the moment it's just a hobby for me so it's probably better that I didn't beat you to it. Just out of interest was it your first choice? Enjoyed the photos on your site, keep up the good work.
Regards
Mark Page"

What a nice guy (it must be the name) anyway I've asked him to send me a link to his site when it's up and I'll post it here......................

Richard Barnes

Image copyright Richard Barnes

"Murmur" by Richard Barnes, stop what your doing and go see. www.richardbarnes.net

Happy New Year !

Image copyright Marc Asnin

One of the things I've always loved about Manchester is our large and historical Jewish community. Manchester Jews go back as far as the 18th century when immigrants from Eastern and Central Europe arrived to work in textiles and other areas of the industrial boom. http://www.movinghere.org.uk/galleries/histories/jewish/settling/manchester_jewry_1.htm#

We now have the largest Jewish community in the UK outside of London (35000). It's one of the things that I think makes us a proper city, just another exciting and vibrant ingredient.

So coming across the excellent "Rebbe" by Marc Asnin www.marcasnin.com and the fact that it's Rosh Hashanah http://www.chabad.org/holidays/jewishnewyear/default_cdo/jewish/High-Holidays.htm led to this post. Happy New Year to you all.