Ken Gonzales-Day

Thanks first off to PETE for pointing this out. When he told me about 'The Lynching Walking Tour' I thought that it was going to be some kind of sick money making tour. That comes, I think from all those shit Photojournalism workshop scams that came out of Haiti earlier in the year, but no it's not like that, this is Art with conscience.
Last year when URBIS was still URBIS and not a football museum when it's remit was still to educate and not merely entertain and make money, they had a ground breaking exhibition,

BLACK PANTHER: EMORY DOUGLAS AND THE Art of REVOLUTION. As you entered the exhibition on one of the first large walls were several huge, almost 20 foot photographs of lynchings. Shit that was too much for many people myself included. I didn't like the fact that it smacked of sensationalism. I'll just add here and for the record that Emory Douglas wanted them as well as the creative department. I can also see their point of view. In the end they were toned down.
Why am I saying all this? It's by way of an introduction to the work of Ken Gonzales-Day and his series 'Erased Lynching' and the (self guided, and that's an important point) tour that goes with it. By removing images of the victims and the morbid sensationalism and gore, and focusing on the crowds he has managed to concentrate our gaze on the perpetrators. We are forced to look at the faces of ordinary ish people committing sickening acts.
When discussing Art with such a dark subject it seems a bit superficial to talk about the fact that I also found it an interesting use of 'found photographs' appropriation and digital imaging.It also educates me. I have never thought about California in relation to lynchings before. Of course it also raises that old chestnut about photography as document.

New Gallery For Manchester/Salford!

A new gallery on Bridge street, right opposite Salford Central Station is to open. SALFORD CENTRAL ART GALLERY or SCAG is over 2000 square feet of new art space which places photography right at the center of it's programming. Starting as it means to go on the first show is to be a right Bobby Dazzler.
'Manchester Poly And the Class of The 70's is a look at the wealth of ground breaking talent to come out of the photography course ran at Manchester Polytechnic during the early 70's. The exhibition features the work of Martin Parr, Dan Meadows, Peter Fraser, Brian Griffin, Charlie Meecham, John Darwell and Kate Mellor. With such a line up this looks set to be one of the highlights of the UK photographic calender for 2010.

But then a noise outside startled me and I woke to realise that it had all been a dream. There was no new gallery and there was no new show looking at why the planets came together for those brief few years back in the funky decade. It had all been nothing but a dream and all we were getting was a fucking Football Museum. You didn't think I was going to let that lie did you?

David Bate

Spent some of the day looking at the complex work of David Bate, His work really intrigues me and makes me want to know more about it.

LONDON, PARIS, PECKHAM, SALFORD.

NOW SOLD!

Not wishing to come over as the 'Delboy' of the photo blog world but I do have a printer for sale, I'm having a bit of an upgrade. Excellent condition Epson R1800 It's pigment ink based +A3 and has served me well. £100 to the first person to email me at info@manchesterphotography.com good photo printer was almost £600 new. Buyer collects.......

NOW SOLD!

Keepy Uppy

Just as I've managed to finally get my hands on a snide copy of CS3 (In Manchester snide is slang for official, proper, legitimate fully paid up) ADOBE are due on April 12th to release CS5. Above image from the always piss funny PHOTOSHOP DISASTERS.

Rafal Milach

Image copyright Rafal Milach

There's not that many images from Rafal Milach's series 'Black Sea of Concrete' on his website. He has turned the series into a Blurb book. In fact he was a photo book 'Grand prize winner 2009' for the work. You can see much more of it by clicking your way through his book HERE on the Blurb site. Oh yeah and you can read an interview HERE.

A Life in Politics.........

Let that be a warning.........

HOW MUCH!

Manabu Yamanaka.

Image copyright Manabu Yamanaka

"Of the hundreds of people, I selected 16,
who I believe possess abilities,
which elevate then above normal
human being to a level whose some of the greatness of
Buddha is manifested"

The above was written about his series 'Arakan' which the above portrait is from. Yamanaka's work his hard to look at stuff, hard also for me to understand much of his motivation for doing the work and making the long term series. It's work that comes out of a culture I don't know or understand, but I know that there is something much deeper going on than anything exploitative which if this work had been made by a western photographer I would no doubt now be shouting the toss about along with plenty of others. This work somehow seems, and I hate saying this as it sounds proper wanky, 'spiritual' Is that just me looking at with a daft romantic view and because it comes from 'The East'? I can't put my finger on it.

You can read more about the work HERE and read an interview HERE. Make your own minds up........

work

One of the great things about working HERE is that I get to spend the days with great painting's like FORD MADOX BROWN'S 'WORK' more about the painting HERE.

Click on painting to enlarge and view all the stuff that's going on.

Images copyright Mark Page

As I am starting work HERE on Monday, post's may be a tad sporadic until I've settled in.

Top Tips

manchesterphotography has always been about as far away from a technical photography blog as it's possible to get, but if you do want to find out what that small black button on the side of your camera that's marked +/- means then maybe go HERE coz it's no good asking me, I've not got a clue either.

Lewis W. Hine, Spinner, Cotton Mill, Augusta, Georgia, silver contact print, 1909

You can look at photo's all day and then every so often one comes along that just stops you in your tracks, even one from another world away.

Smile.

When no one was looking, we became the most watched country on Earth
Reality TV is about CCTV in Britain.

David Dunnico has documented these 'hoodies' of the 'surveillance society' including the organisations who operate it, companies who sell it and people who oppose it. The exhibition mixes strong graphic, urban images with humour and reaches a surprising conclusion that Big Brother probably isn't watching you - but your supermarket definitely is.

Reality TV: CCTV
24 February 10 - 27 March 10

Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester.

Brilliant.

DEAR Blacklab...

I read with interest your recent POST on Plagiarism and what a fantastic thing it is, the post and plagiarism. I too love a bit of copying as much as the next man.

There's a couple of points I'm not to sure about though.

Can I take it that you think we've all made enough pictures? Is that in general or in specific genres or motifs? That's where my cliches section came from but even photographers embracing the love of plagiarism will no doubt end up falling fowl. I've also been a long time slagger off of much modern conflict photojournalism as pointless same old same old but surely you can't have too many images in general can you? I think it was Joerg Colberg who said that "that's like saying there are too many books; Or something along those lines. Exploring and appropriation is great let's do it, collage for the 21st century but let's also look at different ways of actually making new and original images and ways of using those as well. I for one am getting sick of that fucking cowboy just as much as I'm getting sick of 'girl in tree' pictures.

Although it's always good to look for new ways of doing things lets not 'throw the baby out with the bath water'.

• Now plagiarism (I like the word copying) of course there's different levels and motives. The three basic one's that spring to mind are, Your run of the mill "I've left college and I tend to be American and I want a big big camera and I love Alec Soth" type of Herbert. Nothing wrong with that, I once thought I was a Dutch Lady and shot exclusively at night, no prizes for guessing who said Dutch lady is. This is good copying this can also be called influenced by and I think younger photographers should to a degree be encouraged. If they have anything about them they will soon get bored and start looking around. (Does anyone know how this fucking bullet point button works on Blogger it's driving me mad, I'm trying to look professional here for Christ's sake)

The second type is up there in the top right, your good old Richard Prince, Jeffery Koons styley this is always acceptable it's Artistic Mums apple pie, Have fun go play I've even got a bit in mind myself for a wet weather project.

• The third (there's that bastard of a bullet point again, will you just fuck off) And this is the one I don't like it's the insipid cynical gallery sales shit that is not only accepted but is positively lorded, that's what will stifle and bring this this Art form to it's knees as sure as a Printworks slapper on a Friday night. Sooner 'Trawl The Visual Wreckage' than get involved with that bollocks.

Of course we are prone to repeat and too much work is made for other photographers (bloggers) to coo over, I know that in portraiture I must, where possible, now use large format with my subject square on, full body and not smiling if I ever hope to be taken seriously and this is the problem not the amount of images out there it's that art photography has become the Paris Salon.

Colour correction what the fuck does that mean? How can it be the wrong colour. Full graduations of grey, no burnt out whites, rules of thirds blah blah blah. And books on how to edit? Bollocks that's what it is. Let's not stop making new images or recording the world lets just chill out and have some fun lets all find our own voices. It can be done. The camera is no more limiting than oil and canvas, and it took throwing the rule book out of the window to breath new life into painting and yes that involved plagiarism. I tell you what, Punk photography that's what we need.

• Anyway always a pleasure Blacklab,

Lots of Love Manchesterphotography xxxxxxx

New Cliches Of Photography #20

Crap collage.

Stuffed.

Ever wondered where all them photographers of stuffed animals get their props from? I think I have the answer. HERE.

Seba Kurtis: New Website & New Shows

Image copyright Seba Kurtis

More unashamed promotion of one of manchesterphotography's favourite locally based photographers Seba Kurtis who's work I love (Giz A Print). He's updated his WEBSITE with more work and more info about the work HERE, and also has work coming up in the following shows at various shows around Europe Including HERE.

Nofound.

Image copyright Todd Fisher

Nofound is the blog by French curator Emeric Glayse where I found Elena Chernyak's work (last post). There's loads of weird and wonderful photography over on Nofound but tread a little bit carefully if at work, you may get some funny looks if you know what I mean. Some stuff great, some stuff odd, some stuff trying a bit too hard and plenty from the Dash Snow school.Well worth a visit though.

Why am I shouting?