IS the latest upload to my WEBSITE. Originally started back in 1999 it's my ongoing documentation of my Manchester. Not sure it will get picked up by Marketing Manchester..

New Cliches of Photography #24

Pissed Russians......

Neal Andrews

When I was about fifteen or so I was sent to see the school careers officer to discuss my future job plans. Career paths in 8o's Widnes consisted of working for ICI or working for GOLDEN WONDER. I told the career officer I wanted to be a Shepherd. I was bollocked for messing about. Thing is I did, I really wanted to be a shepherd. I knew very little about it, it was probably a consequence of watching 'ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL' on a Sunday night. But for a time in 1982 I wanted to tend sheep.

Anyway enough about my faded dreams of youth, I'll have to make do with documentary photographer Neal Andrews atmospheric little film THE HILL FARMER. Below for a preview of the book.

Cedric Delsaux.

Image copyright Cedric Delsaux

How do you deal with the fact and fictions of the modern urban landscape ? Why not photograph Dubai and then fill the images with Starwars figures ? The 'off his head' yet brilliant world of CEDRIC DELSAUX.

BOOK NOW TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT !

Click on flyers to enlarge so you can see all the goodness you get. contact via www.teenataylor.com www.johndarwell.com www.photoweekenders.com www.theprincesshotel.co.uk or call on contact Naomi Hall on 0161 238 4761

Si Barber

Si Barber is a stablemate of mine over at MEATYARD ARTS. He is also a newspaper photographer which is where many of the images from his series THE BIG SOCIETY, snapshots of 21st century Britain come from. I think the fact that these images have have been born out of a careful edit of a collection rather than from setting out with the purpose of capturing modern Britain, gives the work a less contrived feel an unique view. The series can be seen HERE (click projects then preview then preview again) You can see what John Donaldson from MEATYARD says HERE.

Zen.

Cheers STAN.

Best of the year.

Image copyright ALEJANDRA BARTOLICHE

Reuters full focus 'Best of the Year' sounds like a dog show but some good images never the less. HERE.

"He painted Salford's smokey tops"

and weird partially naked girls? Inspired by the ballet? Yeah that would be my excuse if someone found drawing's like this that I'd done.

Rarely seen LSL sketches as part of THIS exhibition at The Lowry Centre.

I can't see these images making it onto the tea-towels and tat in the gallery shop...

I just found a new online photography mag! And because I'm immature I giggled about the title.... HERE.

Ville Lenkkeri.

Image copyright Ville Lenkkeri

Tales from the frozen north Brrrrrrrrr.HERE.

New Cliches of Photography #23

Something old something new, take an old picture and mix it together with a new one.

Image copyright Mark Page

image copyright Chen Qiulin

I got sent this from my mate ED.

Hi Mark,
How's things. I was wondering if I could get another favour? If possible
could you post about the new course the whitworth will be running? I'm just
starting to take bookings and I thought it would be of interest to some of
your followers (I think this should be readers!)... Here's the details anyway if you can.

Contemporary Landscape Photography
8-week course, Saturdays starting 15th January, 1pm ­ 3pm, £100*

In response to our Land Between Us; power, place and dislocation exhibition,
submerse yourself in the world of contemporary landscape photography. Hear
from practicing photographers to inspire and inform your own work and learn
the skills and techniques needed to capture all your ideas. In
partnership with the Zion Centre in Hulme the course will be split between
artist talks here at the Whitworth and practical sessions over at the Zion
Centre. Culminating with an exhibition of your work created on the course
within the Zion Centre's gallery at the end of April.

http://zionarts.com/

*£80 for students

To book onto any Adult Programme events please call our Visitor Services
Team on 0161 275 7540.

For any queries or for further details please email Ed Watts, Adult
Programme Coordinator, ed.watts@manchester.ac.uk

Here's the link as well,

http://whitworthadultprogramme.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/contemporary-landsca
pe-photography-8-week-course-100/

Here We Go Again.

I don't mind the Royal family they're a hoot, and if nothing else they make me grateful that my own family function so well. I know all the pomp and ceremony that the world laps up is about the only thing that GB plc is any good at these days, fuck we even have to share boats with the French. Without the Queen & CO we would be about as well known on the world stage as say Luxemburge. See I can't even be bothered learning how to spell that place.

What I hate is all the shit news coverage that we are going to have to swallow over the coming months. "I thought Kate did so well at the press conference" cooed some stupid 'preppy' looking old tart of a Royal corespondent. Did well? all the girl had to do was stand up and smile. Although that's a good start, the previous occupier of the glass slippers she's about to fill was today described by Martin Bashir as "No great thinker" which made me laugh.

So a toast to the new Royal couple, and all the tea-towels, mugs, plates, T-shirts, secret lovers, nervous breakdowns, divorces, addictions, abdications, thieving butlers, billionaire Arab playboys, toe sucking army officers, racist remarks, drink problems, madness, etc etc. GOD SAVE THE QUEEN AND ALL WHO SAIL IN HER.

John Darwell @ ACC.

Image copyright John Darwell

This months speaker at THE ALTERNATIVE CAMERA CLUB is one of the UK's leading documentary photographers, JOHN DARWELL. John has made work from Chernobyl to Nevada although in more recent years England's North-West and particularly Cumbria has been central to John's oeuvre (love that word).

OK so that's JOHN DARWELL @ THE ALTERNATIVE CAMERA CLUB, THE WHITWORTH GALLERY, MANCHESTER. SATURDAY 20th NOVEMBER @ 10:30 £3 all in. No need to book but you can here- ed.watts@manchester.ac.uk

Kay May

Image copyright Kay May.

Kay May is a photographer who has a very personal connection with war. Her son is a serving soldier in Afghanistan. Her series and book 'The Hawthorn Tree' is a document of a mothers war. The series can be seen HERE and the book can be seen HERE. May's work is also included in a group show 'Bringing The War Home' at Impressions Gallery Bradford

Image copyright Mark Page

An old chesnut.

By no means a new topic, just a new set of pictures raising again questions of exploitation. This time it's Donald Weber's series 'Interrogations'. You're bound to have seen the interview with Weber over on Colin Pantall's blog. I like a lot of Weber's work but in my view this series is lazy, predictable and to use a word from my youth 'tight'. OK Weber has travelled a great distance and made contacts and been patient waiting for the Russian coppers to start acting like the pricks they no doubt are. I reckon it would take me or anybody else about ten seconds to realise the outcome of putting these people in a room with these coppers in this country and that the chances are that they ain't going to get a good meal and a neck rub. Weber's pictures do nothing to show me anything I wasn't expecting. We seem to have moved away from starving Africans and replaced them with prisoners and inmates as the new morally acceptable easy target documentary subject . What is it with VII agency? Join in the debate HERE. I'm off to photograph Iain Duncan-Smith making dole scroungers cry.

Michael Danner

Image copyright Michael Danner.

I'm not really sure what this series 'Birds of Passage' is all about, but I do kinda like it's bizarreness. Birds painted on trees and then photographed, a collaboration with illustrator Vanessa Karre. Plenty of other stuff to look at as well over on his SITE.