Brian Duffy

Brian Duffy was one of the major photographers of the 1960's and 1970's, and is the subject of discussion - briefly - in this week's Amateur Photographer magazine. Duffy famously burnt most of his negatives in 1979 during a breakdown, destroying some of the most famous fashion and biography images ever taken. However, much of his work has been restored and some of his most famous images are on display until 19th November at the Lucy Bell Gallery in St Leonard's On Sea, near Hastings in East Sussex.

Aspiring fashion or personality photographers should take note of Duffy's work; he was at the forefront of his craft at the height of the swinging sixties. In many ways, Duffy shaped the work of "celebrity" photographers for the years to come. His style is very clean - plain white backgrounds, simple objects - and relaxed poses, often with the sitter caught mid-way through doing or saying something.

Duffy passed away this year, and this is the first major exhibition of his work since his death. Admission is free.

Captured: America in Color, 1939 - 1943

The Denver Post has just added a stunning collection of images from 1939 - 1943, showing (largely) American rural life at the time. The gallery, titled Captured: America in Color, 1939 - 1943, shows just what was possible with colour film long before it became widely used in a consumer format. None of the images would rank as "famous", but they are evocative - particularly those of black Americans living alongside whites. Compare the work in the cotton fields to the 4th of July celebrations, especially, and the "Juke" joint.

Tim Rudman Exhibition

Yesterday, I was passing by The Lightbox in Woking and decided to have a look around. The building is fantastic, though for all its size, there isn't a great deal on display. However, one thing that did catch my eye was a photographic exhibition by Tim Rudman.

Tim Rudman is known for his split-toned prints - a technique he uses in most of his images - and holds distinctions from around the world for his innovative style of printing. Have a look at the gallery on his website - especially his works on the derelict Brighton Pier. They are even more impressive close-up.

Split toning is a technique whereby the shadows and highlights of an image are subtly different colours, producing an amazing effect if done properly. It's mostly used on a black and white image where subtle selenium and sepia tones are introduced. There is a good tutorial here on how to manage a similar effect in Photoshop. Tim Rudman uses a traditional chemical process to achieve split toning. I have no idea if the Photoshop results look as good, but I intend to give it a try when I next take a couple of portrait shots.

The exhibition officially finishes today - but there are permanent galleries on display on his website, and Tim Rudman seems to exhibit around the world fairly regularly. Definately a photographer worth seeking out.

Flash at the V&A

On Friday 29th May, I went to Flash, a late-night Friday event held at the V&A. On the last Friday of each month, the V&A musuem host a late-night event, running until around 10pm. This month was the turn of photography. There were a number of events running (all listed on the link), and I was keen to go.

I arrived just before 8pm. I picked up a handy guide, but was a bit disappointed at the lack of signage - and I lost a considerable amount of time wandering around the museum trying to find the next event. Also, while this was billed as a "late night" event, much of the action was already over by the time I arrived. Nevertheless, I set off to find something of interest.

The first "event" I went to was a Camera Obscura. Most photographers should be familiar with these - a simple, darkened room into which an image from outside is projected - usually through a lens. It's like being in a giant pinhole camera. There is a particularly fine example up in Edinburgh. This version at the V&A was a simple upside-down projection of a statue that was 6ft away. The "guide" gave a fairly rubbish account of why a Camera Obscura works - beyond stating that "light travels in straight lines". She then recommended a David Hockney book, giggled a little as she moved the image in and out of focus (though without explaining why or how this happened) and very little else beyond a lot of "umming" and "erring". It certainly wasn't worth waiting for 10 minutes, and my girlfriend (not a photographer) got absolutely nothing out of it. She gives better presentations on pinhole cameras to five-year olds.

I then made my way over to the "Photo Swap Shop". This was a small exhibition of work where photographers contributed an image, entered a lottery and got a random image back. Like most other photographers, I didn't exactly want to give my best work away, so I contributed this:



It's okay - just a photo I took in the Paris catacombs in January. Not first-rate, but not bad either. Some of the photos in the swap shop were very good, but I did wish there was some small degree of vetting involved. Some people were clearly taking the mickey - contributing passport photos from their wallet or other such throwaway pictures, while others had donated expensive A4 prints. It didn't seem very fair. I ended up with a rather knackered 3 year-old 6x4 print of some out-of-focus ferns, and was glad I hadn't donated anything better. I was glad I hadn't got the head-high photo of a milk bottle on someone's doorstep.

My girlfriend and her friend went off in search of getting their portraits taken at 9.30pm - an event which was not due to finish until 9.45pm - only to find that the organisers had already packed up and were waiting for their lift home. By this stage, I had given up on finding more events, and instead just enjoyed watching people look at my photo up on the wall in the swap shop. For some reason it was very popular with Europeans - and one German tourist even took it off the wall and ran off with it at one point (he did bring it back, though). It was a strange feeling to have quite a lot of people looking at my work, and it did give me a lot of satisfaction to see them pointing at it, handling it and talking about it.

On the whole, I can't say that Flash at the V&A was an unmissable event. Quite the opposite. I'm sure if I'd have arrived earlier, I might have found some of the talks a little interesting, but these aside, the other events felt a little underwhelming. I won't make any special effort next year...but if you're in town and passing, you could do worse than to take a look.

Exhibiting Work

I've just been reading a discussion forum over on PhotoSIG where the author of the topic talks about having a fear of showing his work to other people. This is perfectly understandable - artists from all backrounds and disciplines show an innate insecurity and desire for perfection, from the classic "stage fright" of actors, to the "never quite finished" attitude of a film director. However, there comes a point where this insecurity actually stops creativity altogether, as seems to have happened to this unfortunate person.

As a photographer, my aim has always been to capture images for enjoyment - both mine and others. Fortunately, my dad was also an amateur photographer, and I was able to show him my early efforts without fear. No doubt many of them were rubbish, but it encouraged me to keep going. I'm comfortable enough now with my skills to show lots of other people too - even though I know there are millions of photographers who have far better skills than I do. I get great enjoyment from developing my knowledge and putting it into practice, but I get even more in producing a final print and displaying it. I believe that if you're passionate about your image and you really enjoy it yourself, then you can convey that to others. If you're too afraid to show any of your images, then ask yourself - why is that? Do you not enjoy them? If not, why not?

It must surely be better to "get things out there" than to cover them up for fear of not being perfect.

Taylor Wessing Prize 2009

Not so long ago, I went to see the entrants for the Taylor Wessing Prize up at the National Portrait Gallery. I was a first-time visitor, and decided to pop along after seeing an advert in Practical Photography. I'm not usually one for these sorts of things, but I thought that I might learn something from the best entrants. A selection of photos is available online:

http://www.npg.org.uk:8080/photoprize/site09/index.php

You can also view the top four entries at http://www.npg.org.uk:8080/photoprize/site/exhibition_winners.php

The winning entry, "Quints", I find technically sound - but ultimately, it's not my thing. I find it trying hard to be artistic, and when I think that about a photo, it turns me off. I like art to be a little more subtle, generally. The second place entry was "Bag" (the woman with the carrier bag on her head) which I have to say does absolutely nothing for me. I don't get it. However, the third-place entry, "Ines connected to Anna" I think is excellent - the two teenage girls, intimately close to each other and phycially connected via their laptop and iPod, yet completely distant and remote from each other says an awful lot about modern communication. I remember seeing the life-size version of this and staring at it for ages. I think it's a classic. The fourth prize went to "Murdoch Reflects", a clever portrait of Rupert Murdoch in a thoughtful mood, perfectly reflected physically into the table below. I like the simplicity of the shot, and the clever way the physical reflection apes the subject's mood.

Murdoch Reflects - Tom Stoddart

My favourite of the whole exhibition was "Five Girls" by David Stewart - a bleak shot of five teenage girls in a fast-food restaurant, all with mobiles in front of them, yet nobody actually talking to each other or even acknowledging each others' presence. I think it says a lot about modern teenagers and our drive for communication through technology, and a corresponding decline in social skills.

Five Girls - David A. Stewart

The exhibition is still on and it's completely free. I don't make much of a habit of going to these sort of things and, to be honest, I didn't really get excited by a lot of what I saw. However, I thought that the few images that really caught my imagination made the trip thoroughly worthwhile - so if you're afraid of galleries and exhibitions (like me), this is a great place to start. Officially, the exhibition was closed on 15th February, but to my knowledge it's still going - and very soon the displays for the 2009 prize will be going up.