Alec Dawson Photographer

In his series of untitled photographs Nobody Claps Anymore, the Mexican-American photographer Alec Dawson portrays ordinary people in their homes in a downbeat, ultra-stylised manner. Nobody Claps Anymore by Alec Dawson is on show at Perugia Social Photo festival, until 28 March, which focuses on photography around social issues – this year with the theme of ‘blindness’ . Dawson, who works as a civil engineer and has no formal training in photography, keeps the houses of his subjects largely unchanged, but brings in cinematic lighting to throw sharp shadows and dramatic highlights on them

The series’ title, Nobody Claps Anymore, was inspired by an emotional realisation that I experienced when my plane landed in Melbourne. Hundreds of tons of metal, carrying hundreds of passengers, silently flared momentarily before the tires collided with the runway. The nose of the plane heaved forward. The reverse thrusters roared and rapidly decelerated the plane. As the plane turned off the runway onto the taxi-way the individual joints in the pavement were perceptible as the plane lumbered to the gate’ Eventually the plane parked and I heard the sounds of belt buckles, zippers, and the rustling of bags. It all happened in silence. Not a word uttered. No applause. The audience had forgotten to clap’

Every so often by wandering around the web something special pops out. Today it was Alec Dawson. I know his work is somehow reminiscent of Gregory Crewdson except that Dawson shoots real people in real situations rather than constructing a set. He just adds dramatic lighting and I don’t doubt manages the location and people a bit. The images are remarkable for that, their reality, is this a truth. The idea that these are true representations forces the question what is truth. Anyway I am always willing to applaud great creativity and just wish I had thought of it first although I doubt Oxfordshire would have presented such characters.

Originally found in the Guardian, this is a good place to see interesting photography and worth checking on a regular basis. The Guardian Alec Dawson

 

Why portrait photography is so difficult…

An article in The Guardian reveals an insight into how we, all of us, think about how we look. It is not an article about photography but it does answer why subjects dislike photos of themselves, and surprisingly it has little to do with our skills as photographers. Here are a couple of sections that if you find interesting may tempt you to read the rest.

Psychologist and behavioural scientist Nicholas Epley oversaw a key study into self-enhancement and attractiveness. Rather than have people simply rate their beauty compared with others, he asked them to identify an original photograph of themselves from a lineup including versions that had been morphed to appear more and less attractive. Visual recognition, reads the study, is “an automatic psychological process, occurring rapidly and intuitively with little or no apparent conscious deliberation”. If the subjects quickly chose a falsely flattering image – which most did – they genuinely believed it was really how they looked……..Knowing the results of Epley’s study, it makes sense that many people hate photographs of themselves so viscerally – on one level, they don’t even recognise the person in the picture as themselves.

You can read the rest here

Wildfires: an astonishing photograph of survivors in an age of catastrophe

Tim Holmes (not pictured) and his wife Tammy (second from left) huddled under a jetty for three hours with their grandchildren while their hometown in Tasmania was destroyed by wildfires. Photograph: Tim Holmes/AP

Jonathan Jones writes in The Guardian

The old newspaper saying that a good picture is worth a thousand words has rarely been proved more dramatically than it was when grandfather Tim Holmes took his family to shelter in the sea while fire consumed their Tasmania community – and remembered to bring along a camera

2013 has barely begun but this photograph of Holmes’s wife and their grandchildren sheltering from the wildfires in sea water under a jetty will surely be remembered 12 months from now as one of the year’s defining news images

READ MORE HERE

Shortlist announced – Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2012

The Taylor Wessing prize for portrait photography is now firmly established as one of the defining awards given to photographers. It would not be unkind to say that it often generates heated debate and bafflement as well as admiration. This year the four shortlisted photographers are : Spencer Murphy, Jennifer Pattison, Jordi Ruiz Cirera and Alma Haser.

This is from TW website:

The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize presents the very best in contemporary portrait photography, showcasing the work of talented young photographers and gifted amateurs alongside that of established professionals and photography students.

Through editorial, advertising and fine art images, entrants have explored a range of themes, styles and approaches to the contemporary photographic portrait, from formal commissioned portraits to more spontaneous and intimate moments capturing friends and family.

This year the competition attracted 5,340 submissions by over 2,350 photographers from around the world. The selected sixty works for the exhibition, many of which are on display for the first time, include the four shortlisted images and the winner of the first John Kobal New Work Award. This is the best place to see the shortlisted artists as well as the others selected for exhibition

The Ventriloquists: two of Alma Haser’s friends from south London ©Alma Haser

Maria Teichroeb, by Jordi Ruiz Cirera: Maria is a member of a community of Mennonites in Bolivia ©Jordi Ruiz Cirera

Lynne Brighton, shot by Jennifer Pattison in the bedroom of a derelict house ©Jennifer Pattison

Mark Rylance, by Spencer Murphy ©Spencer Murphy

There are more images from the exhibition in The Guardian here

And also in The Guardian an interesting article by the excellent Sean O’Hagan about being asked to be a judge having been anything but complimentary about last years competition. Last November, I wrote a not altogether positive review of the 2011 Taylor Wessing photographic portrait prize headlined Another animal, another girl with red hair. It described my bafflement at the judging process and the general “dullness of the selection”. It was a surprise, then, to be asked to be one of this year’s judges. I jumped at the chance. I think Sean echoed many peoples’ views on the Taylor Wessing Awards. He goes on Last year, I was critical of the Taylor Wessing photographic portrait prize. This year I helped judge it – and now realise how tough it is to pick a winner. Read what he has to say about judging this year here

The winner will be announced on 5 November, ahead of an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, which organised the prize, from 8 November-17 February.

So what do you think, dull lifeless, blank stares, odd looking people or vibrant cutting edge creative photography?

 

 

Deutsche Börse photography prize 2012 – in pictures

We have featured this prize before, now The Guardian shows the images again and provides a review by Adrian Searle

Pieter Hugo, Rinko Kawauchi, John Stezaker and Christopher Williams are the four photographers shortlisted for this year’s £30,000 Deutsche Börse photography prize. Their work goes on display at The Photographers’ Gallery from 13 July – 9 September 2012. View some of their images here

Adrian Searle: John Stezaker’s work is by miles the best here, with that great unteachable gift: an eye and a sensibility

John Stezaker, Siren Song V, 2011 Photograph: Courtesy of the artist and The Approach, London

Pieter Hugo, Yakubu Al Hasan, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2009 Photograph: Pieter Hugo/Courtesy of Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town and Yossi Milo Gallery, New York

Christopher Williams, Fachhochschule Aachen, Fachbereich Gestaltung, Studiengang: Visuelle Kommunikation, Fotolabor für Studenten, Boxgraben 100, Aachen, 8 November, 2010 Photograph: Christopher Williams/Courtesy Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne

Read Adrian Searle’s review

Yeah I don’t get it either……

Joe Raedle: Featured photojournalist

Showcasing some of the world’s best photojournalists.

“The Guardian receives many thousands of pictures every day, some days more than 20,000. Of these, many are publicity hand-outs, soft paparazzi images and material for the sports pages.

However, among all these photographs there are some real gems. The agencies that the Guardian subscribes to – AP, Reuters and Getty Images, among others – have some truly great photojournalists on their staff and under contract, although they probably would be too modest to describe themselves as such. We would like to recognise some of these unsung heroes by presenting their work in galleries, rather than publish them in the usual, one-off, spot news format.”….MORE

Joe Raedle

“Joe Raedle was a student at the Maine Photographic Workshop in Rockport. He was hired as a staff photographer at Fort Lauderdale’s Sun-Sentinel in 1987 and his 11-year tenure there took him across the globe. He joined Getty Images in 2000 and is now based in Washington, DC. Here, he returns to Joplin, Missouri, to cover the city’s regeneration on the first anniversary of a devastating tornado”

See more from this gallery here

Band and Gig Photography Masterclass

More from the pages of the Guardian. I should say I have never attended any of their courses so only provide information rather than recommendations, check whether it is suitable for you.

Want to learn how to take brilliant live music or festival photographs? At this day and a half’s workshop, you’ll do just that.

Due to popular demand and to ensure you get the most out of your time, the masterclass will be split into two levels:

Group one: Beginner to lower intermediate.
Group two: Proficient with camera.

In groups of just ten, you’ll work closely with a Guardian photographer and learn how to take professional-standard photographs in a challenging and exciting festival environment. You’ll get professional access and shoot live bands, artist and vox pop portraits, cabaret and circus performers, children’s fete games and more under the expert guidance of Guardian and Observer staff photographers Katherine Rose and Alicia Canter…….MORE

Dates: Sunday 3 June 2012; 11am-6pm
Feedback session: Thursday 7 June; 7.30pm-9.30pm
Location: Apple Cart festival, Victoria Park, E8
Feedback session: Guardian HQ, 90 York Way, N1 9GU
Price: £249 (inclusive of VAT)

King Charles @ The Great Escape ©Keith Barnes

Owning The Scream does not make you an art collector

A question wandering around my head is, “Why is this painting, (not actually a painting but a pastel drawing), worth so much money?” Yesterday The Scream by Munch fetched up $120m in an auction. It can’t be the rarity as there are a number of versions by the artist, much as there could be from a limited edition of prints from a negative. It may reach into the human condition but there are so many photographs that do this, one name amongst many, Steve McCurry.

In Britain there seems to be a view that photography is a lesser art, there is a malaise that encourages people to think a photograph has little value because anyone with a camera (and a little skill) standing in the same place could have taken that picture. This of course is the main reason for the decline in professional photography, “Sheila in accounts has a good camera and she takes nice pictures of flowers so she can take the pictures”. That may be a bit of an exaggeration but I have heard similar. Once I was photographing at a college here in Oxford and noticed a woman who kept appearing behind me with a compact camera in hand. I asked why and she said the college had asked her to take some pictures and she thought following me would get her the best pictures! She explained that she had been asked to take on a role as the ‘in house photographer’ –  she quickly added that they recognised my pictures would be better (I hope so) but that as hers were for the web site or college publications that didn’t matter so much.

I have found that elsewhere in the world photography is considered much more seriously. France, USA, Australia all recognise that to make great photographs it has nothing to do with owning a camera (although this is necessary). As the saying goes “Owning a Nikon does not make you a photographer, it makes you a Nikon owner”.  Paris is full of small galleries exhibiting photography with realistic prices, by realistic I mean they reflect the artistic merit and journey the photographer has gone on to get to that point. Much the same as is taken into consideration when looking at the work of artists from other disciplines. To be a photographer you have to own equipment but it is your personal journey, your vision and your intent to say something that matters which defines the quality of the work.

So with all the fuss about The Scream it is this image, a photograph that caught my eye. I really like the domesticity of the scene, the everydayness, two men who show little reverence for what is in their hands juxtaposed with the obscenity of its price tag of $120m say it again and gasp $120m.This one image sums up for me the ludicrousness of it all and again forces the question, “why not for a photograph too?”

I can’t even tell you the name of the photographer but click on the picture to be taken to the article in The Guardian.

As if by contrast I would like to share the most expensive photograph ever with you. It is by Andreas Gursky and is called Rhine II and sold for $4.3m, a snip, I hear you say; I’ll have two and still have change for a lesser Scream. I think it is possible that one of the reasons photography is the poor cousin of the art world is because of the photographs that are held up as the best that we can do. What do you think?

“At $4.3 million — more than $1 million more than the midpoint of the Christie’s estimate — Andres Gursky’s Rhine II is the most expensive photograph ever sold. Here’s the argument that it’s worth it. But I count myself with Dan Amira: I just don’t get art sometimes. “ From the Washington Post

Seems like I may not be alone.

 

The highs and lows of life as a documentary photographer

In the Guardian…..

On the road for six months of the year, covering everything from the Iraq war to Agent Orange, Ed Kashi writes home to his wife

Taken 13.04.09

Aleppo, Syria (above)

“Today in Aleppo, it’s a brilliant, crisp sunny day, after a night of thunder and rain. I’m always coming and going from home. This constant state of flux creates the sense of being suspended between worlds and always feeling isolated on some level, since I can’t ever get grounded or fully connected either at home or on the road. One of the issues at home is how distracted everyone is, whether from your work or the digital gadgets and friends of the kids. And, of course, you all must live your own lives, so you are not in sync with my rhythms and moods.”

Zululand, Africa

Taken 21.09.97“I am once again facing the demons of a tough fixer, the loneliness of the road and less than perfect conditions. But my problems pale when I think about our new baby on the way. It was a shock when I first got the news but now I’m jumping out of my skin with excitement. Who knows what we’ll have? I know you want a girl this time. I just want a healthy baby.

Today we went out at dusk to photograph the cane fields being burned. It was exciting, and I had a near miss. Hot embers were flying everywhere and they had these Zulu workers armed with big sticks to bat the embers down as they tried to fly to an adjacent field not ready for burning. That would be devastating for the farmers. I was on the fire break road that separates the fields, trying to photograph the worker swinging at the embers, when a bunch of them fell on me. They burned holes in my clothes, caught my forearm and left a small mark.

Every night I go to sleep thinking of your swollen belly and all the magic that’s inside. I can’t wait to meet our new child. Only a few months left.

I love you so dearly and deeply”.…..MORE at the Guardian

 

 

GDT Nature Photographer of the Year 2012

The Guardian newspaper features images from the German Nature Photographers annual awards.

“The Society of German Nature Photographers (GDT) has announced its Nature Photographer of the Year 2012 – and the winner was Klaus Tamm. Dozens of images made it through to the final round for consideration, in the categories: birds, mammals, other animals, plants and fungi, landscapes, nature’s studio, and this year’s special category, marine habitats in Germany.”....MORE

This photo of a capercaillie by Klaus Echle was sixth place in birds Photograph: Klaus Echle/GDT