Book: Europeans by Henri Cartier-Bresson

 I was given a copy of the above book recently, having read it many years ago when I first started studying photography, and found it profoundly moving to work through the images again seeing many old friends.

Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004) travelled across Europe, from the Scandinavian fjords to the Irish bogs, in order to produce this collection of photographs. It brings together images spanning the years from the late 1920s to the early 1970s, and seeks to capture what it meant to be European.  Cartier-Bresson used his camera to document a way of life.  He thought of photography as a way of life and for almost five decades he used a camera to document life with a camera.

Brilliant beyond words, just as great photography should be. Cartier-Bresson was one of the most important photographers of the 20th Century and this book is a great reminder of why. The images are funny, sad, surreal, beautiful and above all humane.  He was undoubtedly a Master and for those who wish to understand what the decisive moment means, this is the book. We follow Cartier-Bresson's voyages in Europe and his impressions of the people and places he found along the way. This is a great sum-up of work from one of the big masters of photography.  

 My favourite images include 

Copies of the book are available through all the major outlets (Amazon, Play, etc) from £10 upwards. 

Eric Ravilious lecture

I went to Dillington House, Ilminster, yesterday with south west group organiser Amano Samarpan, to a talk on the artist Eric Ravilious.  The talk was given by biographer James Russell and covered Eric's adult life and how his work developed from when he attended the Royal College of Art until his death as a war artist in 1943 aged 39.

This talk came about as an idea to the south west group members as Amano suggested a visit to Barnstaple where there is a permanent exhibition of photographic work by Eric's son, Jame Ravilious.  James is well known for his 8000+ pictures of rural Devon and Amano felt it would be a good lead in to learn about Eric's artist work prior to a spring visit to Barnstaple.

Eric was originally known for his detailed wood engravings at which he excelled.

Illustrated book on wood engravings

Wood Engraving

As Eric grew more experienced in his art he changed to painting lithographs which showed immense texture in the larger areas in his pictures.  Texture seemed to allow him greater expression. 

The Lifeboat

Wilmington Giant

He was mainly an outdoor landscape artist but even when the weather was inclement he would sit inside a building and paint the outdoors through a frame such as a window or even a railway carriage door.

Belle Tout Lighthouse

Train Landscape

One interesting aspect of Eric's work was that he felt able to include parts of the landscape that photographers would do their utmost to remove or rework so as not to be noticed.  In the Wilmington Giant picture, rather than use artistic licence and leave out the rather crude fencing on the right hand side, he used it to lead the viewer's eye into and around the picture.

Eric eventually joined army as a war artist in 1939 but felt stifled and left to work in the navy.  Eventually he joined the air force and was posted to Iceland.  His plane was lost on a flight when he and his crew were sent out to look for another lost plane.  Eric was only 39 when he died and left his wife and four young children, one of whom was James Ravilious, the well known Devon photographer who went on to capture rural life in Devon on over 8000 images.

I went to hear this lecture because I had seen a small exhibition of James' work at the Royal Albert Museum in Exeter earlier this year.  It is also planned for the south west group of OCA students to hold a lecture on James' work and I thought it would be good background information to learn about his father, Eric.

M Shed Taylor Wessing exhibition

A mixed group of OCA students met in the M Shed gallery at the Bristol Docks on Saturday October 25th.  I'd met Teresa on the train and joined Amano at Temple Meads station.  Eventually, after coffee, we went up to the Taylor Wessing exhibition to wander round to look at the 50 'portraits' that were on display.  Members of the public were also viewing the exhibition as we walked round.  It was interesting to see how our group of 11 students met, discussed a picture, moved on and reformed into another group as we went round.  Different viewpoints came out about each picture and I found it very welcome to hear what the others thought.  Eventually, after walking round the three rooms of images, one of the gallery staff talked about 5 of the pictures in detail.  I found it very strange that the winning image by Jordi Ruiz Cirera seemed to be subjugated by the Kobel prize winning portrait, by Matthew Niederhauser, of Ai Wei Wei even to the point of it being placed in the room whilst Ai Wei Wei's portrait was the first thing you saw as you walked in to the exhibition.

1st Prize Winner

Kobel Prize Winner

After the briefing on 5 of the images, we had lunch and then were able to use the empty cafe area on the exhibition floor to discuss with Sharon Boothroyd, OCA tutor, what we felt about all the images and any one in particular.  We came to a consensus of opinion that the images had been chosen to shock the viewing public and cause controversy.

Some of us had brought portraits that we had taken and the group discussed them as well.  Sharon had also brought along a presentation on portraiture which she show and discussed.  

All in all, it was a very interesting day; firstly to find out that there is an active, interesting group of OCA photographic students in the South West.  Secondly, that my ideas of portraiture are similar in many ways to the others and lastly to be able to chat to like-minded people when sometimes I can feel quite isolated here on the Dorset coast.  I've decided to make an effort to attend more of these sessions as it was very thought provoking.  Thanks to Amano for organising the day and to OCA for supporting it.
 

Sharon (tutor), Amano, Dorothy, Peter, John, Karen (Textiles student) missing Teresa, Anna, Karen and me

OCS South west group meet 25 October 2013

I'm very excited as I'm joining the OCA south west group in Bristol tomorrow.  We're meeting in the M Shed at Bristol Docks to look round the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize exhibition.  OCA has supplied a tutor to lead the group and there will be a chance to discuss any work we take.

It's a real commitment as it costs about £50 for train fare and contribution to tutor expenses and time, of course, as the journey to Bristol is over 2 1/1 hours each way.  Still, I'm sure it will be worth it.

Lyme Regis ArtsFest 2013

One thing that Lyme Regis does best is to hold arts festivals all year round.  The latest Artsfest, held every September, allows the general public to view art in its many forms in and around the town for a week.  There are exhibitions, an art trail, events and workshops for everyone.  It's good to see so many visitors walking round the town studying the free catalogue.  The link to see what's on is:

www.lymeregisartsfest.com

This year ArtsFest enters its second decade with a year-long project between the Lyme Regis Museum and Artsfest called re:collection.  There was such a strong response from local artists that many of them received sponsorship from the National Lottery through Arts Council of England.

I find it inspiring that, when I shop for household items I can view artists' work which is displayed in the local shops.  What do you think of buying potatoes and milk and being able to view some most excellent artistic work as you do so?

Not only are there excellent paintings to view but there are meet the author gatherings, a busking festival running in conjunction with the arts festival, drawing and writing workshops.  It's difficult to know what to choose but great to know that there is so much choice.

Always an exhibition to view

One of the interesting things that I enjoy about Lyme Regis is that there is always an exhibition or show of art, crafts or photographer somewhere on show.  And that goes for the surrounding towns and villages at well.

For example, last week I went to our local town mill to view an exhibition of local photographers whose pictures were on show for the month of August.  It was an eclectic mix of pictures with no real theme but the quality was excellent.


Then, last week, I went to the next town along the coast, Seaton, to view their art society's annual show.  The work there ranged from average to excellent but it was difficult to get into any of the pictures as it was their last day and club members were talking about packing up noisily rather than giving the viewer a chance to enjoy and absorb the art.

Then, of course, we have the week long Arts Fest which takes place every year.  This allows visitors to gain access to otherwise unavailable artists' and photographers' studios in the town and surrounding area.  There are also events put on covering a multitude of different mediums to everyone to enjoy.  It's a veritable feast for the senses.  There is always something going on in Lyme, open to anyone.

Book - Pictures on a Page; Harold Evans; Heinemann Ltd, 1978

Whilst reading other students’ blogs for the Level 2 module ‘Progressing with Digital Photography’ (PwDP) I read a review on an out of date book called ‘Pictures on a Page’ which had been published in 1978.  I managed to obtain a copy which looks a little old but is still a very interesting read.  The book is well set out and each chapter clearly described.

There are dynamic introductions to each chapter giving compelling explanations of famous images, some of which I had seem before.  The author stresses the importance of honest, reality captioning which I have found interesting, as I have just been working on the above module and in project 3 there is one exercise on captioning pictures accurately.  Harold Evans emphasised that a caption could make, break or distort the truth.

Harold felt it was important to spot the differences which moved an average picture into one that was unforgettable.  He described a session with Henri Cartier-Bresson about picture composition and was advised by Bresson to turn a picture upside down to highlight the good and bad points of it.

He quoted that W. Eugene Smith (page 123, Beauty out of Minimata) who felt that cropping should be carried out selectively as ‘the world did not fit conveniently into the format of a 35mm camera’.

It's a very old book considering how the fast today's digital world moves but all the chapters are still very relevant today.  So many times a photographer today pushes his shutter button knowing he could manipulate the subsequent image to improve itextensively.  Looking at the images in the book shows that manipulation was rife in the darkroom for skilled darkroom technicians and you are given a glimpse of what could be achieved 30-50 years ago.

If you are keen to produce excellent images within a publication, then find a copy of this book and scour it from end to end.  You will be amazed how relevant it still is.

RAMM Revisited

Yesterday I went back to Exeter to revisit the RAMM (Royal Albert Memorial Museum) and see the BP Portrait Exhibition 2012 and the Veolia Wildlife Photographer of the year exhibitions.  I hadn't wanted to go in the Easter holidays when it would be crowded with children as they are encouraged to run about and make lots of noise.  That was a mistake as yesterday seemed to be primary school day as I saw at least 3 different school uniforms parade past me as I tried to view the wonderful portraits and nature pictures.

Whilst these day we expect the unusual and exciting images from adult photographers, and there were some quite exceptional pictures in the exhibition, what truly amazed me was the quality and dedication of the younger photographers.  Children as young as 10 were featured and they put my fumbling nature pictures to shame.

The pictures above are from children 10 years old and younger.  Their imagination and abilities leave me in awe of their potential for their futures.

  The above two sections are from teenagers from 14-17 on the left and 10-14 on the right.  All images are outstanding.  I did notice when reading the blurbs how many of the photographers are the children of recognised photographers.  It must help to have a parent who is skilled in taking nature pictures.

RPS Digital Imaging Group

My local camera club invited the RPS South West Region Organiser to give a talk about 'Widening Your Horizons' where the representative, Janet Haines of Bridport, explained how it was good to expand your experiences and aim for a qualification. Her talk included the work of the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) and the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain (PAGB) and the qualifications it was possible to earn and how to go about achieving them.

Janet is also the organiser for the RPS Digital Imaging Group (DiG) and as such puts on four sessions a year locally which features aspects of digital imaging pertinent to both photographers and designers.

The one-day session on Sunday, March 24th, included demonstrations on colour management, Adobe Photoshop CS6 and Lightroom 4. The first part of the original programme should have been on Photoshop Elements 11 but was replaced by highlights of CS6 as the presenter was unable to attend. 

The demonstrator, a professional photographer called Andy Mallows was well versed in CS6 and Lightroom and it was extremely interesting to see how he managed his workload when, as wedding photographer, he uploaded a completed web book for his clients within 2/3 hours of photographing a wedding. 

He also talked about the new concept from Adobe called Creative Cloud where, instead of buying a single programme such as Photoshop CS6 and replacing it every time there was a new version, you paid a monthly subscription of approximately £16 and were able to access the whole gamut of Adobe software as and when you needed it.  You were able to store your work 'in the Clouds' to give access whenever and wherever you were without having to carry it around on external devices.  This seems to follow the concept of Love Film and Netflix where you pay a monthly subscription and have access to the whole range of films, etc, rather than buying a DVD, watching it once or twice and just have it clutter up your storage area.

It seems a strange idea to hire a film or piece of software rather than owning a copy for eternity but this seems to be the way the world is moving.  Perhaps it's time to change my way of thinking and join the revolution. It would certainly seem to be cheaper to pay a monthly subscription (using the website Software4Students it came out at £16 for a recognised student for one year then rising to £22 per annum) than spend a whopping £224 to obtain a copy of just one programme, ie, CS6, which would be replaced by CS7 or 8 or 9 within 12/24 months.  Food for thought most definitely.

Woodroff Secondary School exhibiton 2013

I love looking at young people's work as it is so uninhibited and refreshing.  I'm lucky that Lyme Regis is well-known for its art and photographic connections and I try to go to the numerous art and photographic exhibitions throughout the year.

This year's  show is as visually stunning as in the previous years and I spent an enjoyable half an hour this week looking round and discussing various items with the student who was minding the whole shebang that particular afternoon.

The only criticism that I have is there is nothing to indicate the brief the students were given to produce their portfolios.  Also, none of them have titles.  I asked Tom (see seen here in my picture of the exhibition) and he told me that they were never asked to title any of their work which I think is sad as a title can give extra depth to an image.

Maisie Hill re:collection exhibition - Lyme Regis museum

I visited our local museum yesterday to see the exhibition 'Re:collection' by local photographer Maisie Hill. 

 

‘Both Object and Observer’ was the second re:collection exhibition in the Rotunda Gallery at the Lyme Regis Museum.The exhibition by local photographer Maisie Hill ran from January 10^th to March 27^th as part of Lyme Regis ArtFest’s ongoing re:collection project, in which artists take inspiration from items on display in the museum to create new artwork.  Maisie explained in a local press review that in this exhibition she drew inspiration from both the photographs in the museum and the various ways in which they were presented.  

This exhibition was advertised as curated by the photographer herself and I must admit that I was rather confused as to which pictures in this small area were part of the exhibition.  I saw 3 different set of images - one on hands and tools, one on photographs of the full moon and one set of images, called 're-emerging' on rubbish on the cliff beaches from a Victorian rubbish dump.

None of the pictures on display seemed to hang together metaphorically speaking.  The group of hand pictures each holding different tools was extremely disappointing in that all you saw was someone's lap with their hands resting holding a different tool.  I have often thought about completing a project on hands but this gave me no inspiration at all.  Everyone was a copy of the previous one but a different tool.  

The other groups of pictures were very limited and, all in all, it was a disappointing experience.

Fun element missing

Whilst I haven't been doing much work on my next project and assignment, I have been delving into the forums and find I can certainly sympathise with Michael J who finds it increasingly difficult to keep the fun element in his module work, see link below:

http://oca-student.com/node/100066

I can sympathise with that as faced with the next exercise or assignment I go into brain dead mode.  Sometimes it takes an email to my tutor to get the block unblocked and move on.  I have always realised that I am not a good ideas person but given a lead or idea can take it further into interesting and unchanneled water.  It's just that start point that needs a push!