Foto8 competition entry

'The multi-storey and underground car park is presented here as a portal into another psychological dimension. For users of these spaces they play a fleeting part in the day. However, in the brief moments during departure, we are pulled towards this portal, towards an alternative reality, before ‘clunk’ the door is closed and we are on our way. It is only when we allow ourselves to look beyond the car that we start to notice something drawing upon our consciousness…'

Cologne abstractions in colour

Cologne this spring was awash of light and colour in the sun. Exposed onto slide film here, I couldnt help but be in almost trance like mode in capture of everything as it caught my gaze. I was oddly inspired to do this after visiting an Adam Jeppesen exhibition at the Kudlek van der Grinten Galerie. Jeppesen's work is simply fantastic, I love it, although without connection to the photos I would subsequently take.

The images were shot to form the basis of a colour module assignment. Five images were to be presented as a series based on abstraction. The idea being to demonstrate a view of what abstraction is. Clearly, everyone has their own view; for some it is where the image content is unrecognisable or non-representational, purely appreciated in terms of shape, colour, texture, light, lines and so forth, as in the popular notion of abstract art. I wanted to take a step back physically, presenting scenes that are almost apparent in terms of what they are, but at the same time provide some formal interest; in this case, the effect of light on surfaces.

I think the series is a success; I like the clear differences between the images and I'm not too concerned about how these differences draw each of them apart. The individual photographs are more important than the series as a whole. I sometimes wonder how defined and specific it is necessary to be in terms of all cohesive factors when presenting a series. If we consider the series too heavily while we shoot, surely we are missing opportunities to flow with what the brain registers and the eyes see, instinctively?....an important part of the feel for any subject. If we try too hard to lead the viewer into meaning, do we end up leaving valuable content or perspective behind? or worse still, result in a dilution of intent? I guess the answer may come from what meaning is intended and how important it is to ensure its destination; in the consciousness of the viewer.

In this case the series is established post-photographically, its aim is to provide a container for the idea, not to help reinforce a concept or promote further discussion on the phenomenon of light reflection. I think each image reaches a formal photographic balance to be appreciated as a singular entity, which may be enough.

The Vision of Peregrine Worsthorne

This photograph was taken in Cologne, Germany. I like how it reflects the current economic crisis. None of this crossed my mind while taking the picture, however retrospectively, the context takes effect. The mannequin heads represent/reflect those people in the world who live to consume (not consume to live), what future awaits them in the current light of things?

I was listening to a band called McCarthy, an English band from the mid eighties and this song by them works well as a backdrop to this theme.

The Vision Of The Peregrine Worsthorne

In Fleet Street I lay down to sleep

In the seediest journalist bar

And in my sleep a vision I dreamed

From afar

In celestial mist made of light

An angel that blinds mortal eyes

This vision I knew knew no wrong

Only right

He took my hand and showed me things I'd never dreamed

The veil blinding me was lifted

And truth shone, a beacon beaming

The vision said softly to me

"The people are becoming too free

And if you want to sever the tea

Oh baby

Peregrine is looking grim

The economy is falling to pieces

It seems quite hopeless

Stand steadfastly by the friendly in exchange with free

Broadcast calls for order and law

Yet all shall be well, all shall be well"

The Holy Ghost bid me be bold

For wisdom that's weight out of old

Could will if it was spread among men

Once again

The vision departed me then

And I awoke cold and distant

I knew my mission

From: McCarthy, I am Wallet, 1987.

See: http://sances.info/mccarthy/about.htm

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd4YYVk_S4A

 

notes: Sir Peregrine Worsthorne is apparently a right-wing political commentator in England, and formerly the editor of the Sunday Telegraph.

sunilphoto.com

Having just checked the main site I have to apologise for the lack of updates and new material. Its also a total mess. Watch this space, I'll get it straightened out, its time for a spring clean.

Sunilphoto fragments is some kind of half experiment with the aim of  testing some ideas behind abstractions and photo fragments across projects. There is no intention to provide a narrative or message. Pure and simply a thread of disconnected images.

...and here's the cropped cham pic. Big up G.

chamonix, fr

This place never fails to blow me away... click on images to enlarge. Pentax 67 75mm lens on Fuji Velvia 100. The first image is the Mer de Glace glacier, the tiny specks barely visible on the lower right-hand corner of the frame are skiers on the Vallee Blanche, a 20km run, returning to Chamonix. The second image is looking towards Chamonix Sud at dusk, the glacier creeping down the mountain is the Glacier des Bossons.

parking spaces 2

These photographs started as an idea about recreating the feeling of returning to your car in an underground car park or multi-storey. The fluorescent light, shadows and emptiness were on my mind before I arrived. I needed security clearance at this place and got it easily from the puzzled looking guards who let me in to get on with it. The results blew me away, the project continues...

High rise

High rise housing estates, this one is in Poznan, Poland. Large communities living in high rise estates, leftover from the post war, cold war era. Have you noticed how such places are no longer built? History suggests that this was affordable housing in limited spaces, easy to manage, easy to control through communist and socialist political ideologies. What social dynamics exist? With many people living in close, ordered proximity what kinds of boundaries are created? These are some of the questions that I felt compelled to ask. Perhaps a subject worth looking into?

image and text

'office space', 2008

Before now, I've never added titles or captions to any of my photographs, instead preferring to write a short written piece which will set the context on a series of pictures rather than any one single image. Its been like this because working in a documentary style, I try to make the images form a open ended narrative, with the text providing just a starting point. Its just a system that works for me and furthermore, I've never liked the idea of captioning pictures with cliched or worn out notions about the content of an individual image.

I think once you start displaying your ideas to a wider audience, you do need to find techniques of getting your point across, as your ideas may not be obvious to everyone. Titling provides one such way of channelling the viewers thoughts down the path you want them to go. The text and hence language can be applied at different levels; a caption, a project title, a description, a text, even the space in which the images are viewed provide a language. Are they necessary or essential? Not always perhaps, I guess it depends upon your intentions for the image. What does it do to the image? does it take anything away from it?

The project 'Man made the land' is the first where I have really considered text and the language used. The project title 'Man made the land' refers directly to the fact that these are photographs of human intervention with the landscape. It has denotes human construction, I liked it also because of the way it sounds. The photographs themselves are titled with very basic titles indicating a description and a location. The written text collaborates with the images, it provides the idea, the context and the feeling which fuels the work; the ubiquity of man made landscape and its relative invisibility.

See 'Man made the land'

landscape 2

Since the last landscape post I learned something new, so here goes... Landscape as a photographic genre is usually associated with the picturesque or beauty. Most often images of rolling hills, sunsets and sublime natural scenery spring to mind (fnb). The purpose of these images is maybe to create a feeling of awe, fantasy or transcendentation or some other. However, we all know the landscape, is not always so easy on the eye, it can be pretty neutral or even ugly, it can be city, rural or suburban. But whether it is picturesque or topographic, in any landscape image there will be content within the image that says something about us; our social identity, our political environment, our ideologies, our interaction with the environment. For me this puts a completely new slant on landscape photography; it tells us about the land, the people and their culture.

fun fair

This is a selection of shots from the trip to Holland recently. Staying with good friends, Kasia and Tomek in Nistelrode, we hit the fun fair in a small town one night. I've never been one for fairs, to me, theres too much going on and too many kids; it frightening. When I was a kid it was the same , I felt I had to like fairs cos everyone else did. I think the pictures I shot in Holland reflect some of this feeling. I can see what is is about fairs though....some kind of sensory saturation. I did win a cuddly toy though !

jerez, cadiz and ronda

In Spain we took in three very different places; Jerez, Cadiz and Ronda. A strange thing also happened in that at first I wasn't reaching for my camera very much. Not sure why that was and I thought perhaps its got something to do with the fact that I've been to this region of Spain before and possibly recorded all the images that caught my eye first time round. What I was left with was a feeling of dread with the anticipation that maybe I'm not gonna be inspired on this trip and will come home with nothing new. Luckily for me this feeling didn't last long. The streets, people and markets of Cadiz caught my eye. Once I'd reached for my camera, I was transported into a another blissful dimension. See the photo journal site for a small selection of photographs from Spain.

parking spaces

Got many strange looks photographing this car park this year. Westgate multi-storey car park in Oxford is due to be demolished in 2009 sometime. We used to skate here when it rained and before they furnished it with a load of anti-skate measures. The car park is run by the city council and it is no longer really cleaned or looked after, its a well used city amenity though, which when compared to the affluent, historical and well-visited side of Oxford, is in stark contrast. Multi-storey car parks are intriguing spaces; they are cold and empty at night, for a few, providing shelter from the rain and a dry place to skate or ride flatland on a bmx. During the day, while drivers hurriedly look for spaces in the narrow parking slots, the sound of tyres and closing car doors echoes.

landscape 1

Not sure what the rules are to landscape photography and not sure I want to read some book about it. I'd prefer to try look at pictures and work out what works for me and what doesnt, I think this image of Southborne beach on the south coast of England provides some clues;  it has some interesting looking lighting and clouds and some subtle colours and landscape features, an English beach with no sign of people, the day drawing to an end. What I am nearly sure of is that the things we find aesthetically pleasing maybe due to some random or fleeting moment or event we recall from our memories, the picture we make is the picture we are moved to take. Had I experienced this moment before ?

a moment of truth

a decisive moment?... the single point in time when elements of a scene come together. This image is of my cousin Priya getting ready in a hotel room for her wedding. I hung out with my camera in the room with Priya and her sister, Sushma who was helping her. Priya was very emotional and after months of organising this event all by herself, she was at a point where she felt overwhelmed. As I was taking this picture she was explaining to us how she felt like she would burst into tears at any moment.

To me this is the image of my cousins wedding. It shows in one picture, a truth. The truth of how much this event means to Priya and how much of herself she has invested in it. I was so happy for her and I believe she was happy as well in the knowledge that her closest and dearest are with her all the way into her future.

paris 2

Paris transparencies and black and white film...its always gonna take longer. These are my two favourite shots, looking up to the street through a vent in the metro and looking at tourists at the Louvre...a few other images are on the main site: www.sunilphoto.com

hnc photography

Nice one. Two years of study at Oxford College complete. Not entirely sure how I managed to complete 2 years of projects and assignments in the space of two months but somehow it all got done and handed in. The course has been a great thing to have done. Over the course of these two years, I've found some direction with photography, met some good people and learned some skills. I'll take this further on the upcoming University of Westminster course starting Sept 2008. For now some R n' R is in effect.

annie leibovitz and paris..

......the two merged sweetly this weekend in Paris at the splendid Maison Europeenne de la Photographie, which also hosted an exhibition on dressage by William Klien and two installations by Eric Aupol and Sophie Elbaz. I'm gonna be honest here, I'm not really into rock star/movie star/celebrity studio portraits, to me its a reflection of how we elevate these celebrities to god-like status and how the human ego laps it all up. Having said that, I saw some of this in a different light at the annie liebovitz show, shes pretty much a household name with some very famous images through the decades. This work actually seems to be a reflection of how the photographer chooses to portray the image, you can def tell that she puts a great deal of thought in what she does commercially, and she does it pretty f'kin well. What totally blew me away however was her personal work. Her family and private life work is filled with so much love and care, it really tells you a lot about her and how she feels about her loved ones, who she is and what she does...The work is shown together and it puts all the rock star and movie star stuff into perspective, firmly into the realms of fantasy where it belongs and in that form it was definitely more palpable.

www.mep-fr.org

final year exhibition

I'm now nearing the end of a 2 year HNC course and this friday is the final year exhibition for us. Its been well hectic getting things done for this in addition to having to get all the assignments I've been putting off for months done in the space of one...damn

Anyways the private view is friday 13th and then the exhibition stays up for a week. Todays Fading Lifestyles will represent.

Its at Oxford College, Oxpens Road at the Art and Design Block Kennet Building if you are in Oxo and fancy checking it. University starts in Sept....just what am I getting myself into???

iceland rocks

Just got back from iceland. Jesus, what an amazing place. As I write this I'm struggling to find the words that can describe just how truly awesome this place is. Its like going back to a prehistoric world, probably because much of the land is (geologically speaking) new. There are constant and unrelenting jaw dropping vistas over every horizon. In fact a good opportunity was taken to do landscape photography in black and white with Ilford delta 100, in addition to the digital stuff and I discovered that with landscape photography, you need a great deal of time, patience, perseverance and the ability to pick the right time of day, but thats another story...Another great thing about Iceland is that despite the tourism and sights to see, the country has not sold them out like you'd expect. What you see is mainly natural and pretty much kept that way. Icelanders like it that way and in fact they do seem to have their own style, creativity and autonomy to the rest of the world which was super refreshing to see.

The summer is coming and due to its position near the Arctic Circle, it got dark for only a couple of hours every night and so there was a twilight for much of the night. So it was a good chance to to do some midnight photography in the low available light. Photos up on the main site well soon.

dope ammo roots and future album launch

Coco's done it again, another huge release and another classic night and a coach load.......album release date 27th May, features DVD made by William Sansom, formerly of cardbored productions, now of close range films fame...

as they say in Banbury - fair play mate!