Not capturing Kirstina

My lovely friend and photographer Kirstina Fryd has set me a challenge. To take a portrait of her - we talked about this some time ago but haven't got round to it. I tried one sunny morning in Brixton but I'm not remotely happy with the results. All my blogging about portraits hasn't seemed to rub off on me. It was all wrong for some reason - too posed - not right at all. Well next time we'll try again - until then my friend.

The lovely Kirstina

A whirlwind of inspiration

Well I’ve shamefully not written for a while. I’ve been around and about doing all sorts of things. I went to a multimedia training day hosted by duckrabbit which I must say was fantastic. Panos multimedia producer Anna Stevens was one of the guest speakers and showed some interesting multimedia she has worked on in the past. We all viewed Robin Hammond's Tuvulu multimedia piece which included some amazing medium format triptychs. There was an interesting kit talk and all important tips about how to make money using 'mm' with lots of good audience participation. Both duck and rabbit were fun and concise about the whole process. I also popped along to slideluck potshow in the evening, saw the beautiful Sally Mann exhibition and spent some time with my nan. I’m now trying to come back down to earth from shooting a Sikh wedding at the weekend...

Almost back in a vague routine I’m remembering how I felt when looking at Sally Mann’s photographs. I’ve admired her work for so long in books it was wonderful to see them in a gallery and stand in front of them for a while. There is something about her images especially seeing them in the larger size not shrunk to a page that really communicates an inexplicable beauty. I found it very hard to tear myself away and watched an interesting interview with her when I got home.

Shiva at Whistle Creek, 1992

Vinland, 1992

Three Generations 1987-1997

Between Then and Now

Whilst looking around the Bristol Festival of Photography and blogging on the life.still site about the interesting photography at the festival I came across some images that really stood out from a lot of the work I've seen. They were on the wall at the Arts House as part of an open submission. I felt like I had seen the images somewhere before but the photographer did not have a sign up next to her name. After some digging around I found out they were by Evi Lemberger and her work was featured in foto8 magazine sometime ago and I remember seeing them there. I really love the feel of her images, there is something nostalgic and dreamy about them that leaves me feeling that these people are somehow familiar to me - that they belong to a past we all share and are waiting to tell me their stories. You can see her story Between Then and Now on the foto8 blog here.

"Between Then and Now is a documentary project about people and places from a vanishing world. This vanishing world is situated in the Bavarian Forest, which is characterised by its rural structure and is undergoing massive shifts from a traditional to a modern society. As a result of this change is the loss of an old lifestyle, along with its values and traditions."

Kolmar Xaver

Boasn Sepp

Brandl

Adam, Cambridge and the six toed cats

Well I have just got back from a shoot near Cambridge with some six toed cats. The cats were very cute but very uncooperative. It was all very glamourous crawling along on the floor to get at the same level as the cat in the pouring rain, only to get within an inch of the cats and then them legging it.

Six toed or polydactyl cats are not nearly as weird as you would imagine. Apparently Ernest Hemmingway was particularly keen on six toed cats and around sixty of them live at his home and museum in Key West, Florida. They are also said to be the best cats to take to sea, presumably because they have better grip on ship.

After my time with the polydactyls I headed to see my friend Adam. A very clever man who used to study Volcanology and now does something equally as clever at Cambridge University. It's such a beautiful city and I was obsessed by all the lovely old bikes.

Adam in the morning, Cambridge

Tabitha

The portrait # 2

I have another new offering of wonderful portraits. I discovered Charlotte Oestervang's work about a year or so ago and I particularly like her series from Freetown Christiania, or Fristaden Christiania in Danish. Christiania is an autonomous neighbourhood in Copenhagen and is governed by it's own special laws. I find her portraits very simple and thoughtful. I like the mixture of simple plain backgrounds and the people in their own environments.

Walter

Jonathan (L) and Clare and Emilie (R)

Nina