Category: Photography
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Opportunity Area
I’ve recently bought two second-hand tilt-shift lenses, designed for architectural photography. Mechanically shifting the lens’s optics upwards allows me to photograph tall buildings without distortion. The technique dates back to the nineteenth century, but the current frenzy of high rise building in my local area makes it increasingly useful; allowing me to contrast the human…
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Quarter-plate
In 1969 my wife Susi’s family moved into a big, dilapidated 17th Century house in Wendover. Stacked loose in the attic were 64 quarter-plate glass negatives. The family moved out in 1989 and my brother-in-law Steve looked after these plates over subsequent decades. Last autumn (2023) he asked me to look at them. I scanned…
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Bonnington Square
Exhibition 1986 Bonnington Square in Vauxhall, south London, was part of an estate of houses built in the 1870s to house railway workers. It became famous in the 1980s when all the houses in it, vacant and awaiting demolition, were squatted. In the late 1970s, the Square was compulsorily purchased by the Greater London Council…
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Time
An excellent double edition of Time Magazine, given over to the climate crisis, features a photo of mine from London Fashion Week 2019. You can read the ‘One Last Chance’ edition here: https://time.com/5864702/extinction-rebellion-climate-activism/
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Creating a scene: XR Oct. 2019 Rising
I’m working out how best to photograph Extinction Rebellion. A friend of mine tells me she does not support XR because their disruptions alienate people who need to be brought on side. So perhaps it’s best to back away from XRs photogenic performances to include the bystanders and their reactions. Much of the time this…
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Keepers
What do we keep and what do we cast out? Susi Arnott and I have been working with a portable daylight studio on the Thames foreshore, to produce an almost indiscriminate catalogue of objects, many collected during Thames 21’s clean-up and research events. Objects of disgust will be returned to the river or bagged-up for recycling…
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Bobby and Stillman up and running at UCL Science Library
UCL Science Library, Malet Place, London WC1E 6BT 020 7679 7795 Admission free Monday to Friday 09:30 – 19.00, Saturdays 11:00 – 17:45 July 27th. – September 22nd. 2017 UCL Science Library, in the heart of Bloomsbury: a longer run for the exhibition Bobby & Stillman, by Susi Arnott and Crispin Hughes, working with Professors of…
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Bobby&Stillman in the Science Library
art, maths, movies and point-of-view Bobby and Stillman, our collaboration with mathematicians from UCL’s Big Data Institute is getting a long run at the UCL Science Library. UCL Science Library, Malet Place, London WC1E 6BT 020 7679 7795 Admission free Monday to Friday 09:30 – 20:45, Saturdays 11:00 – 17:45 July 27th. – September 22nd.…
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Bobby and Stillman Show
‘Bobby and Stillman’ will be opening as part of Creative Reactions at: Juju’s Bar and Stage, Truman Brewery, 15 Hanbury St. (off Brick Lane), London E1 6QR. The free show at Juju’s bar will be open from midday till 6pm Tuesday 16th to Thursday 18th May. Do call by and see us. From 7-10pm 15-18th May there will…
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Thames Tides at Crossness Pumping Station
Thames Tides is screening alongside the beam engines at the ethereal Crossness Engine House. The huge building combines ponderous machinery and delicate filigree work to astonishing effect. Its function was to pump London’s sewage up above the level of the Thames and release it on an outgoing tide. What better place to screen Thames Tides? Here…
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“To know hunger, work illegally, and be anonymous.” (Attributed to V I Lenin)
With thanks to all the photographers of the Displaces project On previous ‘participatory photography’ projects, we’d give people good compact cameras, and some practical and conceptual training. Then they’d return to their families, communities or neighbourhoods, and take pictures. The results could be revelatory; expressive as well as documentary, giving insights into lives and identities which…
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Thames Tides at the Cinema Museum
‘Thames Tides’ launched at the Cinema Museum in Kennington, London on Sunday 4th September. See the Thames Tides website for more details and upcoming screenings.