Issue 2 by Vignette Magazine

INSPIRING INTERNATIONAL IMAGERY

RAX

Last days of the Arctic

MARTIN PARR MARTIN WILSON

ISSUE 2 FREE

Ragnar Axelsson Thule whale hunters Page 8

About Vignette is a quarterly free magazine focusing on photographic practice and featuring photography from across the world. Vignette is run by volunteers and owned by Photographique.

Advertise Editor: Philip Searle Design: Alec Jackson Contributors Matthew Beaman Martin Edwards Lisa Furness Danny Griffin Tom Groves Sarah Macfarlane Nicki Musgrave Lou Taylor

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Our advertising prices start at just ÂŁ29 for a 1/16 page advertisement in the listings section. Vignette is carefully distributed to specialist venues across the UK making the magazine a very cost effective way of accessing the photography and art world. We also welcome proposals for supported editorial features. In addition to the printed advertisements in the magazine itself, online advertising is available on our new website www.vignettemagazine.com. Download the media pack for full details or email contact@ vignettemagazine.com for further details.

Contribute There are several ways you can get involved with Vignette. We encourage suggestions for articles from our readers so if you have a great idea, an unusual practice to share or a story to tell then get in touch. Throughout the magazine you will find a number of ways to get your work into the next issue of Vignette, including the Page 3 Portrait, Vignette and in this issue, the Arctic Circle competition.

Find us on Facebook www.vignettemagazine.com ÂŠÂ All rights reserved. All material in Vignette may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written consent. All content in Vignette appears courtesy of the contributors and copyright remains with the contributor, where identified, and with Vignette where not. Vignette has made every effort to check the accuracy of the content of the magazine and all information was believed to be correct at the time of print.E & O E.

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Focus Welcome to the second issue of Vignette. Launched in April this year, our first issue received an overwhelmingly positive welcome, which is fantastic.We distributed Vignette out across the country as soon as we could and have had feedback and ideas from all over the UK. Issue 2 is twice the size and over double the print run and we will be sending the magazine to as many towns and cities as we can! Philip Searle

As a teenager working part time in a camera shop I took an order for some film from a customer named Parr. Little did I know that this was the legendary Magnum photographer Martin Parr. Alec caught up with him as he prepares for his latest exhibition, opening soon at Bristol’s new M Shed museum.

In April I spent a inspiring few days in Iceland. Soon after my return I watched a documentary, Last Days of the Arctic, on BBC4 examining the work of an Icelandic photographer Ragnar Axelsson. I was blown away by these stunning black and white photographs capturing life in and around the Arctic Circle and it is a great pleasure to feature this work in Vignette. In fact the whole team were so impressed that we have dedicated our front and back cover to one of Axelsson’s images. Lou got in touch with him in Iceland and the resulting article is packed full of these awe-inspiring images. There is also a chance to win a copy of Axelsson’s book and have your work featured in Issue 3.

Sarah contacted Martin Wilson to find out more about his original approach to photographic art. We were so taken with his meticulously executed compositions that we have chosen his work for our centre spread. Finally, we visited a number of the many end of year shows that fill the galleries of the world at this time and talked to tutors and course leaders from some of the UK’s best photography courses and showcase the work of six final seven of this years graduates to represent the Class of 2011. Alec and Sarah have worked hard to improve our web presence and the new website vignettemagazine.com is now online. A busy few months! We aim for Vignette to inspire and inform, bringing new names to our readers’ attention, in addition to featuring world-renowned photographers. Issue 3 will be out mid-October and will be bigger again. We hope you enjoy Vignette and keep in touch and up-to-date via our web activities.

Page 3 Portrait

Alex Gregory is a freelance professional photographer available for international commissions. He likes to shoot music, fashion and colourful portraiture, as well as directing music videos.

the lack of light in this image. I was pleased with how the light was just about powerful enough to illuminate the model, but there was very little fall-off on the surrounding walls.”

“This image was originally published last year as part of a series on tattoos for an online magazine. It was shot in Portsmouth in an old disused concrete bunker that we stumbled upon while scouting for locations in the pouring rain. I was travelling light, so only had a single camera mounted flash and a small homemade soft box with me. I actually love

More on Alex and further examples of his work can be found at www.alexgregory.net Page 3 Portrait. For consideration please email one portrait photograph. Closing date 30th August 2011.

VIGNETTE

On film The boundaries between film and photography have always been somewhat blurred. Whether it’s the moving/still images of Eadweard Muybridge or the cinematic photographs of Gregory Crewdson, they contain the narative of a feature film in one static shot. And with all cameras now having a video function, some of which are broadcast quality, more and more photographers are starting to experiment with how much they can make a still image move. With this in mind, Vignette would like to recommend a film/documentary which might inspire you with its strong relevance to photography. Since this is the first one I guess we should start with one of the most famous.

Process Redscale film

APPS Andrew Zuckerman Music By PQ Blackwell Limited £5.99

Award winning photographer Andrew Zuckerman released an iPad app version of his book ‘Music’ about six months ago, but since we weren’t around then, we thought we’d bring it to your attention now. “Music” an iPad app, features dynamic portraits of over fifty musicians, from Ozzy Osbourne to Ziggy Marley, Herbie Hancock to Kenny Rogers, and provides us with their perspectives on one of the most universal and yet unexplainable art forms.

La jetée Directed by Chris Marker, 1962 This now legendary 1962 science fiction film about time and memory in the aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse. Set in Paris after World War III the survivors are forced to live underground and scientists desperatly experiment with time travel a vain hope to save themselves. And a man is haughted by the image of a woman waiting at an airport and the crumpling body of a dying man. But at its heart a tragic love story of a man, a woman and another life neither of them can have.

The elegant and minimal design makes this a joy to use and really helps focus the user on the content. However saying that, from a photography point of view, I can’t help but feel a little disappointed. Although the images are beautifully shot and look amazing on screen, they play a ‘bit’ part in comparison to the video and text content, with some musicians having only a single portrait.

If you’re looking for a step by step guide on how to create redscale film go to the vignettemagazine.com and look through the Process pages. Dont fancy making your own? Well you’re in luck, you can buy pre-reversed redscale film which is about £10 for 3 rolls. Just go online and search ‘Redscale film’.

For me, one of the most interesting features on the app is the behind the scenes section that contains a series of black and white shots taken on set, which gives you a good insight into the kit used and the lighting set up. It’s always good to see what goes on behind the camera as well as in front of it. At £5.99 its pretty expensive for an app, but hopefully it’ll be the start of more quality photobook apps.

the vi·gnette 1. An unbordered picture, often a portrait, that shades off into the surrounding color at the edges. 2. A short, impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or gives a trenchant impression about a character, an idea, or a setting. She waits inside the shed, busying herself to distract from doubt. She wonders if he will remember the date that they so resolutely agreed. She considers how time will have changed him, how it has changed her. As he reaches the peak, he stops for a moment to survey the rugged expanse. He looks down across the knotted grass to the tiny shed, so familiar from his past and from his dreams. He sees that the door is closed and there is no sign of movement within. And he knows that he is too late and she is gone. Text by Natalia Green Image by Vincent Chanter, www.vchanter.com This is a 2 part submission. Submit an image to be written about by email. Closing date 30th August 2011. The chosen image will then be published on our website. Your vignette in response to the image should be around 100 words and submitted by email. 4

Since the last issue we’ve been playing around with redscaling film. So what is it? Well its a term given to the type of image produced when loading a film backwards thus exposing the wrong side of film. As the light hits the back of the film first, instead of the emulsion, the blues and greens are mostly filtered out and what is left is high contrast reds, maroons, and yellows with great depth of colour. However due to the fact that all films are different and not actually designed to do this, the results can be hugely unpredictable. Remember to overexpose your shots by about one or two stops because the light has to travel through the back of the film first.

Push it further, cross process, double exposed one exposure on each side of the film, we dont know what’ll happen but surely thats the hole point isnt it?

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MARTIN PARR Martin Parr has exhibited work all over the world but his latest show is a little closer to home. A resident of Bristol for over 25 years, this summer sees Parr’s first exhibition in his hometown. Sixty of his photographs will go on display in the new M Shed museum on Bristol’s dockside; the museum, charting the history of the city of Bristol and it’s inhabitants, opened it’s doors in June this year. Since Parr moved to the city in the 1980s he has captured the many aspects of Bristol life.

Parr, a member of Magnum Photos, is known internationally for his iconic, instantly recognisable images. His work often takes a critical look at modern life, and perhaps his most famous work examines life in suburban England. Parr collects photo books and is currently working on the third volume of his books on photo books for Phaidon. He is also working on three exhibitions for 2012, in Edinburgh, Perth and Atlanta.

He was quoted in The Guardian as reflecting,

“ It is strange because I’ve had shows in perhaps 30 different countries but not in Bristol. It’s nice to finally have the opportunity.” 6 _In profile _Martin Parr

England. Bristol. Playing bowls. 1995-1999.

England. Bristol. Neighbours from Goldney Avenue gather to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. The theme for the party is Kings and Queens. 2002

Alec Jackson caught up with the always busy Mr Parr and asked him some questions sent in by Vignette readers. AJ: Your latest exhibition is in your hometown, Bristol. How has your opinion of the city changed over the years? MP: I’ve always been disappointed by the council. Despite them doing M Shed they’ve never really fully promoted culture in a way that I think other cities like Glasgow have and they have benefited from it. I think they’ve been a bit slow on the uptake but they seem to be getting there much more now. I think M Shed is looking really good - it’s wonderful they have done that - so I think things are getting better. Cultural tourism is a huge market and they have basically not risen to that challenge as much as they should have done. It’s a very comfortable city to live in.

7 _In profile _Martin Parr

AJ: Which camera are you using the most at the moment and which camera would you recommend to an aspiring documentary photographer? MP: Canon 5DII. It doesn’t really matter which camera you use – it’s the ideas that count and what you do with it.All cameras these days are pretty good. AJ: Film photography is seeing something of a resurgence, how do you feel about this? MP: Inevitably you get people going backwards, you get nostalgia for film. Now that film has basically been irradiated people will of course continue to use it and go back to it. It’s fine; I don’t have a problem with it. I am not bothered what people shoot on as long as what they shoot is interesting. AJ: What advice would you give to this year’s photography graduates as they embark on their photographic careers? MP: You’ve got to find a way of getting some kind of connection and passion for your subject matter. Most photographers are very lazy and this shows up in their pictures. The important thing is to find your own voice and you do that by making these connections.

AJ: People have become more and more suspicious of cameras in recent years – have you noticed this whilst you have been shooting? MP: Yes of course it is getting more difficult to shoot in the street but we are still blessed in this country so go out there now while you can! You can still shoot anyone in a public place and do anything you like with it. Of course there are problems when it comes to say children on the beach, very difficult now to do that, 25 years ago it was much easier, but compared to the likes of France we still have a lot of freedom here. It may not last forever; this may be taken away from us, so get out now while you can. AJ: Have you seen any young photographers recently that you have been impressed by? MP: I did the biggest festival in UK last year, the Brighton Biennial, and with that I showed 13 new emerging photographers and so have a look online and you’ll find all the people I really believed in who are great. Very few of them were from the UK. In the UK we have an institutionalised photography market place. Photographic education is big; we have more photography students than anywhere in Europe; and yet most of them are pretty dull because it has become institutionalised. They’d be better if they VIGNETTE

England. Bristol. St Pauls Carnival. 2009

“They’d be better if they closed down all photography courses and people had to go off and do it off their own backs.” England. Bristol. Bristol Avon Regatta. Yacht Salesman. 1989

closed down all photography courses and people had to go off and do it off their own backs. Photography courses make people lazy. I’m very much in favour of the flickr community – they seem to be a lot more active and energetic than say the photography educational institutions that we have in this country. I am still teaching, I am a professor at Newport; there are good courses so it’s not all bad news. It’s a bit too much like a womb: you are made to feel important, the work you do is meant to be important and people get away with murder basically. I like the fact you’re laughing Alec – am I winding up your readers? AJ: I think it’s good- we like that kind of thing a bit of truth. When I was at University it was very much “you’ll graduate and become this that and the other… MP: …It’s nonsense of course. There must be 7,000-10,000 photography students churned out every year in the UK, maybe 100 of them will get some work. Other people will like photography and do things with it but you’re not going to just show up and be a photographer – it’s the most competitive thing.

8 _In profile _Martin Parr

AJ:You like Flickr? MP: I like the flickr community – it’s self-policing; it’s like crowd surfing AJ: You are very interested in collecting photo books; what do you think of blurb? MP: I think Blurb and the other print on demand publishers are fantastic. It means we can get our books out and we don’t have to go to a publisher anymore. We can get them out for £50 but what this does mean of course is you get a lot of rubbish. You need a lot of rubbish to find the good it’s almost like a self-selecting process: you need a lot of mediocrity to understand why the good is better. AJ: Have you ever suffered from “photographer’s block” or fatigue with photography? MP: No, I’m constantly fighting off the huge number of things I want to photograph and I never have enough time to do it. So the opposite‘s the case - I am overwhelmed with what I want to shoot. I am very lucky to because I get photographic work as well so it’s “how can I squeeze it all in” that’s my problem.

AJ: The Internet has made art more accessible but arguably makes uniqueness and originality increasingly elusive concepts, how do you overcome these challenges? MP: You have to be better at what you do. The competition is huge so it’s only work with that kind of quality and connection that will be noticed. Same rules apply there’s just more of it. If you are good you’ll succeed. This market place constantly needs to be renewed and refreshed so old farts like me don’t get away with everything. Of course I promote younger photographers – that’s what I did with the Brighton festival – most of the people there had never shown before in the UK.I’m all for the promoting of new talent.

England. Bristol. Private View at the Royal West of England Academy. 1988

England. Bristol. Members of the public queue outside the Bristol City Museum to see the Banksy art exhibition. 2009

AJ: You once said, “With photography, I like to create fiction from reality. I try and do this by taking society’s natural prejudice and giving this a twist.” What do you mean by this? MP: I often use prejudice and clichés as a starting point and things happen form there. The thing about fiction, Well documentary is very subjective so I am not pretending that what I do is an accurate representation, it’s a personal representation. Therefore it is subjective and the subjectivity is one of its strengths. It’s your relationship to the world and not the world itself that counts. AJ: What is photography for? What do you use it for? MP: It’s my way of defining my relationship with, and exploring the relationship I have with the world, with all the ambiguities and contradictions that entails.

AJ: You have to rush off so thank you very much; what are you up to today? MP: I am editing a film today about a sweet factory in Dudley.

To find out more about Martin Parr visit his website www.martinparr.com. To discover the history of the Magnum Photos agency and for links to other Magnum photographers visit www.magnumphotos.com.

Bristol and West: Photographs by Martin Parr at M Shed in Bristol opens on Wednesday 31 August 2011 and runs until Sunday 27 November 2011.M Shed is open Tuesday-Friday 10.00-17.00 and weekends 10.00-18.00. See www.mshed.org for further details.

VIGNETTE

10 _Feature _Make Every Picture Count

A Message from the Bears

I’m often drawn to take pictures of fairly unpromising subject matter. I live in suburban London and cycle 18 miles to my day job in the Big Smoke, so I spend lots of time staring at roads and pavements with nothing to distract me but my thoughts. The textures, patterns and abstract shapes in the urban environment have a certain beauty and even banal municipal signs and letter forms become more intriguing as they get rain-washed, sunbleached and grime-splattered, telling us something of the life of the city they are directing us around. But what I really like is playing with the original meanings of things such as signs and lettering, rearranging them into something unexpected.

Make every picture count

My pictures are painstakingly created frame by frame on 35mm film. I develop the whole film, scan it, then piece the final image together on the computer, making a large contact sheet. It’s only when the completed filmstrips are laid side by side that the final image appears. The pictures usually take months to complete, as each frame is obsessively taken in sequence. No pasting together after the event, no cheating in Photoshop. If I make a mistake or take a frame out of place I start the film again from the beginning.

Christmas 1973; I was 8 and my brother was 9 and we were both given identical cameras as presents. My dad, worried that we would run out of film by Boxing Day, advised us; “make every picture count.” He would repeat this every time we were about to release the shutter and I think it became so deeply ingrained that I’ve been following his advice ever since. That’s probably why my work looks like it does. I put every frame on display. The entire film is visible, including sprocket holes and frame numbers. Perhaps subconsciously I’m trying to prove to my dad that I haven’ t wasted a single shot.

MARTIN WILSON

11 _Feature _Make Every Picture Count

VIGNETTE

Most of my work is not intended to be taken too seriously. I hope people appreciate what I think of as my hilarious wit,but I’m usually content if it brings a smile to people’s faces. A Message from the Bears, seems to have raised the odd chuckle whenever it’s been on display. Perhaps not everyone knows this, but there are bears hiding round street corners, watching and waiting. Should you be careless with your tread and step on a crack, they’ll jump out and get you! I’ve often noticed the shapes of letters in pavement cracks, so I thought if I went round reading these in the right order it would be like decoding a warning message from the bears. Another piece that had me wasting so much film that I can barely look my dad in the eye, was New Life. Unusually for me this picture is built around natural forms – the branches of a tree near my home. It was a slow and difficult picture to execute. I had to hold my plan and the branch still with one hand, whilst holding a reflector and focusing with the other. It also caused a certain amount of amusement to neighbours and the postman as they watched me spend hours standing in the street on a chair taking endless pictures of branches. The bare branches were shot during a devilishly cold January. If my

New Life

children hadn’t ferried cups of coffee to me, I might still be there, frozen to the spot. It didn’t seem much warmer when the tree started to bloom just before Easter. The picture was part of a series of Easter ‘Stations of the Cross’ artworks by local artists. My station was ‘Jesus is stripped’. I wanted to liken the new life of spring to the transforming power of Easter. I also hoped it would read as a call to action, as it quotes a verse which is intended to inspire us to feed the hungry, care for the sick, clothe the naked...

12 _Feature _Make Every Picture Count

One picture that put me in a bit of a spin was Look Both Ways. When they are shot in sequence, each arrow looks like itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pointing in a completely random direction. Trying to keep track of where I was really had me reeling. One randomly pointing arrow looks much like the next, so I was forced to follow my plan drawing very closely, very carefully and very slowly. It didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t help that I was standing on the edge of the pavement sandwiched between bustling pedestrians and, snarling city traffic. Needless to say there were a number of mistakes. I got loads of films back from the lab with just one arrow the wrong way up!

Look Both Ways

13 _Feature _Make Every Picture Count

VIGNETTE

My work usually finds its inspiration in the urban or suburban spaces where I live and work, but a few years ago I was asked to produce a piece during Greenbelt Arts Festival – a temporary city of tents pitched on Cheltenham race course. The greatest challenge here was that whereas most of my pictures take months, I had to complete this piece in just one bank holiday weekend. As well as looking down through my lens at the grass and tents, I spent quite a bit of time squinting upwards too, waiting for the clouds to cover the sun and praying it wouldn’t Now it’s summer 2011 and my 9 year old daughter has just got her first camera for her birthday. It’s digital of course, so she can take as many pictures as she likes!

rain. When I’m taking pictures I prefer overcast skies, no bright spots or distracting shadows. Once again the work –This Earthly Tent – was loaded with meaning for me; a meditation on the fragile, ephemeral nature of the physical world compared with the unexpected solidity and permanence of the spiritual realm.

To see more of Martin Wilson’s unique art works visit his website www.martinwilson.net. His work features in Playful Type 2: Ephemeral Lettering and Illustrative Fonts a book examining how designers are using a variety of techniques to produce typography and lettering in a range of innovative style. It is available from bookstores, including www.gestalten.com, for around £37.50.

This Earthly Tent

RAX

Last days of the Arctic Text by Lou Taylor

In our desire to explore the world, Europeans often head south, to the sun of the Mediterranean or on long-haul flights to the far east and Australasia. We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t tend to think about travelling north. A short 2 hour flight from Heathrow can land you in the kingdom of Norway or the island republic of Iceland, on the edge of the arctic circle and the edge of human existence.

14 _Feature _Last days of the Arctic

It is from the latter of these two countries that internationally recognised photo-journalist Ragnar Axelsson was born in 1958. Axelsson or Rax, as he is also known, has compiled several books and exhibited across the globe. Axelsson began his career photographing for Icelandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Morgunbladid newspaper in 1976, and has since worked on commissions for the industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most eminent magazines, among them Time and National Geographic. To date Rax has amassed over 20 awards in recognition of his documentary work, including the Oskar Barnack Award, collected in 2001. Compelled by his fascination with its inhabitants, Axelsson has been travelling to the Arctic for almost thirty years, camera in hand. His ongoing

15 _Feature _Last days of the Arctic

photographic project visits the hunting communities of northern Greenland and Canada, documenting the traditional lifestyle of this remote and enigmatic population. For centuries the Inuit have endured hostile conditions and honed the skills that they need to subsist in this extreme environment.In recent times global warming has had an increasing impact on their way of life, with many nations wrestling for rights to the territoryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mining and oil resources. In 2004 Rax published Faces of the North, a book on vanishing lifestyles in Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. In his most recent book, Last Days of the Arctic, Axelsson captures the Inuit struggle against new challenges brought by climate change and mounting economic burden.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;The main figure is often interrupted or blurred, heightening the sense of fragilityâ&#x20AC;?

16 _Feature _Last days of the Arctic

Raxâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s images demonstrate his interest in the human element of the story. They also often feature the wider landscape to illustrate that Inuit identity is grounded in the landscape itself, one that they must understand and respect in order to survive. Global warming has upset this fragile equilibrium, threatening their way of life. Whilst the Inuit had no part in causing these changes, they have no choice but to bear the consequences.In placing his subjects within the wider environment, Rax contextualises their plight. A tiny figure, just visible in the majestic landscape, reminds us of human vulnerability in the face of the prevailing might of nature.

17 _Feature _Last days of the Arctic

Aesthetically, each image alone is beautiful. These are not only discrete portraits but constituent parts of a greater story that captures the reality of this community and the coexistence of man, wildlife and nature. Raxâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s black and white images are striking and unforgettable. At times he has an unconventional approach towards composition, which is nothing but successful in creating impact. The main figure is often interrupted or blurred, heightening the sense of fragility. His collection of images has a nostalgic quality, making the images instant classics.

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18 _Feature _Last days of the Arctic

The quality of Rax’s work is even more impressive when you consider the extreme conditions he has worked in. He has “trekked through glacial storms, fallen through rifts and awakened on ice that has drifted out to sea”. As far as possible he has immersed himself in the culture of his subjects, granting the images an intimacy without which they would be lacking. Over time, Axelsson has built a relationship with his subjects, as a result his portraiture feels natural and sincere. Some subjects appear determined, others distressed; via Axelsson we see the full spectrum of this remote world. We can experience the pride that the Inuit have in their culture, and the weight of the knowledge that this is in jeopardy. Last Days of the Arctic is both celebration and lament, recording an admirable culture and its dissolution as the Inuit people steer through the “twilight of their society”.

More images from Last days of the Arctic, Rax’s previous projects, and his upcoming book, can be found at www.rax.is. “Last Days of The Arctic” by Ragnar Axelsson is available from all good book stores for around £30. It is also possible to order prints directly from his website hand-printed by the great man himself. Rax is exhibiting in Paris this autumn and London and Milan next year.

Arctic competition Have you got stunning photographs capturing the world around the Arctic Circle? Perhaps of the northern lights from Norway or the stunning landscape of Iceland? Enter our competition and your image could appear in the next issue of Vignette; our favourite image will also win a copy of Rax’s book “Last Days of the Arctic”. Simply email your submission to contact@vignettemagazine.com with the subject “Arctic” and tell us where it was taken.

19 _Feature _Last days of the Arctic

VIGNETTE

N E W FACES Class of 2011

Every year thousands of fresh new graduate photographers leave the safe environment of university or college to embark on their careers. The real work now begins. These individuals are entering one of the most competitive industries in the world at one of the most economically difficult times in history. Vignette visited many end of year shows and contacted tutors and course leaders at institutions across the UK to discover more about this year’s new faces.

RYAN HARDING www.ryanhardingphotography.co.uk Inspired by natural surroundings, Ryan’s work aims to create and frame an idea, the viewer is invited to become immersed in an ethereal space. This simple fashion fairytale story of a girl and her balloon is inspired by Albert Lamorisse’s short film for children, Le Ballon Rouge (1956). It reflects the carefree imagination of a child and is intended to evoke a sense of innocent childhood nostalgia, free of responsibility and cynicism and filled with the joy of simplicity.

BA Photography for Fashion and Advertising University of Wales, Newport www.newport.ac.uk

20 _Feature _Class of 2011

LUKE ARCHER www.lukearcherphotography.co.uk Inspired by a 100 year-old camera inherited from his grandfather, Luke traced its lineage back to Bassano, the famous 19th century society portraitist. The work he has produced as a result examines the notion of inheritance through photographing descendants of the titled elite first captured using this same equipment. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I had the idea for the project during second year when I discovered the old camera in my house. It took some time to source darkslides, get new bellows made, fit the bellows etc but all the effort definitely paid off. Throughout the degree, I was experimental and challenged myself. One goal I had was to get over my fear of photographing strangers, I had never really conquered it and this was my last

21 _Feature _Class of 2011

chance to do so. I went all out photographing titled strangers using a 100 year old camera. Most of my favourite photographers are what I would describe as slow photographers - embracing the change in pace that using large format brings. This project was really me adopting this. Most of the sittings were one hour (including setting up and packing away); in that time I would normally take 6 frames. My plan for next year is to stay on in Bristol, continuing with the inheritance project, as I have more peers who have agreed to be photographed. I then want to start a project based on land, looking into the financial and psychological importance of land ownership in this country. 2012 will see the second Bristol Festival of Photography and I will be helping organising this.â&#x20AC;?

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BA Photography University of the West of England www.uwe.ac.uk

TOM HEMING www.thomasheming.co.uk Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been quite a journey for me since leaving school at 16, and now at 29, finally arriving at my chosen career path. After having tried my hand at computer animation, spending time travelling and holding down various mundane jobs, I have realised my passion for photography. My photographic style is heavily influenced by my other love, cinema and I take inspiration from the work of Jeff Wall, Gregory Crewdson

22 _Feature _Class of 2011

and Cindy Sherman. I endeavour to retain an element of narrative in my images with stylised sets and I study film for my lighting design.

FD Professional Photography

Looking to the future, I hope to shoot editorials or work in advertising, though in the short term I intend to broaden my portfolio with corporate events, PR, annual reports and weddings as I do not want to pigeon hole my work before I find my niche.

www.cityofbristol.ac.uk

City of Bristol College

EMILE KELLY www.emilekelly.com This body of work was produced out of an engagement with Elephant and Castle in south-east London. It started as a series of encounters, photographic and otherwise, within the area and developed into the opening of a pop-up portrait studio and projectspace, the International Portrait Gallery, which ran for over a month offering free portraits. The future of the project is to find further ways to extend the process of collaboration inherent in the portrait photograph. This could mean working with subjectsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; family albums and personal archives, collecting oral histories and inviting response to images made in the area through writing and drawing on the surface.

23 _Feature _Class of 2011

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BA Photography London College of Communication www.lcc.arts.ac.uk

TESSA PEARSON www.tessapearson.co.uk Postcards From Afar explores the tangible nature of the domestic photograph, alongside the nostalgic connotations associated with the conventional picture postcard. I make 3-dimensional sets using my own standard snapshots, then re-photograph them to create novel, fabricated spaces that I hope incite a deeper sentiment than simply nostalgic or collective recognition within the viewer. I aim to question the role of the traditional domestic, or holiday-style snapshot, and begin to talk about the ephemeral landscape of memory and the photograph within contemporary culture.

24 _Feature _Class of 2011

BA Photography University College Falmouth www.falmouth.ac.uk

ALBERTO MASERIN www.albertomaserin.com Within the Catholic religion, parish priests serve as the guide, as the closest representative of Christ usually encountered by believers. The priest is a person authorised to perform the rites of the religion and to act as an agent between individual and deity. This reaches its peak during the celebration of Mass during which the priest performs his role as a vessel of Christ. This form of power takes visual form through the wearing of the vestments that make up the liturgical clothing.

25 _Feature _Class of 2011

Within the tradition of the Catholic religion, artists have played a central role in representing the visual message of the church, commemorating events and instilling their doctrine through an iconographic language that has become part of the way we view the world.

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BA Photography University of Ulster www.ulster.ac.uk

Portfolio Review Photo journalist Alex Digard is currently documenting all aspects of Bristolâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s underground bass music culture, from the monthly Dubloaded dances to the recently defunct Rooted records shop, the hub of the Bristol sound. He also runs the Tape-Echo.com project, an online zine that features Bristol bass music, interviews with DJâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, label owners and the people that hold this small but internationally recognised sound together. www.alexdigard.com

01_ Swamploaded

03_ Crowd

04_ Dread

02_ Rooted back room

Tom Groves is a London based freelance photographer he works in the studio of internationally recognised photographer Martin Parr. Tom previously worked at Magnum Photos and studied photography at Filton College in Bristol. Groves helped set up The Emporium community arts space in Bristol and is currently shooting a project on European Subbuteo players.www.flickr.com/photos/tomgrovesphoto. This is an interesting series of pictures to come out of Bristol, which is well equipped for an internationally recognised and a thriving music scene, including the underground bass scene we see depicted here. The make up of Bristol, with a large Afro-Caribbean population, has helped this musical genre swell and mutate over the years into various forms of drum and bass, reggae and a variety of electronic forms since the first King Tubby records arrived from Jamaica. Image 01_ is nicely lit on the face of the DJ but it might be better balanced if you were able to see the deck he’s looking at. Image 04_ has a pleasant shallow focus and the light on the audio cable leads your eye up to the mic well too. I really like the hand gesture as it looks as if the MC is blessing the crowd with his lyrics! The crowd in image 03_ has a great sense of energy and I like the repetition of the arms raised in agreement with the tunes. Also the lens-flare captured connects really well with the circle on the main figure’s t-shirt and leads the eye across the picture so I like that aspect of the picture too. Finally image 02_ brings a different aspect to the series which is far more static and although I like the picture, I feel it doesn’t fit in properly. I like the business of the room and would love to see the bookcase in the left of the image brought up a bit lighter to carry on the repetition of numerous records. 27

Nicki Musgrave graduated in 2007 with a degree in Cultural and Media Studies from UWE and has worked as an events and commercial photographer alongside a number of Bristol based musicians and promoters. The black and white photographic depiction of such usually colourful vibrant situations gives the viewer a heightened sense of detachment as well as provides an interesting element of implied solitude of the subjects, particularly in Swamploaded 01_ and Dread 04_. Swamploaded 01_ is perhaps the strongest of the collection in my view, the depth of the shadows give the image an abstract quality as the main subject seems quite removed frommuch of an associative or suggestive contextual surrounding. The composition adds to this feeling although the viewers position at an elevated angle is a little uneasy. The energy in Crowd 03_ provides an interesting contrast to the rest of the images, and intentionally captures the atmosphere and the varying responses of the spectators whilst leaving the musician in the periphery.I particularly like the light flare that seems to create a further barrier between audience and performer. The organised clutter of Rooted 02_ is an engaging subject, however the image could be better composed and would benefit from a little more separation between subject and viewer. Overall this is a thoughtful set of images that stand apart from much of the music culture photography being currently produced.

Matthew Beaman is Deputy Photography Editor of the award-winning Wallpaper* magazine. Since joining Wallpaper* in 2007 Matthew has worked with some of the industry’s most revered photographers. At times reminiscent of Nick Knight’s iconic book Skinheads, Alex Digard’s grainy black & white images explore an underground and – it could be argued – misunderstood scene that carries with it a strong sense of ideology and social identity. Instead of East London skinheads, Digards’s work focuses on the Bristol bass music scene, encompassing the music, fashion and lifestyle of a small, tight-knit group of people living in the same area. The strongest images for me are Crowd 03_ and Rooted Back Room 02_. The crowd shot really captures the energy and mood of a heavy dubstep night in full flow and the record shop is a subtle, beautifully lit still life. The contrasting mix of people, environments and still life really work in this series and it would be great to see some further detail, perhaps of the fashions, styles and iconography which contribute to make up the collective identity of the people involved. I think this would enable the work to develop, becoming more than a straight documentary piece, exploring other genres of photography. The portraits are nearly there; Alex has managed to retain continuity with the lighting and feel but I am left wanting more. They are just a little too dark and abstract for my tastes. Overall this is a strong piece of work and it is apparent that Digard has a deep involvement in the burgeoning bass music scene. He is in a great position to delve further and create a really interesting body of work around a subject that many are yet to discover. VIGNETTE

What’s on BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art

Mariah Robertson Using photographic paper, often at a monumental scale, Robertson’s darkroom experiments utilise analogue techniques now in their demise to create a synergy between chance, luck and her highly-considered methods. Manipulating the tools and materials of the photographic process to capitalise on their inherent strengths and weaknesses, she uses photographs, photograms, colour separation, oversaturated hues and exposes objects directly onto the paper, bypassing the camera lens. An array of chemical drips and mishaps are also used to ‘paint’ the photographic surface. Collageing disparate elements onto irregularly cut photographic paper, Robertson layers them into a single composition to create what she terms an ‘impossible’ image. www.balticmill.com Jun 25 - Oct 30 — Free

Proud Chelsea

The Summer Show: 20th Century Icons

Mariah Robertson 6, 2011. Unique C-Print on metallic paper. Courtesy Museum 52, New York. Copyright the artist

To celebrate their 15th birthday, Proud Galleries have delved into their extensive archive to bring you an exceptional collection of the most classic photography of all time, never seen before in one exhibition. Beatles album covers by Michael Cooper and Iain Macmillan, bold portraits of Jimi Hendrix by David Montgomery and David Magnus, and Brian Aris’ candid shots of Blondie will be exhibited alongside prints that take in the length and breadth of popular culture. www.proud.co.uk Jul 14 - Sep 11 — Free

National Portrait Gallery

Glamour of the Gods: Hollywood Portraits Street Level Photoworks

Gina Glover: Playgrounds of War Gina Glover’s photographs deal with the monumental and emotional detritus of abandoned military bases, drawing upon Gina’s own childhood memories and her personal sense of vulnerability in the face of threatened military force. ‘Playgrounds of War’ presents the aesthetics of past wars, avoided wars and possible wars. Ranging from collapsing bunkers along the Moray Firth to missile targets in the Baltic States, Glover’s images illustrate not only the massive destructive potential of these places, but also how they have succumbed to the rejuvenating corrosion of time, weather and nature.

Nearly 70 vintage photographs spanning 40 years of Hollywood history will be on display at the National Portrait Gallery this summer, including portraits of Marlene Dietrich, James Dean, Joan Collins, Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe. Drawn from the archive of the John Kobal Foundation, this collection of work from nearly 40 photographers examines the importance of photography in creating the stars of Hollywood from 1920 to 1960. Studio portraits will be shown alongside film stills used for lobby cards and posters; these had to encapsulate the film plot, or be powerful and dramatic enough to attract film-goers in just one image, resulting in some striking photographs. www.npg.org.uk Jul 7 - Oct 23 — £6 / £5.50 / £5

www.streetlevelphotoworks.org Jun 11 - Aug 7 — Free

Gina Glover - France, Drop Zone Marlon Brando for Streetcar. Named Desire, 1950 by John Engstead © John Kobal Foundation, 2011

FOCUS Vignette is dedicated to delivering inspiring photography to it’s readers across the UK With a focused readership of professional and ameture photographers across the country. Full details of how your business or organisation can advertise with us can be found online. www.vignettemagazine.com Advertising this size could have costed you as little as £89.

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What’s on

Online 9 eyes A collection of the most beautiful, bizarre and disturbing images from Google Street View. The new street photography? www.9-eyes.com Dear Photograph take a picture of a picture from the past in the present. dearphotograph.com Image Fulgurator Julius von Bismark, an artist in Berlin who uses off camera flash and camera modification that allows him to subvert other people images without there knowledge. www.juliusvonbismarck.com/fulgurator

Tate Modern

Taryn Simon: A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters was produced over a four-year period (2008-11), during which Simon travelled around the world researching and recording bloodlines and their related stories. In each of the eighteen ‘chapters’ that make up the work, the external forces of territory, power, circumstance or religion collide with the internal forces of psychological and physical inheritance. The subjects documented by Simon include feuding families in Brazil, victims of genocide in Bosnia, the body double of Saddam Hussein’s son Uday, and the living dead in India. Her collection is at once cohesive and arbitrary, mapping the relationships among chance, blood, and other components of fate. www.tate.org.uk May 25 - November 6 — Free

Eleven Gallery, London Paul Hill: White Peak, Dark Peak elevenfineart.com Jul 8 - Aug 20 — Free

The Lowery, Manchester Nadav Kander: Selected Portraits, 1999 – 2011 www.thelowry.com April 16 - September 4 — Free

EB&Flow, London Dylan Culhane: Transcendental Wayfaring www.ebandflowgallery.com June 10- August 26 — Free

Oxford Castle, Oxford Britain from the Air britainfromtheair.com June 24 - September 4 — Free

Open air photographic exhibition at More London (riverside near City Hall/The Scoop) Anders Ryman: Rites of Life www.ritesoflife.com July 1 - September 6 — Free

M-Shed, Bristol Martin Parr: Bristol and West mshed.org August 31 - November 27— Free

Chris Beetles Gallery, London Cornel Lucas www.chrisbeetlesfinephotographs.com July 20 - August 27 — Free Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh World Press Photo Awards www.worldpressphoto.org August 06 - 27 — Free

Rhubarb & Custard Gallery, Eton Darren Nisbett: Chernobyl’s zone of alienation www.rhubarbandcustard.biz July 1-31 — Free FOAM Gallery, Amsterdam Anton Corbijn: Inwards and Onwards www.foam.org June 23 - September 1— 8 euro

Alternative Photography Articles, instructions and technical descriptions on how to carry out work in alternative photographic processes and non-silver techniques. The instructions are provided by photographers, teachers and instructors actively working in the process. www.alternativephotography.com Strobist® Learn How to Light. The world’s most popular free resource for learning how to use off-camera flash. strobist.blogspot.com DOFMaster Tools for calculating depth of field over various camera formats, including an online calculator and smartphone apps. Great for rangefinders! www.dofmaster.com

Opportunities The Terry O’Neill Tag Award Deadline: 22 October 2011 www.oneillaward.com Supporting photography from a range of fields, and boasting a first prize of £3,000, the fifth annual O’Neill Photography Awards are open for submissions in categories including Fine Art, Reportage, Fashion, Documentary, Landscape, Wildlife and Portraiture. Eye on Sustainability Deadline: 31 August 2011 tinyurl.com/EOScomp Document sustainability issues as you see them from the stunning beautiful illustrating what’s at stake to the starkly truthful illuminating what needs to be done - to win a Nikon D3100 and have your photo appear in National Geographic magazine. Countryfile Photographic Competition: Best in Show Deadline: 12 August 2011 tinyurl.com/CFPcomp Best in Show has 12 categories open to amateur photographers in the UK. Finalists’ images will be included in the Countryfile 2012 Calendar, with two equipment prizes also to be won. Royal West of England Academy Autumn Open www.rwa.org.uk A mixed discipline exhibition, including painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture and architecture.

159 Autumn Exhibition CALL FOR ENTRIES Sony World Photography Awards Deadline: 4 January 2012 www.worldphoto.org/competitions Various competitions offering photographers of all abilities, ages and backgrounds the chance to gain international exposure for their work, plus many more benefits including cash prizes and camera equipment. Bristol A Second Look Deadline: 31 August 2011 www.secondlook.org.uk Looking for images that capture unnoticed aspects of Bristol that we might otherwise pass by, the small things we might take for granted, details with hidden interest or beauty, or places which people might not normally be able to see. The competition is free to enter and open to everyone who lives or works in Bristol or its surrounding areas. BJP International Photography Award Deadline: 15 September 2011 tinyurl.com/BJPcomp Open to both amateur and professional photographers working in either film or digital, this unthemed competition consists of two separate categories - one recognising a coherent series, the other a stunning single image. Photographers are welcome to enter both categories and to enter more than one series or image to win photographic kit and a framed, printed exhibition at London’s HOST Gallery.

Festivals Hereford, UK Hereford Photography Festival October 28 – November 26 www.photofest.org Paris, France Paris Photo November 9 - 13 www.parisphoto.fr

The RWA is inviting submissions of painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, sculpture and architecture from both amateur and professional artists for the annual open exhibition.* Submissions from 1 July 2011 To submit online – visit www.rwa.org.uk For a pack – call 0117 973 5129 *Entry fees apply. Artwork hand-in dates/locations to be decided.

London, UK Photomonth - East London Photography Festival October - November 2011 www.photomonth.org

Lucia Herrero, Belfast Photo Festival

Belfast, UK Belfast Photo Festival August 4 - 14 www.visionexposed.com This biennial is Northern Ireland’s first major photographic event celebrating some of the finest national and international contemporary photography and visual culture. Including work from Simon Burch, Allan Sekula, Christopher Martin and many more.

Perpignan, France Visa pour l’image - International festival of photojournalism August 27 - September 11 www.visapourlimage.com Arles, France Les Rencontres d’Arles July 4 - September 18 www.rencontres-arles.com Groningen, Netherlands Noorderlicht International Photofestival September 11 - October 9 www.noorderlicht.com

Philip Munoz: Noughties Girl, Oil on Canvas, 2011 Photo: Max McClure www.maxmcclure.com

ISSUE 3

COMING OCTOBER

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