"The New Alchemists"

So I can rest for a second, and only a second as I plan for the next year of shows back to back! But I thought I would take this moment to talk to you about the events of this week, which saw the opening of Photo50 at The London Art Fair on Tuesday and my panel talk with Aliki, Julie and Bridget on Wednesday lunchtime.

The opening night was a great success with many visitors, curators and gallerists attending the evening and the show was very well received indeed. Sue Steward's curatorial decisions produced a very exciting mix of artists using photography in an alternative manner. From David Birkin and Veronica Bailey's photojournalist lead exhibits to Esther Teichmann's hand-painted prints, the varying levels of craftsmanship was wonderful to see and be apart of. If you haven't yet seen the show I would strongly recommend you do as is a feast for the eyes and really does show you how photography is being used in the UK.

Next was the panel discussion on Wednesday which went very well and I would like to thank all the people that attended the talk, I hope you found it interesting and informative. It is always great to talk about something you love and have such a passion for and be able to share that with others of the same interests.

Kodak

Well, what is there to say. A very, very say day for analogue photography yesterday as Kodak announces that it is filing for Bankruptcy. As the digital developments encompass our industry it seems many can't keep up and it is with great sadness that Kodak is one of those. Personally for me, it is a favourite film of mine, and I will find it very difficult not being able to purchase in the future, lets hope another company can take on its debt and it shall be saved!

Here is an extract for the Guardian article on the news, "To all intents and purposes it is the end of the "Kodak moment". More than 130 years after a "not especially gifted" high school dropout, George Eastman, founded the camera company that dominated photography for most of the 20th century, Kodak Eastman filed for bankruptcy protection in the US on Thursday.

The company which once sold 90% of the film used in the US and made a type of film – Kodachrome – so beloved by amateur and professional photographers that Paul Simon wrote a hit song about it, finally succumbed to the digital revolution which left its products obsolete after years of ferocious competition from more light-footed rivals in the Far East.

The company, whose little yellow boxes could once be found throughout the world, had tried to reinvent itself as a manufacturer of printers to capitalise on its reputation as the best for film printing. But despite the closure of 13 factories, 130 processing labs and 47,000 job losses, the business had little choice but to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The filing lists its assets as worth $5.1bn – but its debts stand at $6.8bn.

"The board of directors and the senior management team unanimously believe this is the right thing to do for the future of Kodak," said chief executive Antonio Perez. He told the company's 19,000 employees, who face further cost structure "transformation", that they are "essential to our future".

Read more of the article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jan/19/kodak-bankruptcy-protection?intcmp=239

"The Handmade Photograph: the role of craft in art photography" Talk on Wednesday 18th January

As I prepare for the opening of Photo50 at the London Art Fair, my works are nearly ready to collect from the framers and everything is set to ship over to Islington next week! This will be the first time that the original, unique pieces have been shown in the UK, so I am very interested to see the response, as they are really much smaller than they are when they have been published.

Don't miss out on hearing me talk about this series and my practice on Wednesday 18th January at 1:30 in "The Handmade Photograph: the role of craft in art photography" talk alongside artists Aliki Braine and Julie Cockburn chaired by Bridget Coaker Director from Troika Editions. You can reserve free places from the link below.

http://www.londonartfair.co.uk/page.cfm/Action=Form/FormID=30/t=m

Eve Arnold 1912-2012

A sad day for Photography yesterday as the news was released by Magnum Photos, Eve Arnold was an amazing photographer and an amazing women, we must be so truly thankful for all that she achieved in photography and continually be inspired by her faith and ability as a determined women in a male dominated industry.

"It is with great sadness that Magnum Photos announces the death of American photographer, Eve Arnold, who passed away peacefully on 4th January 2012.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1912, Arnold was a prominent member of Magnum Photos and the first woman photographer to join in 1957. She began her photography career whilst working at the Stanbi Photos plant in New Jersey in 1946, and in 1948 studied photography with Alexei Brodovitch at the New School for Social Research in New York. Arnold moved to London, England in 1962 where she continued to live and work.

She will perhaps be best remembered for her exceptional photographs of people; the famous, politicians, musicians, artists and the unknown. Her intimate, sensitive and compassionate ten year collaboration with Marilyn Monroe has cemented her as one of the most iconic portrait photographers of our time, but it is the long term reportage stories that drove Arnold’s curiosity and passion."

“Themes recur again and again in my work. I have been poor and I wanted to document poverty; I had lost a child and I was obsessed with birth; I was interested in politics and I wanted to know how it affected our lives; I am a woman and I wanted to know about women.” (Eve Arnold, The Unretouched Woman, Jonathan Cape, 1976).

More can be read here: http://www.magnumphotos.com/c.aspxVP=XSpecific_MAG.StoryDetail_VPage&pid=2K1HRGQXYZW

Royal Opera House

So, a new year and what a way to start it off! In between all the organisation for both Photo50 at the London Art Fair as well as two publications that are due to be released early in the next 2 months, I managed to find some time to be transported into a fantastical world of beauty and went to see The Nutcracker Ballet at the Royal Opera House.

Having seen the ballet as a young child, many many years ago it was so wonderful to experience it once more and in such amazing surroundings. Having not been to the Royal Opera House before, the venue in itself was a delight, let alone the ballet itself. Performed with a live orchestra and with music by Pytor Il'yich Tchaikovsky it really was a stunning evening.

If you haven't been to see a ballet, I really would recommend it. They are such beautiful, sophisticated feasts for the eyes and ears and truly inspiring. For anyone visual, they are a must!

Read more here: http://www.roh.org.uk/discover/ballet/thenutcracker/index.aspx

"Don't Worry Everything Is Going To Be Amazing"

Well what I can say that this doesn't already! As we are nearing the end of this year and heading into 2012, I think this is such a perfect way to starting thinking about the year ahead. Much has happened this year and I want to take this opportunity to whole heartedly thank everyone who has supported my practice and given me many amazing opportunities that I have excitedly taken too. The New Year is promising to be a very exciting one also, with my book being released in March/April and many exhibitions planned throughout, which I will of course keep you updated with.

But I want to thank you all for your continued support and wish you a very wonderful Christmas and an amazing New Year, see you in 2012!

href="http://www.anothermag.com/current/view/1636/Dont_Worry_Everything_Is_Going_To_Be_Amazing">http://www.anothermag.com/current/view/1636/Dont_Worry_Everything_Is_Going_To_Be_Amazing

Photo50

I am very excited to announce that 5 works from the series "The Photograph as Contemporary Art" are part of the Photo50 exhibition at the London Art Fair in January 2012, other contributing artists include Michael Wolf, Esther Teichmann, Joy Gregory to name a few . The show is curated by Sue Steward and is called "The New Alchemists: Contemporary Photographers Transcending the Print." Below is the text for the exhibition.

"This year, Photo50 opens up a spectrum of contemporary photography from the analogue to the digital. This selection of work by twelve photographers focuses on different ways of representing an image and it reveals the broad range of processes involved in image-making. I label them ‘alchemists’ because the term resonates with the ancient practitioners of photography, the experimenters with chemicals and paper, the pioneers of ‘writing with light’ which is what photo-graphy literally means.

Many images in this exhibition were produced through analogue processes and reveal surprising similarities with their digital counterparts; many mingle the two. There is also the changing assumption that the photographic print is the finished object, the ultimate goal of production. But it is no longer necessarily the end-point; the printed paper is enduring the transformation, partially destroyed or decorated, re-built to take on a new dimension – and becoming an original art work in its own right.

The works in Photo50 highlight the richness and diversity of photography today. It’s almost impossible now to define ‘photography’ because of its porous nature and its convergence with painting film and craft, demonstrated in this exhibition. It is a vast art form - and London is a hub for these significant, beautiful, seismic changes."

Read more here: http://www.londonartfair.co.uk/page.cfm/Link=58/t=m/goSection=15

Tacita Dean

I have been meaning to post about this beautiful show currently on at the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern that I went to see two weekends ago. I can honestly say that is a truly stunning, tender, visualisation of what analogue film means to an artist. The darkened Turbine hall is lit up with the central column of 35 mm film, changing, developing in terms of colour, shape and emotion. In some ways it's very reminiscent of the act of processing film, silent, soft with marks that appear then disappear. The film is incredibly beautiful and very inspiring.

As Tacita states, "I chose to make an experimental 35 mm film inside the camera, and so revive spontaneity and risk. I wanted to show film as film can be, and use no post-production other than my normal editing process and the grading that happens in the lab..... I found its rhythm and metre from the material itself, relying not only on the images I had, but on what is normally considered waste: the picture fading at the tail end of a roll, the shimmering metamorphosis of a colour filter change.... "Film" is about film, and in the end, I let the material's intrinsic magic be my guide."

Tacita's film is on from 11th October 2011 until 11th March 2012 at The Tate Modern

Hong Kong Stickers

So as my feature in PHOTO+ is published in South Korea, the Asian promotion is spreading as my Pre-Sale flyers are put up in Hong Kong! A very special thank you to a certain someone who braved the Chinese authority and posted these around HK, more photographs to follow shortly. I think it is also very important to say a very special thank you to Kummer & Herrman for making such an amazingly successful flyer.

See more of their work here: http://www.kummer-herrman.nl/

PHOTO+ Magazine

Usually December is packed with me preparing for Christmas and winding down for the holidays, well this year it is completely the opposite as I am preparing for what is going to be a very busy year for me next year, I can't wait!

But to start off this December I have an 8 page article in a fantastic South Korean Photography magazine called PHOTO+. The article features my series "The Photograph as Contemporary Art" with a written text and eight images. It is great to see the body of work so far reaching. Above is how the features reads and what a great cover for a magazine!

See more here:http://www.iphotoplus.co.kr/v2/current.php?Sub=current&lang=k

Secret Postcards

As its the RCA Secret Postcard sale tomorrow, I wonder how many people are hoping to find themselves a bargain buy, maybe a Tracey Emin, Grayson Perry or Anish Kapoor for only forty-five pounds. Well whether I brave the crowds tomorrow morning and head down to Kensington Gore is yet to be decided but here are my favourites.

See more here: http://dams.rca.ac.uk/res/sites/RCA_Secret/

Promotion

So as I posted already about bill stickers, here is some more examples of the very great sticker promotion! It spread all around Paris, from Saint Germain, Pigalle right through to the Palais de Tokyo, while looking up at the Eiffel Tower. What has happened now is it seems to be spreading across the water right into London. A very big thank you to a certain individual who posted on a post box - perfect! Keep looking around London, they are going to start appearing more and more.