dust breeding

Flattery can get you places

2010-08-16T10:45:00.000-07:00

Nice branding from Whitechapel via the US.

Where am I? Here, there or everywhere.

2010-05-19T11:07:00.000-07:00

Seen on the platform at Tottenham Court Road Station, two ads side by side, telling me exactly where I am. Thanks.

Britney Spears Redacted

2009-11-27T04:05:00.000-08:00

A really great flickr set of Britney Spears, or more accurately non-Britney Spears. These paparazzi shots become much more intriguing due to her absence. The mind is left to fill the void the eye doesn't see, and the people who her aura usually renders invisible—the minders, doormen and shoppers—suddenly become animated and real, their part in the drama of celebrity becomes tangible they begin to emerge from the edges of the shot into focus.
See the full set here

Whatever happened to the hidden persuaders?

2009-11-25T05:40:00.000-08:00

Maybe it was an act of subliminal subterfuge, perhaps something activated a dormant loop somewhere deep inside my brain. Whatever it was, I suddenly recalled Vance Packard's polemic on the mass media and advertising, 'The Hidden Persuaders'. Persuasion was big in the 60s, and this book written in the late 50s taps into the paranoid idea of an arch Madison Avenue manipulating the unwitting public to do their evil want.

'Subliminal Seduction', follows a similar theme, and was a hit in the 1980s when I recall there was a fresh round of belief in subliminal advertising. A particular Levi's campaign featuring Hunter S Thompson was implicated as having had 'sex' written all over his face when a cigarette was airbrushed out. Having worked on photographs that need heavy retouching, perhaps it would be interesting to attempt this...

3 cafes, 3 names, 3 men, 4 letters

2009-11-11T06:14:00.000-08:00

Seen on Upper Regent Street. Needs a further opening perhaps called Dirk to keep up the multinational theme.

Black,white,red,similar

2009-10-05T01:24:00.000-07:00

Two consecutive left hand pages in the Guardian magazine, one for Prada one for Jil Sander's Uniqlo range.

2009-10-02T05:06:00.001-07:00

Images from Steve Hollingsworth's show 'nuomena - neomena' at www.severalpursuits.org in Berlin.

Berlin Underground

2009-10-02T04:06:00.000-07:00

Really beautiful to the visitor, probably not to the citizens of Berlin, the type on the city's underground system is special. My friend Pete also seems to agree;

http://peternencini.blogspot.com/2009/09/somewhere-between-orange-and-red.html

Horror Poster

2009-08-26T02:13:00.000-07:00

I was tidying up the house and found this poster I had bought some time ago for a couple of quid. No idea who, what when, but the design itself is brilliant. The skull with coffin for the nose and the text for the mouth is totally effective but amazingly spare.

And the titles rolled on and on and on…

2009-05-05T09:52:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure who the mighty Steven Hill is, however his site of movie title sequences is totally fantastic. Have a look, it's superbly democratic in its alphabetical listings and totally comprehensive.Here's one of the many gems, and never did the future look so bleak.

http://www.shillpages.com/movies/zz.shtml

Hyenas and other men

2009-05-05T09:28:00.000-07:00

Photographer Pieter Hugo took these amazing shots of 'Gadawan Kura' - The Hyena Men. The photos show entertainers from Nigeria who have these animals tamed for use in performances. My idea of a hyena was always of something small and dog like, these look totally ferocious and otherworldly, huge creatures from ancient myth or demonic entities. The baboon in the Beckham shirt is very amusing though.
See more and read a short essay about the men here:
www.michaelstevenson.com/contemporary/exhibitions/hugo/nigeria_index2.htm

As found

2009-01-21T04:42:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of images from www.as-found.net. In the words of the site "These images, as they have been found, are perfect in our eyes, and we want to showcase them."

Last year I saw Erik Kessels of KesselsKramer talk in London, where he discussed his love of the found photograph. He has collaborated on a number of books entitled useful photography (usefulphotography.com of course) which feature images which are vernacular or overlooked. There is with these images the ability to reach beyond the professional image maker's scope, to create something without the constraints of good taste or composition.

Tablecloth from Naxos

2009-01-12T05:15:00.001-08:00

Seen on the street

2009-01-11T07:10:00.000-08:00

I've been interested in epigrams for years, these don't quite fit into that category but there is a pathos to some of the stuff you see scrawled on walls. Often they rely purely on the context, as with the bottom shot one, which was on the back window on the London bus.

If you find yourself on a wet Tuesday on the 242 gunning down Kingsland Road it could seem a fairly reasonable assessment.

nice.

First thoughts

2009-01-10T03:32:00.000-08:00

Here's a series of shots of graffiti I've shot over the past year. When cropped they take on a hint of abstract expressinism. I love the colours in these pics, the layering of the metallics and flouros.