Generations

I've recently been updating an on-going project on the Hastings fishing community and twenty six of these photographs are now on display at the Stade Hall Gallery, Hastings, from 2-14 November. The Private View is Thursday evening, 7 November, 6:30-9 but it's not private at all, so Please come!
I began documenting the Hastings fishing community back in 1992, while still living in London. When we moved down here in 2000, I wanted to update it. But as so often happens with creative ambitions, life has a funny way of getting in the way.

In 2012 I was fortunate enough to talk with Yasmin Ornsby of Hastings Fishermen’s Protection Society (HFPS) who encouraged me to continue with the project. We decided that this time the emphasis should be on the generations of families, as fishing in Hastings has always been a family business, with some of the family names going back over 800 years. 
We also felt that it was important that I photograph the women who are such an important and vital part of the Hastings fishing community. 

To be honest, this is a work in progress, as I've really only begun to scratch the surface of recording all the inter-connected generations of fishing families. I want to continue with the project until I've photographed all the different overlapping generations of fishing families -- which could take quite a while!
The sale of all the photographs and postcards will go to (HFPS) to help them in their battle to get a fair quota for Hastings' fishing fleet.

The Battle of the Sexes

‘The Battle of the Sexes’ is a gripping documentary about the 1973 tennis match between Wimbledon champion Billie Jean King and the self-confessed “male chauvinist pig” Bobby Riggs ( New Black Films). King won the match, but the film is much more than just the record of a tennis match. It is the story of King’s fight for equality for women on the tennis courts, and in society in general. Tennis is now the only professional sport where women are paid equally, thanks to the tenacity of Billie Jean King.

I attended the Premier of the film several weeks ago with two of my students from the “Wembley to Soweto” project (Wembley to Soweto)

‘Wembley to Soweto’ began in 2010 during the South African World Cup, teaching young men and women from Soweto how to feed their families with their cameras. The project has since grown, working with young photographers in Newcastle, Cumbria, Brighton and most recently in London during the Olympics.

Samin Ahmadzadeh and Casey Newton, two students from the Olympic project, had the opportunity to work in a real-time situation, rubbing shoulders with London’s top press and news photographers at big celebrity event.

Plans are afoot to run “Wembley to Soweto” in Brazil for the 2014 World Cup. Stay tuned!

Good-bye Tony Soprano

The death of actor James Gandolfini, aka Tony Soprano, at the age of 51 from a heart attack, came as a great shock.

Shocking because he was so relatively young.

And upsetting because I, like so many others, truly loved the Soprano series. In the days before Playback, we would rearrange our social lives so that we didn’t miss an episode. And what episodes they were!

The hulky, threatening gangster who saw a shrink; Tony hiding his huge armament of guns in the loft of an old people's home; and the Mafia don whose own mother plotted his assassination.

‘The Sopranos’ especially resonated for me because my very first photography assignments in New York were for exactly these same characters.

For a short while I worked for the United Teamsters Union, the union of disappearing Jimmy Hoffa fame. The vast majority of American the trade unions worked hard - and honestly - to make workers’ lives better. But the Teamsters were truly the hard boys of the union movement in New York.

The Teamster’s offices, just off Union Square, was filled with Soprano characters.

One time I rode up the lift with a group of Tony’s and as one of them scratched his bulging stomach, I saw the pistol strapped to his belt. I rushed breathlessly to the editor’s office, stumbling over my words to warn him that there was a man with a gun in the building. The editor looked at me with a look of ‘Stupid fuckin’ college kid’ and said, ‘That was the vice president, you idiot.’

The next day I was fired.

Good-bye James Gandolfini, Good-bye Big Tony.

Akram Khan’s DESH

Sometimes when I see a piece of work or art that deeply moves me, I’m left with my mouth agape, unable to find any words to convey the overwhelming sense of awe.

One of those times was when I first saw Guernica at the Museo del Prado in Madrid. Another was when I saw the Taj Mahal at sunrise

And Saturday night I experienced this feeling again when I saw Akram Khan’s magnificent Desh. His dancing, as always, was a combination of extreme physicality, seamlessly merged with a delicacy, grace and humour. Especially amazing for a dancer who severely tore his Achilles tendon in 2011.

But what made Desh overwhelmingly powerful was the lighting, set design and animation. At one point, Khan danced behind a transparent screen, upon which were projected images of an entire jungle, including elephants and birds, and while in the jungle, he actually ‘climbed’ up one of the hanging branches, the lighting so exquisite that for a moment I believed he was actually climbing up this projection of light.

If you don’t know about Akram Kahn, please have a look at Akram Khan Company You’re surely in for a treat!

As a photographer, it was an inspiration on how lighting can be used to take strong imagery into the realms of greatness.

I’ve never photographed Akram Khan – now that would be a dream assignment! – but I have been very privileged to work with the CandoCo Dance Company. CandoCo was started in 1991 by Celeste Dandeker and Adam Benjamin and grew into becoming the first UK professional dance company focused on the integration of disabled and non-disabled dancers.

CandoCo Dance Company

This photo is of Sue Smith and David Toole performing You Are Now Entering The State of Love in 1996.

David most recently performed at the London Paralympic Opening Ceremony. 

Inspiring, to say the very least.

Tyranny of the Decisive Moment

I recently interviewed the photographer Malcolm Glover for the Hastings Online Times (otherwise known as HOT).
I've known Malcolm for years and have always been a huge admirer of his work, the way he stitches together multiple images to create one seamless image of a place, as well as a place in time. I call it stretching time, but he has a more poetic term, Sculpting Time.
I asked Malcolm about his transition from photojournalism to his 'sculpted' imagery.
"After almost twenty years, I had had enough of the Decisive Moment looking over my shoulder every time I tried to get an image. Always looking for that elusive moment became fascistic, and I began to feel that it really was a tyrannical approach to taking photos."
Gasp! Horror! Sacrilege! How can anyone possibly defame the name of the great Cartier-Bresson? How indeed -- and good for you Malcolm!
I have to admit that I'm still in love with the quest for the DM (the image, not the shoes), but it did put a grain of doubt in my mindset and has made me to see
things just a little bit differently when I look through the viewfinder.
Thank you Malcolm!
Please have a read of the full interview:
Malcolm Glover interview in HOT

The Art of Opportunities

Last Saturday morning I was listening to Radio 4's Saturday Live. Well, sort of half listening as one does, while making tea and trying to wake up.
But when I heard the name Evelyn Glennie mentioned, I really did wake up and listen.
An amazing musician, an amazing person, by all accounts.
She is one of the world's leading solo percussionists, (if not THE only full-time solo percussionist) which is especially remarkable as she is almost totally deaf. She experiences sound as a kind of touching or vibration.
She talked about the huge challenges she has faced in her musical career and  said,
"I've learned how to develop the art of creating your own opportunities"
A thought worth holding onto when it feels like the creative juices just aren't flowing.
Several years ago I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to photography Evelyn Glennie. Her intense concentration, dedication and passion to her music was -- and I'm sure still is -- inspirational.

Very First Blog

Dear Friends

Welcome to my very first Blog.

While researching the Fine Art of Blogging, I came across the words of the legendary photographer Jay Maisel, the original master of Kodachrome and a constant inspiration throughout my photography career. Jay Maisel

He says,  "I love the idea of writing a blog, but horrified at the thought of doing it (or anything else) on a regular, formal basis. So this blog will be informal, irregular, informative and of course profane."

Informal and profane... I like that. Thank You Jay Maisel!

I've recently been updating an on-going project on the Hastings fishing community. It's something I began back in 1992, while still living in London. Now we live here and it felt appropriate to continue the project, this time emphasising the families that are involved in commercial fishing here in Hastings. The fathers and sons, brothers, cousins, nephews, in-laws and assorted relations that all work together, trying to survive in a very difficult industry.

There is a possibility that these images will be shown in the House of Commons Upper Waiting Hall. Please stay tuned.