Is this Britain?

Martin Parr has produced a photographic series on 10 British cities. The work has been causing some controversy. Part of this is the usual reaction to Parr's photographs, which tend to ignore much of photographic convention, and consequently many people find his images difficult to read or aesthetically unpleasant. There has also been a line of thought that Parr's work was unsympathetic to the working class.

With the British Cities collection the objection is that the photographs are cliched and dated in exploring contemporary Britain. Others suggest that Parr is getting a bit lazy or that he no longer invests the time required to do justice to the subject. Much as I admire his earlier work, I have to admit these pictures do look like what would come out of a fleeting visit to a city. It's a pity as Britain's greatest living photographer can do better than this.

Two of the best from the collection are shown below.

A selection of the photographs shown in the Guardian are here

Later that day...

It turned out to be one of those days where two separate events suddenly become linked. I'm in Edinburgh at the Stills Gallery for a talk on Henri Lefebvre. One of his themes was on the importance of understanding space. The space in the gallery is indeed interesting. We are sitting in the basement in what is best described as a high IKEA living room. On the opposite wall are five Diane Arbus prints juxtaposed with a sign for the first aid box - somehow this this seems appropriate.

The talk is given by Alex Law in the distinctive passionate way that often characterises Scottish socialist intellectuals. His argument is that Lefebvre was concerned about the nature of everyday life; how the underpinning reality of everyday life is obscured and mystified, that human needs and emotions are subsumed to manipulated consumption and the desire of objects. 

Parr's photographs are of everyday life. Lefebvre though that the purpose of exploring daily life was to unmask its reality to create new knowledge that would transform it. Surely this is also the purpose of art, otherwise its just decoration. Does Parr's photographs help us unmask reality - sadly no. Can photography do this - I'm not sure,  but if it cannot then what's the point?

Afternoon light from the Erskine Bridge near Glasgow

On Kodak Moments

The Tunnel View tourist spot in Yosemite. One of those Kodak Moments where the photograph is self evident. Coachloads of tourists turn up, people disembark, wander around and leave. Apparently many things of interest but Yosemite itself. Maybe the view is just too familiar, or perhaps travelling by coach makes the landscape something removed and viewed through a window frame (just like watching TV). Either way its sad how blase we have become with the grandeur of nature.

Ron Broglio describes a Kodak Moments as being when "the moment commodifies the ephemeral quality of temporal experience by promising to capture the "priceless" moment for the mere cost of film and development. Landscape aesthetics commodifies sight as tourists "capture prospects at every ten paces" . Tourists' need to go further, see more, and catch new prospects, so they can lay claim to having mastered a given topography; the land becomes a possession of the spectator's gaze" . 

Although things are changing, the current Kodak website suggests that we "catch life as it happens ... and upload it to YouTube". Like the landscape the rest of your life is only memorable and has meaning if its available on the screen.

SFMOMA

Editing the photographs from California; those I like, those I don't. The unexpected disappointment where what you have turns out not be what you thought. And then finding something that you were not sure about but snapped anyway is OK, like this picture from the Museum of Modern Art.

Yosemite

At the end of the USA trip a few days in Yosemite. Its late summer so forget any of the classic Ansel Adams images. The light is just wrong and the sky is clear. Early winter light, swirling clouds, mist and atmosphere is what you need to make the dramatic landscapes. Having said that you just have to try regardless. At this time of year detail and back lighting maybe the way to go.

Even so you have to have a go at the classic views. Below is the old standard of Yosemite from the Tunnel View on the road to Glacier Point. El Capitan is on the left and Half Dome in the far centre. Red filter to darken the sky and bit of holding back on the trees. Not a classic but nice just the same.

Adams classic monochrome images of Yosemite have become somewhat unfashionable. Perhaps this is due to overfamiliarity of his work, too many books, postcards, calendars and so on. Maybe these days people just want colour images. Certainly at the Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite the most striking images were colour pictures by other photographers (my favourite by Michael Frye). I was surprised by this, but I also prefered the colour photographs. However I still wanted to photograph in black and white - go figure?

New York Times article on Adams and Yosemite

I was in San Francisco with my daughter Sinead and son Kieran. They went on a road trip down to Los Angeles. Sinead, who is no mean photographer herself, bought a Holga. I though I would post some of the results. Pretty excellent I think and right in the Holga genre.

San Francisco

Wooden House, Telegraph Hill

Downtown

Just back from a too short a trip to San Francisco. Had a few days of just wandering the city and taking pictures - a real treat. Henry Wessel said that he moved from the east coast of the USA to California just because of the light. It's true. Coming from the greyness of western Scotland the light in San Francisco appears to have an amazing clarity and photographs that would look flat and dull at home have real pop about them. If I could move there like Henry I would. For some reason it is also a place for black and white photography; in colour you just don't have the same sense of place.

Alcatraz Ferry Port

Haight-Ashbury

Golden Gate Park

Outside Pat's Cafe