Competitions

I like to enter photographic competitions from time to time - I haven't won any yet, but that doesn't stop me trying. I think it's good to have a go, put your work out there in front of other people in the industry. It often provides a chance to try things out and who knows, one day I might win. It is due, in part, to an earlier competition with the magazine below that I took a leap of faith, quit the day job and started to be a photographer full time. So they can even change your life!


I recently entered into the Black and White Photographer of the Year 2011 competition run through Black and White Photography Magazine and was notified that I had been shortlisted and put through to the next round. I didn't manage to win (this time), but they very kindly put a selection of shortlisted entries into their December 2011 issue and each of the selected images has been given a whole page to itself!  I just can't get over how cool that is.

I wanted to try something different with my photograms. I created new images by joining several together. They are abstract in nature due to the random gathering of found objects, but I wanted to keep the aesthetic quality and suggest that these items could have existed together and worked together. There are all sorts of ingredients in these: dead insects found on windowsills, a plastic bracelet lying in a gutter, an old bottle discovered in the verge on a dog walk, broken rulers...

I've been watcing the films and stop motion animation of The Brothers Quay (pronounced Kway) recently and their work simply blows you away, it is incredibly poetic and visually amazing. (I recommend Street of Crocodiles and Institute Benjamenta as starting points).They appear to live and work in a world where everything that can be overlooked and ignored becomes important and is given life: dust, grime, seeds, screws, the broken and discarded...

 

 

Published work

A small selection of recent sales sold through Trevillion Images.

From small acorns.

When I took my leap of faith I only had a handful of book covers under my belt and, to be honest, I had no idea if I would still be doing this some years later and if I would still be enjoying myself. It's hard to remain positive in the beginning, especially when those bills arrive and you've only sold a few initial images, but the great thing about working in the creative world is that you can switch your mind off to all that outside-your-head-stuff. You can channel your energy, focus on someplace else. Eventually you start to realise that people are recognising the love and effort you've put into things and that spreads outwards and multiplies as people start buying and promoting your work.

Anyways.

That small acorn is now growing nicely and the shoots are looking healthy. I managed to pass the 200 book cover mark over the last fortnight. I reckon I can fix the first rung of the wooden ladder that will eventually lead up to the top of the tree where I'm planning a really cool, childhood-wowness, kinda house.

Something simple

I've always admired the work of Man Ray and I've always enjoyed dabbling in experimental imaging and creating contemporary photograms.
I spent some quality time getting the spare room (studio) looking tidy again and re-discovered a load of 'stuff'.
I love working with layers and textures to build an image upwards like a painting, spending hours or even days getting it just how I want it, but sometimes, just sometimes, it's nice to have a change and enjoy the simple the bold and the graphic.

Broken

I found the heart lying in the gutter. It wasn't the first, or the last. It had been broken at some stage - not a great crack down the middle type of break, but a chink in the edges sort. I'm not an expert, but I guess you could fix this little fella if the missing parts could be found or replaced, and you had one of those really strong glues.
For now it rests, with the others, in a box near the fireplace...

Published work

A few more recent sales.

Photo Manipulation

Being quite an avid fan of photo manipulation and having a background in graphic design, it is always interesting to see what may become of my images once a publisher decides to use it for a book cover.

Submitting work to a photo library is not quite the same as fulfilling a specific brief - I tend to create images mainly for myself, but hope that ultimately they get picked out, bought and used by art buyers. What happens next is usually beyond my control. Will it get the whole cover? A bit of a cover? Will it be tweaked or changed to become something different? Will one image be turned into two?

I just never know, but trust in the judgement of others.

A friend joked that I should have left the island out, but I liked the sense of adventure it represented.