011 - Larry Sultan

One of the best. An influence to us all.

RIP

010 - Last week

Christmas

This is my last week in Bournemouth before I head back home for Christmas, a weekend of nothing in preparation of the coming week and the lack of rest it comes with.

I've finished my secret santa shopping and thought id just blog before I head off into uni. Tomorrow is when it really kicks off; ill be leaving Bournemouth at 0530 and get home about 0100! Meeting Rod Stanley will definitely be worth the lack of sleep though. I'm in a workshop on magazine publishing, I've been told to bring a past magazine ive produced... problem is, I am yet to produce one! Hopefully I can pull enough out of the day to give myself a better understanding of the publishing world, and make some great contacts. Failing any career boosting moments, I can catch up with an old friend and stagger home.

More reminiscencing on Wednesday with a friend coming down for the day. I'm thinking photography adventures, New Year planning and plenty of spray paint. With a handful of banter thrown on top. Thursday is essay writing day, which I desperately need to work fast on:

1. 'The advent of digital imaging is undermining photography's indexical link with the real - that talismanic quality that enables us to invest so much faith in these images.' (Ian Walker) With reference to a genre of your choice, what impact has digital imaging had on photography?

2. Compare and contrast two approaches to the photographic representation of conflict or everyday life.

I'm thinking I'll choose the first one, it's a question I think I can cover the best and I think that that quote has a lot of talking points in it. It's just the problem of choosing a genre to reference.

Friday is Christmas day! At least, it is in this house. Everyone will be off home on Saturday less myself and 1 other housemate. So the plan is crackers, roast and presents. I don't know where we're going to put the presents though, we don't have a tree! Photographically, I love Christmas. Mainly because I generally don't pick up a camera. It's almost like a detox, afterwards I feel so refreshed and full of ideas.

Brad Moore

009 - Photographer

Yosigo

For all the same reasons that I love Alexander Gronsky, I am so glad to have discovered Yosigo.

And as an added bonus, his website is as huge as it is wonderfully varied.

To finish; an image that simply made me laugh

http://www.yosigo.es

008 - Exciting times

Exciting Times

Things have been crazily busy recently. But things have been exciting

YEAH

It's been a while since I've posted but news like this can't wait. Ben Errey over at YEAH Magazine has asked me to shoot the next cover, with the theme of Boys & Girls. Exciting times! It's been a while since I've done anything that isn't uni work so I'm particularly looking forward to this. So I just need to get the studio booked, sort out some models and I'm sorted.

Youth-led Media Summit

Thanks again to Ben Errey, he introduced me to the Youth-led Media Summit, which sounds, so good, there's loads of different workshops all day, Dazed & Confused are even offering an internship! So excited about this, so roll on next Tuesday! I spoke to Warsan who's the Project Officer for this, and she is so lovely! Even know I'm pretty late at getting involved with the summit she's been amazing and has sorted it all, even my travel expenses!

007 - Video

007 - Video

I really miss adventures. This was from summer 2008 on a wild camping trip to the lake district. But it's not only the little adventures I miss, I miss the little missions late at night in town, climbing scaffolding, buildings and anything we could find. These things were always my inspiration for work, my photography went hand in hand with exploration. Since I've been in Bournemouth I haven't been out with a camera. something I plan to change as soon as I can

006 - Film

Beaufort

I recently watched this film and the first thing that struck me is how little happened in it, yet it said so much. It had an incredible atmosphere and the whole film was punctuated by perpetual yet somehow always unexpected mortar fire, always accom

panied by the dull voice of a bored lookout; "incoming, incoming".

Certain scenes struck me on a purely visual basis:

These stills are taken from inside the complex maze that is the bunker. A character, Ziv, is trying to find his way around the bunker and the cinematography is perfect for this moment.

I just think it's a fantastic location and they did it justice.

It's a location I would've loved to have access to back when I shot these in January:

It's a series I want to go back and re-visit, expand it beyond just the one location. I've scouted a few locations that would be good, hopefully once the workload of uni goes down I'll be able to give it some more time.

005 - Photographer

Alexander Gronsky

I have known about Alexander Gronsky for about 20 minutes. Thanks to Jörg Colberg's Conscientious blog.

There isn't anything in his work shy of incredible. A master of composition with the ability to control a figure in the landscape.

What strikes me most is that the images Gronsky creates, are kind of images I've always aimed to create. If I had discovered him a year or two ago, then how much would he have influenced me? I'm not denying that I find him inspirational, he has instantly become one of my favourite artists.

So thank-you Jörg.

http://www.alexandergronsky.com/

http://www.photographer.ru/

http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/

004 - Magazine

YEAH.

YEAH MAGAZINE IS A NEW THEME BASED, QUARTERLY, INDEPENDENT MAGAZINE. YEAH HAS BEEN PRODUCED TO BE AN AVENUE FOR CREATIVE PEOPLE TO GET THEIR WORK SEEN. EACH ISSUE WILL SEE A NEW THEME, GIVING THE MAGAZINE MORE DIVERSITY EACH TIME IT’S PUBLISHED. YEAH IS NOT JUST GOING TO BE A FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY MAG. WE ARE NOT GOING TO BE TIED DOWN, WE CAN GO ANYWHERE. IT IS ALL DESIGNED TO GET YOUR WORK SEEN!

YEAH. is great. I love it. From concept to quality, it delivers. The 4th issue came out last Sunday and from the personalised cover letter to the stew of creativity inside this 38 page quarterly mag. What I love is that every page has a personal touch from a different artist, be it photographer, illustrator, writer, stylist... the list goes on. YEAH is getting better with every issue yet maintains the sense that it is put together by creative people, for creative people.

I can only hope that YEAH continues growing, progressing and improving.

http://yeah-magazine.blogspot.com/

http://www.yeah-magazine.com/

003 - Band

Sigur Rós

I know I'm way behind on talking about them but as I was belatedly unpacking a box today I found a few CD's. I knew I liked them, but it didn't take long before I realised just how much. I was half way through the first song when I realised the second had started and just as seamlessly I was taken back to my time in Iceland 9 months ago. In just one February week I felt at home in a stranger's country. Both personally and photographically I felt the most inspired, I felt stronger than I ever have been. I don't feel that I will ever choose to go back, I just have the feeling that that is where I will end up. I wonder if maybe I should have taken a bigger step, taken a risk and just gone there. As much as I enjoy Bournemouth, I just don't feel as creative here.

And although these will never be my proudest work, for me they define that week in Iceland. Just as that week defined me.

www.sigur-ros.co.uk/

002 - Photographer

Stuart Freeman

I first met Stuart back in 2004 when I did my work experience at Contrast Photography in Basingstoke, and I assisted at Contrast the next few summers. He's the 2006/08 commercial & advertising and a great person to work with. After being made redundant in October 2008 he started Hype Photography and opened his studio March this year.

His work is definitely worth checking out:

http://sfreeman.co.uk/

http://www.hypephotography.co.uk

001 - Blog

I am starting a blog.

Currently studying Commercial Photography at AUCB Bournemouth.

I am an adventure seeking photographer, student, climber.

This is a blog of me trying to get better at all of these things.

It's a menu of things that inspire me, a list of the good (and the bad) times and a diary of me trying to succeed at life.

Let's see how it goes.

Max