Wednesday 19 August 2009

Monday 10 August 2009

David Bailey Competition - Alive At Night

Photographer David Bailey is on the hunt for people to be part of his next unique exhibition which will capture London at night.
From London Underground workers to burlesque dancers, David will be capturing amazing images of the city’s people as part of his Nokia 86 Alive at Night exhibition.
People interested in taking part should send a short story to www.aliveatnight.co.uk explaining why either they, or someone they know should be part of Bailey’s project.

I'm a Photographer not a Terrorist Launch Party - 8th August

Hackney Secular Singers


Friday 7 August 2009

Customer of the Month - James McCauley


"Monsieur.....with these tarts you are really spoiling us"

Reminder - Party this Saturday 8th August


'I'm a Photographer Not a Terrorist'
campaign launch party
in association with Photo-Forum
6 till late - The Foundry
Photography is under attack.


Across the country anyone with a camera is targeted as a potential terrorist. This campaign is for everyone who values visual imagery and press freedom.The campaign will coordinate a collective response to the restrictions on photography across the country. We will be organising events where photography is restricted to show how pointless these restrictions are. It will also be an information resource for photographers' rights and will map areas where photography is restricted.Entertainment: Interactive self portrait photo-booth 4 Minute Slideshows: 'Paranoid Britain' by Steve Forrest, 'The Miners' Strike' by John Harris, 'Are We Invisible' by David Hoffman, 'Silly Season' and edible delights from 8pm downstairs at the Foundry.Special Guest appearance from the Hackney Secular Singers
The Foundry 86 Great Eastern Street London EC2A 3JL
Photo-Forum - Thursday 13th August
Jacobs Pro Lounge 6pm prompt start until 8pm.
Our last Photo-Forum in July had shows from Dalia Khamissy, John Angerson and Mike Lusmore.
The August Photo-Forum will be discussing planned action at the Guardian/Observer.
We are pleased to have Dana Popa showing, 'Not Natasha' about sex trafficking in Moldova. Currently exhibiting at PhotoFusion: http://bit.ly/78mSN
Justin Sutcliffe http://www.justinsutcliffe.com/ will show a photo- essay from the West African nation of Guinea Bissau, about its culture and the corrosive effects of cocaine. The second is a personal project, whose working title is "on the way to" which is a lighter, more wry project. Justin will also be imparting some tips, tricks and essentials for foreign travel.
Finally we will be featuring Jon Almasi with a selection of candid celebrity images and highly entertaining street photography.

Photo-Forum is organised by photographers as a place for working photographers across the spectrum to bring images, ideas, photo stories, approaches and work in progress for supportive debate and criticism. It runs monthly on the second Thursday of the month in Central London
http://www.photo-forum.org/ Food, drink and animated conversation in the pub after. This is an event for photographers by photographers.
Jacobs Pro Lounge Downstairs at Jacobs 74 New Oxford Street London WC1A 1EU
Please forward to photographers who may be interested.--

Thursday 6 August 2009

Antichrist - Lars Von Trier

Lars Von Triers latest film 'Antichrist' is visually stunning from beginning to end. The cinematography by Antony Dod Mantle is refreshingly unusual and stands out a mile from most films. Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe are a couple trying to come to terms with the accidental death of their son. The breathlessly beautiful opening scene of the film is in slow motion and black and white depicting their son climbing up and falling out of a window whilst the couple are having passionate sex. Dafoe is a therapist who burys his own anguish in attempting to rehabilitate his wife after she is overcome with grief and collapses at the funeral, waking up a month later in hospital. He decides to take her out of the hospital, forcing her to flush all her medication away and becomes fixated with her therapy, forgetting she is his partner, she becomes his patient. Most of the film is set in a cabin, 'Eden', and the surrounding woods, where she spent the last summer with her son, which they travel to after discovering that nature is at the root of most of her fears. What is fascinating is the constant shifts in their relationship, you see her character go through various stages of grief, which coincides with the four chapters of the film: Grief, Pain (Chaos Reigns), Despair (Gynocide) and The Three Beggars. Throughout the film there are constant references to nihilism and destruction, Dafoe is the witness to all of these, a deer which at first he thinks is beautiful until it turns to reveal it is in the middle of giving birth to a stillborn calf, as well as a fox which appears to be eating itself, which speaks to him and says "chaos reigns". The woods seem ominous, like there is a powerful energy watching them, not altogether evil but indifferent. Gainsbourgs character is obsessed by the chaos and inevitability of nature and its affinity with the female. Eventually Dafoe's bizarre therapy style of trying to find the source of her fear, backfires and Gainsbourg's character becomes more and more distressed and psychotic, leading to her ultimately attacking him.
Due exaggerrated shock tactic reviews about graphic sex and self mutilation, a lot of people will not go to see this film, which is unfortunate. There is graphic violence but it is integral to the film and is dealt with in a non-gratuitous way. The film has been wrongly labelled as horror, yet it doesn't sit in the psychological thriller category either. It is more of a dark adult fairystory or moralistic folk tale.
We highly recommend that you see it, at least once.
HA

Tuesday 4 August 2009

Pete Molinari - Secret gig at Pop Boutique
Covent Garden
Monday 8th August

Rankin Retrospective - Friday 31st July- Friday 18th September

The Old Truman Brewery
The Times / Canon
Young Photographer of the Year Competition
2009

The Times has launched the eighth Times Young Photographer of the Year Award. The winner of the competition, which is sponsored by Canon, will win a six-month full-time contract with TNL and a year’s membership to the British Press Photographer’s Association.

The winner will also receive the following Canon camera equipment:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera body
Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8 L lens
EF 70-200 F/2.8 L IS lens
Canon 580EX II Speedlite flash


The competition is open to any UK and Republic of Ireland resident aged between 18 and 26.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/related_features/young_photographer/article3583642.ece