The more eagle-eyed of our readers will be aware that we recently started providing in-depth portfolio review consultations for photographers. In the three years since launch, 1000 Words has grown in both scale of operations and size of audience meaning that the amount of portfolios submitted to the magazine for potential publication has also increased significantly. The sheer volume is staggering. (Upon opening my emails this morning, I realised that there are currently 491 submissions sitting in my inbox from the month of June alone.)
Whilst we do take the time to look at each and every one of these we regret that we can not always respond. However, if you would like to receive specific advice and feedback on your work we have introduced frank and informal review sessions with the view to providing photographers with the following:
-Critique of creative output
-The practical and conceptual vision needed to help attain your goals and develop further photographic projects
-Assistance with self-representation, portfolio presentation and approaches to potential outlets in the editorial, publishing and gallery markets
-Resources to help enhance your work.
Portfolio reviews cost £90 and last one hour. They take place at our offices in East London or at your studio if you have one/if it is more convenient and consist of two one-on-one sessions with 1000 Words’ editors, Tim Clark and Michael Grieve.
To book a portfolio review or for more information contact: portfolio(at)1000wordsmag(dot)com
Showing posts with label Tim Clark. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tim Clark. Show all posts
Friday, 24 June 2011
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
Photography, publishing and the internet
The words "photography" and "publishing" are natural bedfellows, intertwined for as long as anyone can remember. Historically speaking, the printed page was the ultimate venue for viewing a photographer's work but in recent years the internet has profoundly changed the way we look at and think about photography. So who's hogging the duvet now?
In a recent interview, Lesley Martin, publisher of the Aperture Foundation's book programme, ventured the following: "The mystery for me is that the photobook audience has become more educated, more interested, more connected to the idea of the photobook – yet for the most part, sales are not shooting through the roof to a corresponding degree."
Printing photobooks can be very expensive, meaning that print runs are usually small. Publishing online on the other hand is fast, fluid and flexible, costs a fraction of the price but offers an audience infinitely larger choice to boot. Yes, I understand the arguments; Photobooks are collectable. Photobooks offer an intimate and tactile viewing experience. Photobooks are the perfect "lap medium" as the great John Gossage famously said. And yes I am also fully aware that there is a certain stigma attached to the broad access to photography online from some fraternities of the photo world, although thankfully this is gradually fading. Image overload, viewing images on screen and the many things that can ping or pop up at you at once are just some of the common gripes from the digital naysayers. But I'm not arguing for one over the other. Frankly, I'm tired of the analogue versus digital debate. It is as inevitable as it tedious. I prefer to think that we are constantly moving, and that photographic debates and wider creative concerns provide opportunities for us to think on lateral terms, in other words, how can we arrive at a certain point from a different perspective.
What is true is that the sheer volume of images we digest on a daily basis not just on the internet but in the world around us is staggering, something that will only increase at exponential speeds in tandem with developments in technology. Camera phones, social media platforms and the Flickr ecosystem have in effect created a vast sprawling suburb of mediocrity.
So what to make of this slew of imagery? Now, more than ever, when instead of maybe going to galleries and museums we are finding ourselves more frequently viewing websites of photographers as way of discovering new work, there exists a very strong need to expose the meaningful images, promote, curate, share, and, most crucially, review and critique them intelligently.
Tiny Vices, an online gallery and image archive founded in 2005 by one time photo editor at Vice-cum-independent curator and photographer, Tim Barber, was probably the first to do its level best to respond to this challenge, and consequently helped to firmly establish the internet as a legitimate platform for disseminating photography. Offering an eclectic dip into hundreds of portfolios from artists such as Ryan McGinley and Dash Snow to Gus Powell and Craig Mammano, the website quickly become a wildly popular and accessible showcase with its well defined sensibility and thoughtful selection of work. Hundreds of new images were sent in for consideration every month in response to a continuous open call for submissions. By virtue of being web-based, Tiny Vices removed hurdles and facilitated genuine global dialogue and exchange of ideas for people who would never normally have the opportunity to interact in such a way. It fostered a great community. Such was its influence and reach that Barber was invited by Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York to put on a physical exhibition during March, 2006. Reflecting the DIY, punk ethic of the website, it comprised a complex installation of photographs, drawings, and paintings by over sixty of the artists, well known and hitherto unknown, that had been featured online. Tiny Vices is a shining example of how two complimentary modes of production can be incorporated in an interesting and innovative way, whilst at the same time ushering in a radical rethinking of what constitutes a curator. Much could be said, much doubtless will be said about whether bloggers are the curators of the 21st Century.
Another website worthwhile bookmarking or better still saving as your home page is Jason Evans' visual diary, The Daily Nice. Presenting one image per day, his lo-fi website which first went live in 2004 consists of just one page, with just one picture on it. Familiar and spontaneous yet strangely compelling, the images taken by Evans are snapshots of commonplace situations, people, animals, objects, landscapes and the urban environment that convey a fragile, transient beauty. Evans has himself described The Daily Nice as "a retreat – a sheltered harbour, where you can rest for a minute."
Since June 2008 I have been publishing and editing 1000 Words, an independent, opinionated online magazine dedicated to contemporary photography. Released quarterly, each "issue" is loosely based on a theme, and features exhibition and photo book reviews, interviews, essays and multimedia. 1000 Words believes in merit and strives to feature works that represent creative skill, emotion, intelligence and that certain something that cannot be pinned down by words.
Whether we like it or not we are moving in an age where we will always be connected to the internet, and where the smart phone will become someone's digital identity. We are living in a time of accelerated consumption and shortened attention spans. In this information era we are allowed to – and even encouraged to – know very little but there has to be more to it than just an internet sugar rush. 1000 Words abides by the philosophy of the “slow web movement” and therefore requires you to take your time and savour what you consume.
The next issue of 1000 Words - Hidden - will hit the digital shelves 13 May.
This article was originally published by Raconteur Media and appeared in The Times, Saturday 23 April, 2011.
In a recent interview, Lesley Martin, publisher of the Aperture Foundation's book programme, ventured the following: "The mystery for me is that the photobook audience has become more educated, more interested, more connected to the idea of the photobook – yet for the most part, sales are not shooting through the roof to a corresponding degree."
Printing photobooks can be very expensive, meaning that print runs are usually small. Publishing online on the other hand is fast, fluid and flexible, costs a fraction of the price but offers an audience infinitely larger choice to boot. Yes, I understand the arguments; Photobooks are collectable. Photobooks offer an intimate and tactile viewing experience. Photobooks are the perfect "lap medium" as the great John Gossage famously said. And yes I am also fully aware that there is a certain stigma attached to the broad access to photography online from some fraternities of the photo world, although thankfully this is gradually fading. Image overload, viewing images on screen and the many things that can ping or pop up at you at once are just some of the common gripes from the digital naysayers. But I'm not arguing for one over the other. Frankly, I'm tired of the analogue versus digital debate. It is as inevitable as it tedious. I prefer to think that we are constantly moving, and that photographic debates and wider creative concerns provide opportunities for us to think on lateral terms, in other words, how can we arrive at a certain point from a different perspective.
What is true is that the sheer volume of images we digest on a daily basis not just on the internet but in the world around us is staggering, something that will only increase at exponential speeds in tandem with developments in technology. Camera phones, social media platforms and the Flickr ecosystem have in effect created a vast sprawling suburb of mediocrity.
So what to make of this slew of imagery? Now, more than ever, when instead of maybe going to galleries and museums we are finding ourselves more frequently viewing websites of photographers as way of discovering new work, there exists a very strong need to expose the meaningful images, promote, curate, share, and, most crucially, review and critique them intelligently.
Tiny Vices, an online gallery and image archive founded in 2005 by one time photo editor at Vice-cum-independent curator and photographer, Tim Barber, was probably the first to do its level best to respond to this challenge, and consequently helped to firmly establish the internet as a legitimate platform for disseminating photography. Offering an eclectic dip into hundreds of portfolios from artists such as Ryan McGinley and Dash Snow to Gus Powell and Craig Mammano, the website quickly become a wildly popular and accessible showcase with its well defined sensibility and thoughtful selection of work. Hundreds of new images were sent in for consideration every month in response to a continuous open call for submissions. By virtue of being web-based, Tiny Vices removed hurdles and facilitated genuine global dialogue and exchange of ideas for people who would never normally have the opportunity to interact in such a way. It fostered a great community. Such was its influence and reach that Barber was invited by Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York to put on a physical exhibition during March, 2006. Reflecting the DIY, punk ethic of the website, it comprised a complex installation of photographs, drawings, and paintings by over sixty of the artists, well known and hitherto unknown, that had been featured online. Tiny Vices is a shining example of how two complimentary modes of production can be incorporated in an interesting and innovative way, whilst at the same time ushering in a radical rethinking of what constitutes a curator. Much could be said, much doubtless will be said about whether bloggers are the curators of the 21st Century.
Another website worthwhile bookmarking or better still saving as your home page is Jason Evans' visual diary, The Daily Nice. Presenting one image per day, his lo-fi website which first went live in 2004 consists of just one page, with just one picture on it. Familiar and spontaneous yet strangely compelling, the images taken by Evans are snapshots of commonplace situations, people, animals, objects, landscapes and the urban environment that convey a fragile, transient beauty. Evans has himself described The Daily Nice as "a retreat – a sheltered harbour, where you can rest for a minute."
Since June 2008 I have been publishing and editing 1000 Words, an independent, opinionated online magazine dedicated to contemporary photography. Released quarterly, each "issue" is loosely based on a theme, and features exhibition and photo book reviews, interviews, essays and multimedia. 1000 Words believes in merit and strives to feature works that represent creative skill, emotion, intelligence and that certain something that cannot be pinned down by words.
Whether we like it or not we are moving in an age where we will always be connected to the internet, and where the smart phone will become someone's digital identity. We are living in a time of accelerated consumption and shortened attention spans. In this information era we are allowed to – and even encouraged to – know very little but there has to be more to it than just an internet sugar rush. 1000 Words abides by the philosophy of the “slow web movement” and therefore requires you to take your time and savour what you consume.
The next issue of 1000 Words - Hidden - will hit the digital shelves 13 May.
This article was originally published by Raconteur Media and appeared in The Times, Saturday 23 April, 2011.
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
1000 WORDS WORKSHOP WITH ERIK KESSELS IN MOROCCO, SEPTEMBER 2011
*17.07.11 THERE ARE STILL TWO PLACES AVAILABLE-APPLY NOW!-DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 14.08.11!*
After two very successful workshops with Antoine d'Agata and Anders Petersen, 1000 Words is very pleased to present its third with Erik Kessels in Fez, Morocco (12-17 September 2011). Though the camera will be the tool, this workshop will appeal to creatives from all visual disciplines, not just photography.
"Nowadays, we consume images without really looking at them. It's every photographer's duty to make images that stand out from the daily visual clutter." Erik Kessels
Please scroll down for more information and how to submit.
ERIK KESSELS:
Erik Kessels' list of achievements are extensive. He is best described as a curator and publisher who conceptualises vernacular photography and produces unusual artworks. He is a founding partner and Creative Director of the highly successful and innovative advertising agency, KesselsKrammer in Amsterdam (yes, that is the actual website). He has won numerous awards and KesselsKramer comprises of thirty eight people from eight different countries and has been operating since 1996. He has designed, edited and published several books on vernacular photography through KesselsKramer Publishing – including the in almost every picture series, The Instant Men and Wonder. Since 2000, he has been an editor of the alternative photography magazine Useful Photography.
Erik is also noted for his particularly original curated exhibitions such as Loving Your Pictures at the Centraal Museum Utrecht, The Netherlands and at Les Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie, Arles. He was one of four curators (alongside Lou Reed, Fred Ritchin and Vince Aletti) of the New York Photo Festival 2010 where he presented the exhibition Use Me Abuse Me.
Aside from all that, Erik is a very nice man with a creative spirit second to none. His conceptual approach and playful attitude will push those who are open to exploring more lateral ways of image-making.
ABOUT US:
The organisation's flagship is 1000 Words, an online magazine dedicated to contemporary photography in the UK and beyond. It reviews exhibitions and photobooks and publishes interviews, essays and multimedia. We are committed to showing the work of lesser-known but significant artists alongside that of established photographers in the aim of bringing their work to a wider audience. Often incredibly diverse in terms of subjects, concepts, styles and techniques, yet by covering a wide spectrum of genres 1000 Words intends to make us reconsider the contemporary photograph.
Released quarterly, the magazine attracts over 140,000 unique visitors from more than 75 countries every month. In May 2010 the 1000 Words Blog was ranked at number 3 in The Top 25 UK Arts & Culture Blogs as part of a survey carried out by Creative Tourist and was also named as the winner of Arts Media Contacts' Photography Blog of the Year Award, 2010.
Yet 1000 Words is much more than just an online magazine. It is the first step in our concept. 1000 Words also operates a programme of exhibitions and events including four annual workshops in Fez, Morocco as well as talks, portfolio reviews, prizes and awards. In July 2010, we launched the 1000 Words Collection, in partnership with Troika Editions, offering limited edition photography prints at affordable prices from artists including Simon Roberts, JH Engstrom, Bruno Quinquet, Sarah Small, Trinidad Carrillo, Andrew Bruce, Leigh Ledare, Nuno Cera and Virgilio Ferreira.
1000 Words is governed by its board of directors who play an active role in the direction of the organisation. They are: Camilla Gore, Nicholas Barker, Simon Baker, Aron Morel, Louise Clements, Tim Clark, Michael Grieve and Norman Clark. The 1000 Words Workshops are organised by Tim Clark, founder and editor-in-chief at 1000 Words and Michael Grieve, 1000 Words deputy editor, lecturer at Nottingham Trent University and a photographer represented by Agence Vu.
ABOUT THE WORKSHOP:
The 1000 Words Workshop takes place in an authentically restored riad situated in the medieval medina, at the heart of the beautifully evocative city of Fez, Morocco. The workshop will be an intense experience lasting six days between 12-17 September 2011 and will consist of 12 participants. The medina is a vibrant labyrinth that will permeate all the senses. Surrounded by the Atlas Mountains, it offers a visually stunning backdrop for this truly unique workshop.
We are looking for a diverse range of participants who understand the work of Erik Kessels and feel that their own art will benefit from his guidance. As we said before, though the camera will be the tool, this workshop will appeal to creatives from all visual disiplines, not just photography.
"A lot of photographers are looking into ways to make their work public," says Erik Kessels. "Almost every photographer has their own website. But for a lot of photographers, there is also a strong need to publish a book or have an exhibition. How do you communicate these needs to the outside world? Also, which kind of tools are there to use?"
Erik Kessels will first give a lecture about his own experiences on these subjects. There will then be a workshop where photographers will find their own way to proceed in their future work. Subjects will be: 'How to edit your own photographs?' 'Self publishing' and 'How can photographers communicate about their own work?'.
Over the course of several days there will be different short briefs for the attending photographers. These will teach them to be more playful and communicative with their own work.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION:
The cost of the workshop will be £1250 for 6 days. Once participants have been selected they will be expected to pay a non-refundable deposit of £350 within two weeks. Participants can then pay the rest of the fee according to deadlines (see below). Participants are encouraged to arrive the day before the workshop begins for a welcome dinner. The price includes:
-tuition from Erik Kessels (inluding defining each participant's project;shooting;editing sessions;creating a coherent body of work;creation of a slide show;projection of the images of the participants.)
-a welcome and farewell dinner
-lunch everyday and snacks during the afternoon
-24 hour help from the 1000 Words team and an assistant/translator with local knowledge.
Participants will be expected to make their own travel arrangements and find accommodation, which in Fez can range from £150 upwards for the week. We can advise on finding the accommodation that best suits you. Remember that most of your time will be spent either at the riad or shooting. For photographers using film we will provide the means for processing and a scanner. Photographers shooting digital will be expected to bring all necessary equipment. Please note that for the purposes and practicalities of a workshop, digital really is advisable. All participants should also bring a laptop if they have one. Every effort will be made to accommodate individual technical needs.
HOW TO SUBMIT:
We require that you send 10 images as low res jpegs and/or a link to your website, as well as a short biography and statement about why you think it will be relevant for you to work with Erik (approx 200 words total). Submissions are to be sent to workshops@1000wordsmag.com with the following subject header: SUBMISSION FOR 1000 WORDS WORKSHOP WITH ERIK KESSELS.
30 June 2011: Deadline for applications
15 July 2011: Successful candidates contacted
29 July 2011: Deposit due (£350)
31 August 2011: Second instalment due (£900)
11 September 2011: Arrive in Morocco for welcoming dinner
12 September 2011: Workshop begins
17 September 2011: Workshop ends
Succes gewenst!
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
1000 Words - Board of Directors
We are very proud to announce that 1000 Words has recently appointed a new board of directors with the goal of providing strategic direction, ensuring that objectives are achieved, ascertaining that risks are managed appropriately and verifying that the organisations resource’s are used responsibly. They will be crucial to the next stage of 1000 Words’ development. They are:
Camilla Gore is the Director of Flaere Gallery, based in Paris and London specialising in contemporary photography which she founded in 2009. She has eight years’ experience in finance at Ernst & Young LLP focused on the energy sector and has worked at HSBC advising multinational companies on strategy and raising finance, specialising in Asia. She also acts as a freelance consultant at Brunswick Arts, a leading global communications consultancy dedicated to managing and providing strategic advice to arts organisations, charities and the not-for-profit sector with dedicated teams in London, Berlin, Paris, Beijing, New York, Stockholm and Dubai, working fluently in 13 languages. Gore is also the co-founder of Still/Moving, an artist-led venture that aims to bring artists who are defining a new language in photography to London through week-long workshops. A chartered accountant, she holds an MA in Mandarin Chinese.
Nicholas Barker is an award-winning documentary film-maker, director and passionate art collector. He read anthropology at London University and upon graduating started to work for the BBC World Service directing radio drama during the 1980s. Moving into television he produced the popular series Washes Whiter, Signs of the Times and From A to B followed by a feature film, Unmade Beds; an unflinching looks at the over-forties dating scene in New York produced by Chelsea Pictures in 1996. He is currently shooting advertising commercials and his client list includes Burger King, Utterly Butterly, Whiskas, Carte D’Or, McCains and Volkswagen. Nicholas Barker is represented by Rogue Films (UK), Imported Artists (Canada), Chelsea Pictures (USA), Hot Dog Filmproduktion (Germany) and Le Pac (France).
Simon Baker is Curator of Photography and International Art at Tate. He is Tate’s first curator of photography and joined in 2009 from the University of Nottingham, where he was Associate-Professor of Art History. He has researched and written widely on surrealism, photography, and contemporary art; and co-curated the exhibitions Undercover Surrealism: Georges Bataille and Documents (Hayward, London: 2006) and Close-Up: Proximity and defamiliarisation in art, film, and photography (Fruitmarket, Edinburgh: 2008).
Aron Morel is the Director of Morel Books, a London-based independent publisher specialising in affordable limited edition art books and zines made in close collaborations with artists. Recent titles include Moonmilk by Ryan McGinley, The Wedding by Boris Mikhailov and A Season in Hell by Rimbaud, Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe.
Louise Clements is the Artistic Director and Curator at QUAD, a visual arts and media centre in Derby UK. She is also co-founder and Artistic Director/Curator of FORMAT International Photography Festival, Derby UK. FORMAT is one of the UK’s leading contemporary photography festivals since 2004 whose biennial programme celebrates the best of contemporary photography from all over the world. She also participates on photo juries including Vauxhall Collective Style Council Photography Award, Shoot the Street British Journal of Photography, EXPOSURE UK, New York Photography Festival Awards. Reviews portfolios at events in Slovakia, China, India, UK, USA and more. She has written for various artists, catalogues and magazines in both print and online media including VAGA, Creative Review, Next Level, a-n magazine, Troika Editions and Arts Professional. She is currently collaborating with Mark McPherson at Big City Press on a new edition of Hijacked – contemporary photography from Australia/UK.
Tim Clark is the Editor-in-chief and Director at 1000 Words Photography Magazine. Clark has a background in Photography and Visual Culture from Falmouth College of Arts and the University of Brighton, England and has previously worked as a photography critic at The Barcelona Metropolitan. His writing has also appeared in The British Journal of Photography, a-n Magazine, The Daily Telegraph, Next Level, Foto8, Hotshoe, Eyemazing and Fotograf as well as in various exhibition catalogues. He has judged a number of awards and competitions, and has reviewed portfolios at Les Rencontres d’Arles, BJP Vision, New York’s ICP Career Day, FORMAT International Photography Festival and FotoFest Paris. He lives and works in London.
Michael Grieve was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1966. He was educated at the Polytechnic of Central London and graduated with an MA in Photographic Studies from the University of Westminster in 1997. He is a documentary photographer and is represented by Agence VU in Paris. He works for various magazines internationally and specialises in features and portraits. No Love Lost, a project about sexual environments in the UK, is his first photobook and will be published in 2011. He is also the Deputy Editor of 1000 Words and lectures on photography at Nottingham Trent University.
Norman Clark is a chartered management accountant with forty-four years’ experience in the engineering, construction and service industries. During this time, as well as preparing financial group accounts he has had in depth involvement in the fields of corporate governance, development and control of management information systems and business process re-engineering. He was a founding member of the management team that set up of a legal expenses insurance unit for global insurer, Lawclub Legal Protection and has also been running his own accountancy practise for a number of years.
Camilla Gore is the Director of Flaere Gallery, based in Paris and London specialising in contemporary photography which she founded in 2009. She has eight years’ experience in finance at Ernst & Young LLP focused on the energy sector and has worked at HSBC advising multinational companies on strategy and raising finance, specialising in Asia. She also acts as a freelance consultant at Brunswick Arts, a leading global communications consultancy dedicated to managing and providing strategic advice to arts organisations, charities and the not-for-profit sector with dedicated teams in London, Berlin, Paris, Beijing, New York, Stockholm and Dubai, working fluently in 13 languages. Gore is also the co-founder of Still/Moving, an artist-led venture that aims to bring artists who are defining a new language in photography to London through week-long workshops. A chartered accountant, she holds an MA in Mandarin Chinese.
Nicholas Barker is an award-winning documentary film-maker, director and passionate art collector. He read anthropology at London University and upon graduating started to work for the BBC World Service directing radio drama during the 1980s. Moving into television he produced the popular series Washes Whiter, Signs of the Times and From A to B followed by a feature film, Unmade Beds; an unflinching looks at the over-forties dating scene in New York produced by Chelsea Pictures in 1996. He is currently shooting advertising commercials and his client list includes Burger King, Utterly Butterly, Whiskas, Carte D’Or, McCains and Volkswagen. Nicholas Barker is represented by Rogue Films (UK), Imported Artists (Canada), Chelsea Pictures (USA), Hot Dog Filmproduktion (Germany) and Le Pac (France).
Simon Baker is Curator of Photography and International Art at Tate. He is Tate’s first curator of photography and joined in 2009 from the University of Nottingham, where he was Associate-Professor of Art History. He has researched and written widely on surrealism, photography, and contemporary art; and co-curated the exhibitions Undercover Surrealism: Georges Bataille and Documents (Hayward, London: 2006) and Close-Up: Proximity and defamiliarisation in art, film, and photography (Fruitmarket, Edinburgh: 2008).
Aron Morel is the Director of Morel Books, a London-based independent publisher specialising in affordable limited edition art books and zines made in close collaborations with artists. Recent titles include Moonmilk by Ryan McGinley, The Wedding by Boris Mikhailov and A Season in Hell by Rimbaud, Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe.
Louise Clements is the Artistic Director and Curator at QUAD, a visual arts and media centre in Derby UK. She is also co-founder and Artistic Director/Curator of FORMAT International Photography Festival, Derby UK. FORMAT is one of the UK’s leading contemporary photography festivals since 2004 whose biennial programme celebrates the best of contemporary photography from all over the world. She also participates on photo juries including Vauxhall Collective Style Council Photography Award, Shoot the Street British Journal of Photography, EXPOSURE UK, New York Photography Festival Awards. Reviews portfolios at events in Slovakia, China, India, UK, USA and more. She has written for various artists, catalogues and magazines in both print and online media including VAGA, Creative Review, Next Level, a-n magazine, Troika Editions and Arts Professional. She is currently collaborating with Mark McPherson at Big City Press on a new edition of Hijacked – contemporary photography from Australia/UK.
Tim Clark is the Editor-in-chief and Director at 1000 Words Photography Magazine. Clark has a background in Photography and Visual Culture from Falmouth College of Arts and the University of Brighton, England and has previously worked as a photography critic at The Barcelona Metropolitan. His writing has also appeared in The British Journal of Photography, a-n Magazine, The Daily Telegraph, Next Level, Foto8, Hotshoe, Eyemazing and Fotograf as well as in various exhibition catalogues. He has judged a number of awards and competitions, and has reviewed portfolios at Les Rencontres d’Arles, BJP Vision, New York’s ICP Career Day, FORMAT International Photography Festival and FotoFest Paris. He lives and works in London.
Michael Grieve was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1966. He was educated at the Polytechnic of Central London and graduated with an MA in Photographic Studies from the University of Westminster in 1997. He is a documentary photographer and is represented by Agence VU in Paris. He works for various magazines internationally and specialises in features and portraits. No Love Lost, a project about sexual environments in the UK, is his first photobook and will be published in 2011. He is also the Deputy Editor of 1000 Words and lectures on photography at Nottingham Trent University.
Norman Clark is a chartered management accountant with forty-four years’ experience in the engineering, construction and service industries. During this time, as well as preparing financial group accounts he has had in depth involvement in the fields of corporate governance, development and control of management information systems and business process re-engineering. He was a founding member of the management team that set up of a legal expenses insurance unit for global insurer, Lawclub Legal Protection and has also been running his own accountancy practise for a number of years.
Saturday, 18 December 2010
Walter Martin and Paloma Muñoz
When we think of snow globes we tend to think of cozy miniature worlds; that kitschy souvenir from childhood that took its pride of place on top of the TV, occasionally picked up, shaken and marvelled at in wonder as the snow flakes swirled round and round before eventually falling onto fairytales scenes, Jesus in a manger or The Statue of Liberty. Yet Walter Martin and Paloma Muñoz’s appropriation of the snow globe in their art is less about the sentimentality of tacky memorabilia than the effects of toying with the implicit innocence of these familiar objects by creating strange scenarios within them.
At first glance Martin and Muñoz’s snow globes recall the pleasant feeling we have when it snows. An atmosphere in which silence prevails, a time when people are generally in their homes, the animals are resting and even nature itself seems asleep. However upon closer inspection it quickly becomes apparent that the winter fantasy has been somewhat skewed. Not everything seems as it appears: small acts of cruelty, violence and even dark humour come forth to captivate our imagination. Trapped in these snow globes are men and women seen alone or at the mercy of others, lost in a bleak, largely nocturnal landscape straight out of the ‘dead’ of winter. These are momento mori, weirdly reminiscent of the morbid scenes from the Coan Brothers modern masterpiece, Fargo. Travelers is at the same end of the spectrum as the film; an offbeat pseudo-moralist parable that forgoes the boundaries between horror and humour, and that is set in a whitewashed, winter wilderness wherein people are gripped by the cold storm of life as various atrocities unfold around them.
In this photographic series we come across thoroughly malevolent deeds such as a burly man dangling a child over a well or a man pushing a naked woman up to the edge of a glacier. Elsewhere however, images which show a large headed boy banging his forehead against a tree or a couple slow dancing in a cemetery are simply absurd. And while several photographs are particularly horrifying, such as the one of the man in a suit who has hung himself from a tree as the horse that carried him there moseys away, others are hilarious; the figure tipping his hat to another figure tipping his whole head being just one example. Some on the other hand are just downright scary, as is the case with the photograph of a giant spider hunting a helpless man or the one that depicts a procession of villagers wielding torches and heads on stakes. These are like crime scenes that would have perhaps better remained hidden but instead are put on full view before the mantle of snow covers up any traces that these wicked deeds ever took place.
Walter Martin and Paloma Muñoz explore the human condition through an unsettling slippage of reality and fantasy. Paradoxes abound and so the works leave an ample space for interpretation in our minds to complete them. Travelers has a rich texture of ideas, references, memories and dreams but ultimately it is the suspension of disbelief that is the key to their reception and meaning-the odd experience of an everyday household object revealing itself to us as something more surreal totally stumps our expectations. This wonderful synthesis of the familiar and the strange is the linchpin of their work.
As many as 750 art works have been made by this artist team for Travelers. Their working method is clearly as painstaking as it is prolific, the end photograph being just the tip of the iceberg. After spending hours scouring model-making shops for tiny figurines the artists then take them apart, cut them up, paint them and finally reassemble the various body parts, often with oversized limbs or heads, to create the desired effect for their tableaux. Likewise all the elements used to create the barren environments require painstaking precision: spindly branches, trees empty of their leaves and other sparse shrubbery are fashioned out of plumbers’ epoxy (a malleable plastic that can be easily manipulated in order to imitate wooden parts) before being pieced together and covered in water resistant resin. Water mixed with a small measure of alcohol that acts as a preservative are used to fill the orbs so that they are finally ready to be photographed. By using a Mayima camera with a macro lens, bare backgrounds, shallow focus and uncanny illumination to photograph these snowy little worlds the resulting images simultaneously seduce and startle the viewer. Paloma Muñoz compiles hundreds of complimentary images in the process which are then enlarged into prints of enormous size.
The artists have been working together since 1994, having met one year previously when Muñoz was accompanying her mother on a trip from Madrid to New York for a painting show in which she was exhibiting. Not long after they were living and working together. According to them, the pivotal moment in their lives and in the development of their work according to them was when they lost their studio in Brooklyn to a developer in 2001. As a consequence of this they experienced a long period of time constantly chopping and changing their work space until they finally settled into a charming farmhouse in the highlands of East Pennsylvania. It has now not only become ‘home’ but also a great source of inspiration too since their huge studio windows afford a stark vista of snow-covered trees scattered across an otherwise barren landscape much like the ones we see in Travelers. To a certain extent the origin of Travelers can be traced back to this sublime experience of seeing the heavy mid-winter snow that falls like a blanket on these parts when house-hunting all those years ago. In the words of the artists themselves their work with snow globes in effect was a sort of “organic response to their immediate surroundings”.
Having said that, many of these snow globes in the Travelers series contain solitary individuals trudging through the snow storms, heavily laden with bags of shopping or suitcases on a journey to anywhere. Maybe then it is not the place but rather the placelessness that lies at the core of their project. After all the unstable notion of ‘home’ is like a seam running through their work; a constant presence which has resurfaced time and time again. Underlining this sense of belonging and personal identity the image most often used to represent the series is that of a couple struggling to drag their prefabricated house across an unforgiving, icy terrain. It could well be considered as personal anecdote and, by extension, symbolic of the artist’s uprooted lives. Cumbersome and immobile, the house appears to be rolling back down the very hill up which they have pushed it. Later, in a different work from the series, we see that their efforts have been entirely futile as the same house is found at the very edge of a cliff on the point of tumbling down to the abyss that awaits it below.
Those that have the strongest undertow of gloom however are the scenes where people set out, terribly ill-equipped through the blinding blizzard that lies ahead, with no home to go to whatsoever. Such images bring to mind the millions of immigrants in the world that have abandoned a past, a culture and a family in search of a better life abroad for one reason or another, not least because of international conflicts. The protagonists in Travelers walk down an empty road hauling what remains of there belongings with them without even knowing where they are heading. They are eternally frozen in limbo between two indefinite spaces. Their open ended narrative threads refuse to be neatly tied up and instead speak more to the universal concerns of struggle, loss and lament. Therefore the journey that we are really taken on here is not such much physical as psychological that in the end leads only to the existential doubts and fears we have within us.
All images © Walter Martin and Paloma Muñoz
Courtesy of Next Level. Originally published in issue 14 of Next Level magazine, and then in 1000 Words #4
Wednesday, 7 April 2010
1000 WORDS WORKSHOP WITH ANTOINE D’AGATA IN MOROCCO, OCTOBER 2010
© Antoine d´Agata
1000 Words is proud to present its first workshop with the Magnum photographer, Antoine d’Agata, in Fez, Morocco (25-31 October 2010). We are making a call for photographers, professional and amateur alike, to submit entries for this unique creative experience.
“It isn’t the eye that photography poses on the world that interests me but its most intimate rapport with that world”
Antoine d’Agata
Please scroll down for more information and how to submit.
ANTOINE D’AGATA:
Antoine d’Agata is without doubt one of the most unique and important photographers of our age. His imagery is characterised by an intense and highly subjective experience that pushes the limits of social documentary photography. Born in Marseille, 1961, he left France in 1990 to study at The International Centre for Photography in New York alongside Nan Goldin and Larry Clark. His work has been published in the books Insomnia, Vortex, Stigma and Agonie amongst others, and he has been exhibited internationally at galleries and festivals including Rencontres d’Arles, Noorderlicht, FotoFreo and The Photographers Gallery, London.
He has been a member of Magnum Photos since 2004 and is represented by Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire in Paris.
ABOUT US:
1000 Words Photography is an artist-led organisation that has promoted the work of more than 280 art photographers through publishing and exhibiting opportunities. The organisation´s flagship is 1000 Words, an online magazine dedicated to highlighting the best work in contemporary art photography worldwide. The site attracts approximately 140,000 unique visitors from more than 75 countries every month. The 1000 Words Workshop is organised by Tim Clark, writer and editor-in-chief at 1000 Words and Michael Grieve, 1000 Words contributing editor and photographer represented by Agence Vu.
ABOUT THE WORKSHOP:
The location for the 1000 Words Workshop will be the beautifully evocative city of Fez, Morocco. The salon will take place in an authentically restored riad in the heart of the medieval medina of Fez. The workshop will be an intense experience lasting six days between 25-31 October 2010 and will consist of 12 participants.
We are looking for a diverse range of participants who understand the work of Antoine d’Agata and feel that their own work will benefit from his guidance. Each participant will be asked to examine the ultimate goal of his approach, to play an active part in his own images and to work on the texture of reality. Since images, like words, only take on meaning when brought together, the workshop will focus on finding the most relevant form for each individual stance. Working with Antoine d’Agata, participants must be ready to photograph intensively throughout the workshop and to extend the limits of their approach. They will have to confront their obsessions and contradictions as they shape a series of images conveying in real or fictional terms their private relationship with the world.
Depending on individual needs the daily structure begins with lunch at the riad and during the afternoon Antoine will encourage group participation in looking, critiquing and developing ideas and image making. In the late afternoon participants will begin to photograph. The week will end with a display of the work created. All participants work will be shown in a special feature on 1000 Words Photography magazine. The purpose of the workshop is to concentrate on a very personal approach to photography and certainly this will be a richly rewarding week for those who wish to push themselves.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION:
The cost of the workshop will be £1250 for 6 days. Once participants have been selected they will be expected to pay a non-refundable deposit of £350 within two weeks. Participants can then pay the rest of the fee in two instalments according to deadlines (see below). Participants are encouraged to arrive the day before the workshop begins for a welcome dinner. The price includes tuition from Antoine d’Agata, a welcome and farewell dinner, lunch everyday and snacks during the afternoon, 24 hour help from the 1000 Words team and an assistant with local knowledge. Participants will be expected to make their own travel arrangements and find accommodation, which in Fez can range from £150 upwards for the week. We can advise on finding the accommodation that best suits you. Remember that most of your time will be spent either at the riad or shooting. For photographers using film we will provide the means for processing and a scanner. Photographers shooting digital will be expected to bring all necessary equipment. All participants should also bring a laptop if they have one. Every effort will be made to accommodate individual technical needs.
HOW TO SUBMIT:
We require that you send 10 images as low res jpegs and/or a link to your website, as well as a short biography and statement about why you think it will be relevant for you to work with Antoine (approx 200 words total). Submissions are to be sent to workshops(a)1000wordsmag(dot)com with the following subject header: SUBMISSION FOR 1000 WORDS WORKSHOP IN FEZ OCTOBER 2010. Tim Clark and Michael Grieve will produce a shortlist from the entries (all those shortlisted will be contacted) and then Antoine will select the final 12.
14 June 2010: Deadline for applications
30 June 2010: Successful candidates contacted
14 July 2010: Deposit due (£350)
16 August 2010: Second instalment due (£350)
31 August 2010: Third instalment due (£550)
24 October 2010: Arrive in Morocco
25 October 2010: Workshop begins
31 October 2010: Workshop ends
Bonne chance!
Monday, 22 March 2010
Interview with Glasshouse Images
Jacqueline Bovaird recently wrote to me explaining how she is examining new approaches to the traditional magazine model. One of the things she says she has seen as a big difference in the last few years is an audience’s capacity to wait for new content. We want everything now, and then we want more. "While I fully embrace a constant stream of information, great content is worth the wait," she says. She asked me to contribute some ideas on the subject, to which I naturally obliged. Below is the resulting interview. It was originally published here.
JACQUELINE BOVAIRD: Tell me a little about your background and how it led up to 1000 Words.
TIM CLARK: I have a background in Photography and Visual Culture from Falmouth College of Arts and the University of Brighton, England. I have a background in Visual Culture and Photography from Falmouth College of Arts and The University of Brighton, England and previously held positions at various galleries in both the public and private sector including Arnolfini, Fabrica and Michael Hoppen Gallery, London. My writing has appeared in The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Times, FOAM, The British Journal of Photography, Next Level and Foto8 as well as in exhibition catalogues. I've been a juror on a number of awards and competitions including freshfacedandwildeyed and recently the Academy of Nominators for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize. Over the years, I've also been invited to review portfolios at FORMAT International Photography Festival, The Saatchi Gallery, Fotofest Houston and ICP's Career Day.
© Jeffrey Silverthorne
JB: Tell me a little about 1000 Words. What’s the goal? What do you see as different from other sources?
TC: 1000 Words is an online magazine dedicated to highlighting the best of contemporary art photography in the UK and beyond. We are committed to showing the work of lesser-known but significant artists alongside that of established photographers in the aim of bringing their work to a wider audience. Often incredibly diverse in terms of subjects, concepts, styles and techniques, yet by covering a wide spectrum of genres 1000 Words intends to make us reconsider the contemporary photograph. The goal, I suppose, is to carve out our own niche and stand at the forefront of developments in online photography. My aim has really been to explore or exploit the creative possibilities of the internet and in the process provide an exciting space to see photography outside the conventional outlet of galleries, books and magazines.
In terms of what I see as different from other sources, well without wanting to sound too immodest, I don´t think that any other online title has this level of ambition, or quality for that matter. Both innovative and informative, 1000 Words is actively promoting important photography in an intellectual but accessible way. The response of the audience indicates that it is greatly appreciated and much needed by the contemporary photography world. (The site attracts approximately 140,000 unique visitors from over 75 countries every month.) Its design and presentation is very modern, very now and conveys a sense of confidence and knowledge. In general, I think it hits all the right chords… from its name, its design, writing and varied mix of photography, all of which is brought together in a package that is free but contained. I guess what I´m saying is that there is so much photography out there, too much, and we want to do our bit to prevent it from becoming an endless sprawling suburb of mediocrity. As Thomas Doubliez, editorial director at Agence Vu, once said, “1000 Words is not a magazine, it´s a manifesto!”
© Bruno Quinquet
JB: How do you choose which photography goes on the site?
TC: We receive around 50 portfolio submissions and press releases every day which is one level of images. I also spend a great deal of my time trawling through photographers´ blogs and websites to see what recent projects that have been working on so that´s another. Similarly, I check all the agencies from around the globe to see their latest offerings as well. Then there are the catalogs we get sent from all the major publishing houses that specialize in photography books, the best of which I earmark and keep a close eye on for any developments as to future releases. The rest consists of simply getting out there and seeing as many exhibitions as physically possible, going to their private views, chatting with the photographers and curators involved, collecting their business cards so on so forth. The international photography festival circuit provides an invaluable opportunity to see work of real pedigree so I make point of developing close relationships with the likes of PhotoEspaña, Photo New York, Paris Photo and Les Rencontres d´Arles for example, and attend whenever I can. These festivals should form an essential stop on any professional photographer´s itinerary.
From that, the type of photography I´m looking to showcase on the site has to be able transport you to a world you wouldn’t have experienced otherwise. The best pictures, for me, show you something that everybody recognizes in a way that you haven´t seen before. Now that may seem like two opposing ideas but in fact it is not. It is all to do with saying something new about your subject. It´s about contributing new ideas that shed light on some unseen aspect which opens up a space for questioning the world around us. There also has to be some magic involved, a certain romance even. I like photography that is eccentric, eloquent and apolitical. The work you´ll find on 1000 Words reflects this and our selection of imagery often attempts to stump the viewer´s expectations and suspend their disbelief. I would like to think that it´s as though the pictures take on a life of their own. Of course, speaking on a more practical level, I need to see a series of images that is methodically built up, and underpinned by a strong aesthetic and concept, preferably forming part of a project.
© Rimaldas Viksraitis
JB: What’s next?
TC: Aside from developing our brand direction and increasing both the quality and quantity of of the magazine, there are already plans afoot to roll out a long-term program of 1000 Words exhibitions and events such as workshops, slide shows, talks, panel discussions, portfolio reviews and prizes and awards.
JACQUELINE BOVAIRD: Tell me a little about your background and how it led up to 1000 Words.
TIM CLARK: I have a background in Photography and Visual Culture from Falmouth College of Arts and the University of Brighton, England. I have a background in Visual Culture and Photography from Falmouth College of Arts and The University of Brighton, England and previously held positions at various galleries in both the public and private sector including Arnolfini, Fabrica and Michael Hoppen Gallery, London. My writing has appeared in The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Times, FOAM, The British Journal of Photography, Next Level and Foto8 as well as in exhibition catalogues. I've been a juror on a number of awards and competitions including freshfacedandwildeyed and recently the Academy of Nominators for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize. Over the years, I've also been invited to review portfolios at FORMAT International Photography Festival, The Saatchi Gallery, Fotofest Houston and ICP's Career Day.
© Jeffrey Silverthorne
JB: Tell me a little about 1000 Words. What’s the goal? What do you see as different from other sources?
TC: 1000 Words is an online magazine dedicated to highlighting the best of contemporary art photography in the UK and beyond. We are committed to showing the work of lesser-known but significant artists alongside that of established photographers in the aim of bringing their work to a wider audience. Often incredibly diverse in terms of subjects, concepts, styles and techniques, yet by covering a wide spectrum of genres 1000 Words intends to make us reconsider the contemporary photograph. The goal, I suppose, is to carve out our own niche and stand at the forefront of developments in online photography. My aim has really been to explore or exploit the creative possibilities of the internet and in the process provide an exciting space to see photography outside the conventional outlet of galleries, books and magazines.
In terms of what I see as different from other sources, well without wanting to sound too immodest, I don´t think that any other online title has this level of ambition, or quality for that matter. Both innovative and informative, 1000 Words is actively promoting important photography in an intellectual but accessible way. The response of the audience indicates that it is greatly appreciated and much needed by the contemporary photography world. (The site attracts approximately 140,000 unique visitors from over 75 countries every month.) Its design and presentation is very modern, very now and conveys a sense of confidence and knowledge. In general, I think it hits all the right chords… from its name, its design, writing and varied mix of photography, all of which is brought together in a package that is free but contained. I guess what I´m saying is that there is so much photography out there, too much, and we want to do our bit to prevent it from becoming an endless sprawling suburb of mediocrity. As Thomas Doubliez, editorial director at Agence Vu, once said, “1000 Words is not a magazine, it´s a manifesto!”
© Bruno Quinquet
JB: How do you choose which photography goes on the site?
TC: We receive around 50 portfolio submissions and press releases every day which is one level of images. I also spend a great deal of my time trawling through photographers´ blogs and websites to see what recent projects that have been working on so that´s another. Similarly, I check all the agencies from around the globe to see their latest offerings as well. Then there are the catalogs we get sent from all the major publishing houses that specialize in photography books, the best of which I earmark and keep a close eye on for any developments as to future releases. The rest consists of simply getting out there and seeing as many exhibitions as physically possible, going to their private views, chatting with the photographers and curators involved, collecting their business cards so on so forth. The international photography festival circuit provides an invaluable opportunity to see work of real pedigree so I make point of developing close relationships with the likes of PhotoEspaña, Photo New York, Paris Photo and Les Rencontres d´Arles for example, and attend whenever I can. These festivals should form an essential stop on any professional photographer´s itinerary.
From that, the type of photography I´m looking to showcase on the site has to be able transport you to a world you wouldn’t have experienced otherwise. The best pictures, for me, show you something that everybody recognizes in a way that you haven´t seen before. Now that may seem like two opposing ideas but in fact it is not. It is all to do with saying something new about your subject. It´s about contributing new ideas that shed light on some unseen aspect which opens up a space for questioning the world around us. There also has to be some magic involved, a certain romance even. I like photography that is eccentric, eloquent and apolitical. The work you´ll find on 1000 Words reflects this and our selection of imagery often attempts to stump the viewer´s expectations and suspend their disbelief. I would like to think that it´s as though the pictures take on a life of their own. Of course, speaking on a more practical level, I need to see a series of images that is methodically built up, and underpinned by a strong aesthetic and concept, preferably forming part of a project.
© Rimaldas Viksraitis
JB: What’s next?
TC: Aside from developing our brand direction and increasing both the quality and quantity of of the magazine, there are already plans afoot to roll out a long-term program of 1000 Words exhibitions and events such as workshops, slide shows, talks, panel discussions, portfolio reviews and prizes and awards.
Thursday, 19 November 2009
Vision 09 | British Journal Of Photography
© Martin Parr/Magnum Photos
BJP´s essential event for professional photographers - Friday 27 November @ The Business Design Centre, London
Come and learn from the world’s leading experts at Europe’s only event dedicated to aspiring pro and early career photographers.
Vision returns for its 11th year with a packed programme of talks, seminars and folio reviews at the Business Design Centre in London, providing inspiration, information and essential ideas to get your career moving.
Many of the industry’s leading manufacturers will also be there to showcase their latest products and services, giving you a unique opportunity to meet key innovators all under one roof.
Confirmed speakers include:
Steve Bloom
Best known for his wildlife photography, Steve Bloom will be discussing what inspired him to write and photograph his new book Trading Places: The Merchants of Nairobi (Thames and Hudson). This photographic portrait of the merchants of Nairobi offers an encounter with a community rarely glimpsed by outsiders. The results are often delightfully quirky – presenting an authentic form of popular street graphics. After his talk, Steve will be available to answer questions and sign his book.
Martin Parr
Magnum member and the UK's most renowned photographer and chronicler of our age, Martin Parr will be discussing his most recent project, Luxury - his epitaph to the age of conspicuous consumption, with candid images of the fabulously wealthy on the international party circuit. He will also be available for book signings.
Eugene Richards
One of the best living documentary photographers, Eugene Richards will be presenting his latest work, War is Personal, which focuses on Americans whose lives have been irrevocably impacted by the ongoing war in Iraq. The project highlights the consequences a war can have on people once they come home from the frontlines.
Here is the timetable:
I am excited to announce that I will be doing portfolio reviews from 2-4.30 pm. Reserve a one-on-one session with me or any one of the reviewers at the ever-popular folio clinic and get real world feedback and advice from leading imaging professionals. The expert panel includes top image buyers, picture editors and gallerists, so prior booking is essential as these sessions sell out in advance. Each 15-minute session costs £5 in addition to the £10 registration fee to enter Vision 2009. Book a session here.
I am interested in finding new work to showcase in the magazine as well offering up good solid critique. Career guidance and use of the internet as a marketing tool are amongst my other areas of expertise. I am a keen advocate of photography as fine art and am less interested in looking at fashion, editorial and commercial work. I would like to see a series of images that is underpinned by strong aesthetic and conceptual goals, preferably forming part of a project.
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