Still Photography? London's first fair of the year opens with a must see exhibition curated by Sue Steward

Simon Baker, Esther Teichmann, Sue Steward & yours truly.

Well hello again readers, it has been a very busy week with the years first art fair in full swing & well worth the time to visit. To visit The London Art Fair is easy, just follow the link for more details. 

I had been asked to join a panel discussing 'Photo50 : THE NEW ALCHEMISTS: Contemporary Photographers Transcending The Print', expertly curated by Sue Steward & thought the least I could do was to tell you about it & encourage you to go & see the show & indeed the fair before it ends tomorrow at 5pm.

Sue Steward as the chair, myself, Esther Teichmann (artist & senior lecturer at the London College of Communications) & Simon Baker (Curator of Photography & International Art at Tate) were all given time to speak individually about the show & the traditions & developments within the field of photography with regards to its expanding definitions as explored by Photo50. I will be posting on the many & varied discussions which arose from this & of course explore the work of the artists that were in the show as well as my usual comparative & illustrative accompaniments.

I will speak at a bit more length later in the week. So don't stall, go & see it before it ends & see if you agree or disagree with the opinions in my next few posts!  

Reasons To Be Cheerful

What a wonderful start to 2012! Happy New Year everyone!

The talent that is Christain Tagliavini has been recognised again, by being included amongst the winners of the 2012 Hasselblad Masters Award, for the Fine Art category. The British Journal of Photography: BJP online have also written a lovely article for those of you whom are interested in all the winners read here.

Whilst I was in the gallery on Saturday the model Lora who is in both of Christian's series 1503 & Dame Di Cartone came into the gallery with her friends. What a wonderful rarity, to meet the model who's face I see ever day. She is of course very beautiful in the flesh & as fresh-faced as in her portraits, (unlike myself, I need makeup & very good lighting sadly) & a delightful woman. She spoke to me about being a model & how much she admired Christian & his work.

The experience of being the subject is life-changing, as I experienced myself working with Neeta Madahar, see my previous blogs (Collaborating with an Angel Parts 1-7) on this here. Whilst looking for a link to the Flora series I came across this lovely blog too: Metro Nature, very interesting...

You are suddenly confronted with your own image through someone else's eyes. I was a collaborator which meant I had more say in the end result. But in Christian Tagliavini's safe hands, I'm sure anyone would jump at the chance to be a model for him, me included (ha ha hint, hint, hint, nudge, nudge...)

The permanence of the image goes far beyond the initial experience of modeling & is then on a journey of its own through the media, on the walls of galleries & art fairs, online & in print. The thought of someone buying a picture of you is a strange one I can tell you.

Lora's friends took some photo's of her with the works & I of course did the same. What a wonderful choice of outfit she was wearing with an updated, contemporary version of a ruff with her fabulous scarf, the colour even complimented the photo perfectly! 

Fancy making your own? Try a miniature one first, here on this Peppercorn Minis blog you can see how. I'm sorely tempted myself...

Also another lovely thing to happen was an article by IdeasTap where I am described as amongst other things a 'photography polymath' wow! Rachel who interviewed me is the Assistant Editor & has her own blog also.

I would also lastly like to thank Natalja Sadikova for taking these pictures in the gallery. 

(The ruff is from the Peppercorn Minis blog)