Photography Magazines

Are they still relevant today?

Why bother with reading photography magazines today? Google will answer all your questions and the most modest new product will have a great number of reviews online just a few days after coming onto the market (and often before). So why bother? I don’t read the technical magazines anymore, but there are a number of magazines which remain relevant because they will inspire you. I dip into and read many photography magazines, some mainstream and others a bit fresher (for a better word) such as British Journal of Photography, Aperture, Foam, Accent, etc. The Tate Modern shop, the Photographers’ Gallery and Foyles on Charing Cross Road in London carry a wide selection of excellent magazines worth picking up. My two regular magazines are Black + White Photography (produced in the UK) and Polka (produced in France, in French only unfortunately).

Black + White Photography is a monthly magazine which covers photography from all over the world. It has regular features (eg new gallery shows, photography books, a fortnight at f/8, tests of new products etc) and it has inspirational articles about the work of a particular photographer or printing ideas, or the philosophy of photography. In brief, you will always find several articles of interest. It is also a magazine which I keep and I dip into old issues regularly. It is the only magazine I read cover to cover, every month.

The French Polka magazine is a slightly different beast. It is more glossy but its coverage is wide and is not restricted to black & white photography: portfolios, reportage, innovations, photography in films, exhibitions, interviews, even Instagram discoveries. It comes out every three months and even if your knowledge of French is minimal I am sure you will enjoy dipping into this magazine.

So what to do with all of these magazines lying around at home? After a while (I have subscriptions to both magazines and buy others along the way) they do take a lot of space. After a year or so, I have another look at each magazine. I cut out articles or even just pictures which give me ideas, or remind me of technical points, and I put them in a scrap book (which in of itself will become a personal inspirational tool). Magazines which I have not cannibalised will be passed on to other photographers or sometimes left in train stations’ bookshelves for other people to find .  

Kodachrome

Photography Films

If you are reading this then you are probably like me passionate about photography. It is not enough to take pictures and dream about the photograph we should have taken (if only ... I had my camera with me .... the car had stopped ... this person sitting across me on the train moved two centimetres to the left....I got out of bed this morning in time for the light.... tick all applicable excuses), we need to read about it, watch documentaries and we indiscriminately love any film featuring a photographer.

It is actually quite hard to love the main character in the film Kodachrome, released by Netflix earlier this year. Ben Ryder (brilliantly played by Ed Harris) is a renowned photojournalist who is dying of cancer and whose last request is for his son Matt to accompany him on a road trip from NYC to Kansas to the last remaining lab to process Kodachrome films. Ben Ryder has a few remaining rolls which must be processed before they are lost for ever. We run the gamut of emotions during the film while we witness the strained relationship between father and son. The film is very well acted but one of its main attractions is that it was beautifully shot on Kodak 35 mm. The film is based on true events: the last Kodachrome film was processed at Dwayne’s Photo in Kansas. The director of the film, Mark Raso, based his film on a 2010 New York Times article describing how the last roll of Kodachrome film was exposed and developed at Dwayne’s Photo. We photographers are a romantic lot who like to hark back to the past. A film to watch anytime, and maybe best on the train journey when you forgot to take your camera with you!

Here is a trailer to whet your appetite:

From director Mark Raso, Kodachrome stars Jason Sudeikis, Ed Harris, and Elizabeth Olsen. As the era of Kodachrome film processing comes to an end, a man must reunite with his estranged father on a roadtrip to develop his final rolls of Kodachrome film. Now streaming on Netflix.

There are plenty more films where the main character or one of the main characters is a photographer. Here is my current list; let me know if you know of more:

• the Bridges of Madison County

• Smoke ( Harvey Keitel plays a cigar shop manager who is also an amateur photographer; this is one for the cigar and photography aficionado. In my opinion, this film is an unknown masterpiece)

• High Art (an independent film loosely based on Nan Goldin's life and work)

• Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (a close friend of the main character is a freelance photojournalist shooting on a Leica of course)

• Carol

• Mothers and Daughters (one of the characters is a photographer)

• The Bold Type (fluffy series set in the digital age of women magazine and a bit of a tangent: one of the main characters’ girlfriend is a photographer)

• Betrayal (main character is a photographer - there is a reason why there was only one season made of this series)

William Klein at Polka Galerie

Anything Goes...

On my last visit to Paris, with great anticipation, I went to see the William Klein retrospective at the Polka Galerie in Paris. The gallery has a warm, close relationship with Klein which was obvious in the exhibition. This was not a cold retrospective where photographs are reverently lined up on white walls so that we may admire them in hushed tones. This exhibition reflected not only Klein’s oeuvre, but also his personality. “Anything goes” he likes to say - this does not mean anarchy, uncaring photography, but rather daring photography but always with a smile or a cheeky approach to the subject. This was reflected in the manner the retrospective was curated: photographs crammed together where it was appropriate, others standing on their own on a white wall.

Klein’s career is well documented: it has so far spun street photography to reportage via fashion. I am a huge fan of his work and he has influenced many remarkable photographers including Daido Moriyama (which whom he had an exhibition at Tate Modern in London a few years back), Jacob Aue Sobol and so many others.

What struck me as I toured the exhibition a few times is that this seems very much work in progress. I mean that one does not get the sense that this is it; Klein (who recently celebrated his 90th birthday) is still producing work, photographing and I understand has picked up the brush again on occasion, sometimes mixing photography and painting. This is a true artist enjoying every second of life to its fullest.

I can’t in this blog summarise Klein’s career so far: it extends far beyond photography to cinema, and even sculpture and paintings in his early days. I can only recommend his many books (the book “Life Is Good And Good For You In New York” is in my opinion on par with “The Americans” by Robert Frank as seminal books in photography). If you wanted to have a look at one book only, I would recommend the recent book published (in French only I believe) by Polka Galerie with Editions Textuel for this exhibition: it covers Klein’s career but most interestingly with short (often cheeky) introductions for each chapter by Klein himself which will give you a sense of his approach and the man. (I could not find the book for sale on Amazon or in my usual photography bookstores, but the Galerie has it for sale. The title of the book is simply “ William + Klein”).

In 2012 the BBC made a documentary with Klein in its excellent Imagine series: The Many Lives of William Klein. I can only highly recommend this entertaining documentary:

I must here also mention Polka Galerie. I regularly go to photography galleries. Some seem like stuffy sanctuaries; others welcome you; a few owners have friendly chats with you. But Polka Galerie must be one of the friendliest, most approachable, knowledgeable galleries. It is located in the heart of the Marais in Paris and once you go through the first room of the gallery you enter the courtyard where you will find the bigger gallery in a typical Parisian setting. Of course there is never enough time when visiting Paris, but do try to pop by this gallery and then maybe make your way to the Picasso Museum and have a quick lunch at one of the Marais’ cafes and restaurants (the Sévigne for example has wonderful vegetarian homemade tarts and it is a neighbourhood brasserie with a few tourists and plenty of locals).

A couple of years ago I saw William Klein at Photo London going around the exhibition. He was very approachable and gave me a chance to thank him for his work. I have no selfie with him (it did not cross my mind); rather I have a smile, a twinkle in his eyes in my heart and plenty of inspiration.

Joel Meyerowitz

A workshop with Joel Meyerowitz

"Street Photography is Jazz"

I love photography workshops. You acquire new skills, debunk some myths and get inspired by not only the workshop leader but also the other participants. I make it an annual goal to attend at least two workshops. It does not matter if they are just a few hours long or last a few days. Some workshops are actually free and this is how I attended my first workshop, with Leica to boot! Most Leica stores will have short free workshops on the use of their cameras and I attended one in London on the Leica M which only confirmed that I was lusting after the right camera for me. It helped me focus my saving and I checked regularly with second hand dealers until I was able to pick up a Leica M 240, the camera I currently use. But let’s say that you live far from a major city or are unable to travel to workshop locations; let’s also say that your dream is to have a workshop with the great Joel Meyerowitz (always dream big!). There is now a solution which I recently tested during the Beast from the East which stuck me at home for a while (for those who do not live in the UK, this was the cold snap which the UK media dubbed The Beast from the East: it brought very cold weather, a little bit of snow and a lot of disruption in the UK). I signed up for the new workshop online with Joel Meyerowitz created by the Masters of Photography (https://mastersof.photography/) . I was not too sure how the workshop would work but who can resist Joel Meyerowitz!

The workshop consists of 34 lessons in the form of videos ranging from a few minutes to just under 30 minutes each. They cover everything from an introduction to his photography and his influences, to how to look at pictures and your surroundings, how to build a project, make prints, composition, colour, light, B&W photography, and so much more.  There are also workshops with 5 photographers with different styles, from unusual beautiful seascapes (unusual because they really stand out from the run of the mill seascapes), street photography in B&W, portraits, conceptual photography, etc. I am sure each of us can relate to at least one participant. The video lessons take you from NYC to Italy, from city streets to the countryside, to Meyerowitz’s studio in Italy. This is not a workshop on what setting to use on your camera (there is some of that but not much), rather is it how to look, what to look for, how to express yourself and your ideas. You watch Meyerowitz take the photographs, explaining his thought process, showing you on the back of his camera the photograph he just took. Each video is accompanied by notes (often giving you projects to try) and a transcript of the whole video (very helpful). I must say this workshop exceeded my expectations and I suspect I will often return to various videos over the years. It can be accessed on any of your devices and watched as often as you want. The scripts can be downloaded as pdf. Meyerowitz is a natural teacher and extremely generous and open in his approach.

Where I Find Myself - A Lifetime Retrospective

And since we are talking about Meyerowitz and his body of work, having recently celebrated his 80th birthday he has taken the opportunity to publish a wonderful new book, “Where I find Myself – A Lifetime Retrospective”, which is an absolute gem.  One of the reasons I like Meyerowitz so much is that he is a very versatile photographer: from street photography to reportage, to still lives, to landscapes and portraits. This book gives us a tour of his extensive career in a very approachable and highly readable manner, in reverse chronological order (surprising at first but it does work well in this book). This is a beautiful book made with an open heart by a remarkable photographer.

Here is a snippet from the Joel Meyerowitz's workshop:

Barbican photography exhibition

If it weren’t for photography, who would record people living on the fringe of society, sometimes beyond what is considered the convention, other times simply rebelling against the society they live in? Words of course could record all of that, but in my opinion never quite as poignantly, and often as tenderly, as photographs do. This is aptly demonstrated in an exhibition currently at the Barbican Centre in London (running until 27 May). 20 photographers from all over the world, spanning the period of the 1950’s to today have documented life on the fringe. The display of the photographs was much better than the usual show: each photographer has his or her own room and we meander from one room to the next as we would explore a haunted house. I do not mean that it is a frightening exhibition, but rather each room brings it own surprises. Some of my favourite photographers are exhibited: Daido Moriyama, Diane Arbus, Mary Ellen Mark, Bruce Davidson, Dayanita Singh and many more. Others were wonderful discoveries and some I had heard of but did not know much about their work. The exhibition has some unexpected surprises (eg Casa Susanna) but I do not want to spoil your visit.  I will simply here mention the exhibit of the French photographer Philippe Chancel: you would be forgiven for believing that these are photographs of youths in the Southern states of the USA circa 1950’s, but they are in fact photographs taken in Paris in the 1980’s! Chancel photographed members of two gangs, the Vikings and the Panthers, who were standing out from the more common right-wing gangs of the time since they were made up of members from multiracial background. The Vikings did not have as much a political agenda as the Panthers and they named themselves after the American rock’n’roll group of the 1950’s the Del-Vikings who were the first such group to have both black and white musicians.  The energy of the youths’ music and style clearly emanates from Chancel’s photographs.

As luck would have it, I bumped into Chancel and his wife in the Barbican Kitchen after the exhibition and it was a real treat to discuss with him this exhibition and his current projects. I am afraid, no selfie! It did not even occur to me, as I was too interested in discussing photography, art and the light in London vs Paris with this remarkable photographer.

Do go and see this exhibition; you won’t be disappointed.

Photograph by Philippe Chancel

Andreas Gursky

"Reality can only be shown by constructing it."

Gursky

re-opens the Hayward Gallery in London.

Third time lucky: first time, I went to the gallery a week before the show opened; the second time, I went on the one day of the week the gallery is closed (Tuesdays) but last week I finally struck gold and managed to get a ticket to see this exhibition (very popular; I would recommend booking a ticket in advance). One of the advantages of the Hayward Gallery in the Southbank Centre is that there is a lot of natural light flooding through the roof. It is unusual to see art in natural light which shifts during the day. The renovations are not obvious but once inside you can feel the natural flow of light and of the space. A great spot to see an exhibition. On to Andreas Gursky: truth be told, originally I was not a fan of his work. I had seen some of his work in books and in articles online and on paper. It all seemed rather artificial to me - but most art is meant to be seen in the flesh so to speak. The scale of his work, for which he is particularly known, and the details of his photographs must be seen in person to have its intended effect. His pictures raise some of the key issues of our time (the environment, our materialistic society, over population, etc.) but it is up to us to interpret as we wish his pictures. Most of his photographs are either packed with details or seem at first blush to be minimalistic - in a sense they are all both at once. It takes some time to process what we see. Many of his photographs have become iconic (eg Amazon's warehouse in Phoenix, Arizona) and we think we have "got them" because we have seen them in print; it is only when standing in front of the actual photograph that the scale of our society's excess and waste is truly appreciated. So yes, as Gursky says: " Reality can only be shown by constructing it". 

Below is a short video of the exhibition; I hope you'll have a chance to actually see the exhibition.

As the first UK retrospective of the record-breaking German photographer's work appears at the Hayward Gallery in London, the gallery's director, Ralph Rugoff, explains why he considers Gursky to be among the foremost artists of our time.

Ted Forbes' Artist Series

Where to find inspiration

Today I want to talk about Ted Forbes, the photographer and filmmaker with his own You Tube channel, The Art of Photography. I discovered this channel about a year ago when I had the flu. I suppose we are all the same: when we are well we can't wait for a whole day to spend in bed reading and sipping tea; and then we get ill and we can't read further than one page before our brain gets overwhelmed by some sort of flu fog. For me, this is when I start exploring YouTube and there are plenty of videos aimed at photographers. But few channels are as varied, educational and entertaining as The Art of Photography. Ted does some gear review (we all suffer from GES - gear envy syndrome) but actually most of his videos are educational: they give an insight into a particular photographer's work; or he showcases some photography books and zines; or sets some specific assignments which we have a week to complete...all of that in a casual, friendly way. I do not know how he earns a living but he certainly spends a lot of time producing quality videos. At my first visit, I went through all the videos he produced in The Artist Series (there are two seasons of documentaries out now). They are short, extremely well put together documentaries where he visits and interviews photographers at the top of their game such as David Brookover, Laura Wilson, Graciela Iturbide, William Wegman and many more. I cannot recommend them enough. Here is a trailer for Season 2:

The Artist Series, Season 2 - 5 photographers. Keith Carter, Graciela Iturbide, David Brookover, Lourdes Grobet and Pedro Meyer. Starts June 28 and new videos every Wednesday. I'm extremely proud of these and I hope you enjoy them. Thank you to the photography community that made this possible.

Photography books in London

I am often asked where to buy photography books in London. Most bookshops will have a small photography section but a few bookshops are definitively worth the detour.

The first one is on the ground floor of Foyles on Charing Cross road (Foyles' flagship store). It not only has a good section of books by photographers and on the art of photography, but it also has a large selection of zines which I highly recommend (I have not yet found another bookshop with a dedicated photography zines section). There is also a small selection of signed books. Foyles encourages browsing and if you take a book up to the cafe (highly recommend it; on the top floor), you can browse your book while sipping coffee.  As you walk out of Foyles and walk south on Charing Cross, you will pass Koenig Books which specialises in art books. It has a small selection of photography books but downstairs, there is a larger section of photography books on sale - you'll find some affordable gems.

Tate Modern has two bookshops, each with a good photography section but it is the bookshop in the new building which has the largest selection of photography books. Somehow people will easily find their way to the bookshop at the bottom of the Boiler House (the main building), but fewer people seem to be aware of the bigger bookshop on the main floor of the new building (the Switch House, now known as the Blavatnik Building). It is that second bookshop which has the most substantial collection of photography books, magazines and DVDs. The section is well stocked and looked after and new books are regularly highlighted. It is difficult to come out of this bookshop without buying a book!

If you are at Tate Modern, there is a little secondhand bookshop just across it as you come out the ramp; it has a small but very good photography section (look out for signs for "Art Books").

Waterstones' flagship store on Piccadilly Street (Europe's largest bookshop) has a good photography selection in its Art department, although it is not as good as Foyles or Tate Modern. The wonderful Photographers Gallery in Soho has a small but very good photography section in its basement; it does however have the largest photography magazines selection I believe (but fewer zines than Foyles).

Finally, do not miss the photobook fair Offprint during Photo London in May: you will find a unique selection of photography books and zines from all over the world. 

Close-up of the extensive zine section in Foyles.

Tate Modern's photography books section

The sale section, downstairs, in Koenig Books on Charing Cross road

Daido Moriyama

I am not always sure why I like Daido Moriyama's photography so much. After all, it is often out of focus, very grainy and contrasty. His photographs are usually of urban settings and not the prettiest parts of town. And yet, his photographs are so compelling. Daido Moriyama is best appreciated by looking at, and reading, his books. Like many Japanese photographers, he has mastered the art of the photobook. Over the years, I am slowly building a little Daido Moriyama library. It will probably never be complete since he is so prolific, but it is a growing collection I enjoy. For me, Moriyama captures like no other the smells, rhythms and sounds of a particular city. I find his type of photography liberating. He goes out most days (actually nights) with a small, simple compact camera and just shoots whatever he feels and sees. When the pictures are put together, they make a unique Moriyama story. Whenever I feel timid about going out doing some street photography, I read one of his books or watch a video of Moriyama on YouTube.  Recently, Thames & Hudson (beautifully edited by Mark Holborn) has published in one volume Daido Moriyama's Records numbers 1-30. These were first published in 1972 as small magazines serving as a sort of visual diary, Kiroku (record in Japanese). Moriyama still publishes them today (I believe we are up to number 36 now). Here is a trailer of the video filmed in London when Moriyama was having an exhibition at Tate Modern with William Klein. You will see how Moriyama goes about taking pictures and putting together one of his records. (The whole video used to be available for free on YouTube but you can only see the trailer now; worth hunting down the video). 

My growing collection