Faces
The blog’s been a bit quiet lately. But did you know that we have a facebook page too? Go to https://www.facebook.com/corkap and ‘Like’ us – the info is a bit more quick fire and frequent, and you can post all your film and photography goodness there too!
– Rory
Tim Hetherington & Chris Hondros deaths in Libya have been reported widely during the past few days. Both were talented journalists, photographers, film makers and writers. There is nothing I can add really to what has already been said by those who knew the men and their work. May they rest in peace.
Tim Hetherington on the NY Times
– Rory
Posted in New York Times, Obituary, photo journalism, war
RIP Miroslav Tichy, April 12th 2011
Artist and photographer Miroslav Tichy passed away on April 12th, 2011 (b.1926).
Although I have been aware of his work for a few years, and have read a little about his methods with home made cameras and so on, I don’t really know a whole lot about him. However well he was known (or not) in Czech, he seems to have come to prominence in the western world around 2004, when he was exhibited in Seville (BIACS). When I learnt about his death I did a quick search around the web and came across an excellent article on American Suburb X. The following is a paragraph from the article, by Roman Buxbaum, who was a neighbour of Tichy’s as a child:
The only thing I know for sure about the beginning of Tichy’s work in photography is that the first camera he began to use sometime in the 1960s was an old field camera inherited from his father. The photos are without numbers and without dates. The way they were stored has meant they have been shuffled again and again like playing cards. Approximate dating is possible only by judging from the styles of clothes, kinds of cars, and other things in the photos. The materials on the reverse side of the mounting and the frames also reflect the times when Tichý used them. Most of the photographs were made in the 1970s and 80s. I had a planned number I wanted to do: I would make such and such a number a day, such and such a number in five years, and when I did it, I quit. He bought his film, photographic paper, and chemicals from a drugstore next to the church. To save money, he often bought 60-mm film and then in the darkroom cut it lengthwise into two strips. He set up a darkroom on the courtyard of his house. He made himself an enlarger from boards and two slats, which he pulled out of the fence. The slats are joined together with sheet metal so that they can be slid in and out lengthwise, that’s how he focuses the picture. To keep the enlarger head from slipping, he wedged a piece of sheet metal between the slats. Obrzek He made the lamp box by placing a light bulb into a tin can. He took a lens from a disused camera. Between the light source and the lens he made the negative tray out of plywood with a hole for rewinding the spool of the negatives. The whole enlarger was hermetically sealed with black paper, tape, and shreds of fabric.
The article is long (put the kettle on), but well worth a read. There is a wealth of other information around the web on Tichy, and there is an official site (I assume it’s the official site) here.
– Rory
miroslavtichy-kresba2 (1)
Posted in Obituary
Every week I’ve been introducing you to another member of Cork Analogue Photographers. This week I’d like to introduce you to Pádraig Spillane who takes beautiful portraits and is the other half of Stag & Deer. Feel free to say hello & introduce yourself in the comments below, we’d love to meet you!
– Miriam
Untitled by Pádraig Spillane
Name: Padraig Spillane
Where are you from? I was born and raised in Cork. I studied philosophy in Dublin a few years ago and then moved back to Cork where almost by accident I started my photographic trip.
What cameras do you use? Canon EOS 300, Canon PowerShot A520, Canon EOS 400 D, Hasselblad 500 C/M, my Nokia 3.2 mega pixel camera on my mobile phone.
What was your very first camera? Canon PowerShot A520
Tell me a little about how you got into photography? I kinda fell into photography. After I finished my studies in philosophy I was taking some time off and I was falling in to a routine that I wanted to get out off. I went to Barcelona for a holiday and bought a little Canon digital camera with me and took some pics. When I came back my friends were saying that they were pretty cool and that maybe I should do a course. I enrolled in Crawford College of Art and Design’s photography night course under Roseanne Lynch. It was a purely black and white course based in analogue photography. I was always interested in how things looked like ads, magazines and layouts. I used to make a lot of collages for fun when I was a teenager. Kinda funny irreverent stuff for friends. I was always into reading about art and if I liked something I followed it up and bought a book or whatever. Anyway, I started taking photos of objects or lights/lighting that I liked. My main rush was taking portraits of people. At the end of the photography course year, to my utter surprise (Really it was. I went the colour of Ribena. No faux cheerleader type stuff. Utter shock) I received “The Most Promising Student of the Year Award”. So, from there I’ve been trying to carve a future with photography.
Why choose analogue photography? Well, it is what I’m trained in first and foremost. The “magic” that happens when you print your own photos from film is really special. The attention you pay in the darkroom while printing and then seeing the image become visible in the wet dishes does something to the brain. There is a certain charm. There is also a certain feeling to analogue shots especially in black and white. However, while saying all that I do use digital and that offers something different, immediacy and the room for manipulation is obviously massive. When all is said and done in the digital versus analogue wars, beyond all questions of what processes are used, the image is what counts most. What the image unveils to the viewer is the important thing. Photographers, artists and people who look at art share an inquisitiveness about what an image or a work of art can say about life’s mysteries.
What are your influences and who are some of your favourite photographers? I like things that offer an intimacy which is something I want to capture in my own work. Intimacy is obviously a word with a loaded meaning as well as one that can be quite vague and have a high catchment for work that can be quite unrelated.This thrills me. The work that I’m drawn to has a sense that you are seeing something for the first time. That you are really there at a moment of trust. A big influence has been the the work of Emmanuel Levinas and the way we recognise each other through how we look at one another. What exactly are we trying to find in a person especially through an image of them? What does the image demand of us?
My favorite photographers may or may not directly impact on what my work actually looks like. However, it’s their outlook and there vision that I admire. Wolfgang Tillmans, Irving Penn, Larry Fink, Youssef Nabil, Arron Siskind, Willy Vanderparee, Daniel Reida, Mitch Epstein to name a few. What has made a huge impact on me was my teenage dedication to magazines like The Face, i-D and Dazed and Confused. For a small town boy it opened up the world through images and discussion. That continues to this day with i-D and Fantastic Man. I am a magazine junkie.
What would your dream photography day be like? Who/what/where would you shoot? Now, I’m not saying life is perfect. However, I am very lucky to have a ”family” of friends and collaborators who I take portraits off and work with. Without them and their curiosity and willingness to pose and work with me I would be nowhere. So, my dream would be to continue working with the close knit group of muses I have.
If you want me to daydream then I would have to say I would love to see Irving Penn working on a shoot or be locked in a room with Liberty Ross and only a camera, no fancy lights or make up [I think she is amazing and she always seems up for different things that other models wouldn’t dream of.] Or have a fantasy dinner party with all the artists I admire like Wolfgang Tillmans, Perdro Almodóvar, Gillian Wearing, Irving Penn, P.J. Harvey, Michael Cunningham, Claude Cahun, Juan Muñoz, some peeps from the previous answer. I’d probably feel a bit self-conscious but I’ d say it would be a blast. A headwreck but a blast.
Untitled by Pádraig Spillane
Untitled by Pádraig Spillane
Untitled by Pádraig Spillane
Untitled by Pádraig Spillane
Untitled by Pádraig Spillane
Posted in cork analogue photographer
A huge congratulations to Roseanne Lynch, from Cork, who won the 1st Alliance Francaise Photography Award last Thursday. She wins a 2 week residency at the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris, along with a French course at Alliance Francaise, a €600 grant from the Ireland Fund of France and a one-on-one tutorial with Vermillion Design. Roseanne has been a great friend & supporter of Cork Analogue Photographers, so we’re all delighted to see her win this prestigous prize!
Roseanne Lynch receiving the 1st Alliance Francaise Photography Award (photo via PhotoIreland blog)
The other finalists are Joby Hickey, Doreen Kennedy and Jean Luc Morales. You can see the work of all four finalists in an exhibition in Alliance Francaise on Kildare St. in Dublin until the 11th May. I’ve heard the gallery/cafe is a great place to go for a coffee & what goes better than photography & coffee? So do pop in if you’re in Dublin. In the mean time you can see Roseanne’s work at www.roseannelynch.com or visit her blog for more information. Well done Roseanne!
– Miriam
Posted in cork analogue photographer
See Joerg Colberg’s site Concientious for an interesting announcement regarding the complete works of Garry Winogrand here.
In further news we are strongly considering ditching the old skool silver gelatin, smelly darkrooms, scratchy negs and all the rest in favour of pixel peeping and gear discussions. Ditch your clunky old film cameras and get a bells and whistles all singing all dancing Canikon.
– Rory
cork analogue photographers 