ey up me duck

Well tie me down and call me ethel, it's been bloody busy. I had no internet for a while, I do now but I have no time to update this blog. I told my tutors i would use this to help plan out ideas and research. So I guess I should start using it again.

Soon I'll post an essay about M.C Escher. Something that has interested me recently, some contempory art or design event/product etc., something about my current work and projects. Finally I'll post some photos about from the BIG DRAW which I'm doing on thursday. more will be revealed later.

So it's all go go go for me. keep looking back.

Day 19, critical, contextual essay thingy.

Day19.com

I have recently bought a photography zine from Jeremy & Claire Weiss which are Day19.com
I will attempt to write a review of sorts. I need to improve my contextual and contempory analysing and writing skills, since I didn't do so brilliantly at it last year at university.

First off, for those of you who haven't seen there work I will do a little background. I found there work about 3 years ago and have been checking there work out reguarly, I was really interested by there work because I felt it was really honest and featured a lot of people that you could tell were their friends because they captured that relationship really subtly. Even their proffessional client portrait work seemed relaxed, informal and honest. They noticed and picked on lots of interesting details that made me think more about capturing and picking up on small details more, not just in photography but my graphics work as well.
Below are some of my favourite photographs of theirs. Not all of them because I'd run out of space. They work in digital and film, Polaroid I think, I will have to ask them.

I don't know who this person is (might be a musician) but I really liked it because it was presenting something different, not synonimus to popular culture and mainstream ideals.


Jack black, most people know that face. It showed his humour and essentric side. Also the truck in the background sort of made me think that it couples with him as a person. I could go all pretentious now and throw in big words but I don't feel the need. What I love about photographs and art is that you can interpatate your own feelings from it and I have done that on this photograph.

This was one of the first photographs that I came across of theirs. This made me think of a mine field and an instruction to dance over it. Signs tell us so many things and instruct us on rules and code of conduct, very rarely signs are telling you more layed back or fun things.



This goes back to what I said about portraits being less formal and more relaxed. You see more elements of them as people coming out on the photograph. Also like one of my tutors at university, he likes what photography gives back to you and that is all the numbers and shapes and textures you find in film and Polaroids. It adds a bit of rawness to a portrait, breaks down the traditional format.


I picked these two for the compisitions and the small details.

This photograph made me laugh a lot. I think its the moustache that did it for me. It captured the moment, memories are important to me and I saw this photograph and it made me think about if this was a photograph of me i would put it in my journal because it would sum up that day better than words could.

One thing that I found was really great when I found their website was their links. They have a really strong community for them selves in California. The guy above is Aaron Farley, another great photographer that I really like and then I found out about jeremy's and aaron's radio show GTFU which I really enjoyed listening too, because they just got drunk with a bunch of mates in bands and played any music they could get hold of. They make me laugh and help me wake up on Tuesday mornings because due to the crappy time difference the show is on really early in the morning, where as I can't drink beer when I'm listening to them I drink lots of coffee. Then I found out about bands from them that I like and never heard of before like Giant Drag that I went to see when they played in Sheffield in England and Brother reade and little wolverines I like too. Also I found a link on their website about Blake e Marquis and I love his designs and his typography work which is my main passion. His use of colours and unique visual language informed my own work. So all from searching the web in my lunch break back when I was in college led to finding out about lots of great artists, photographers, designers, musicians and more. I know I live in england and I should be influenced by what is around me but now due to the web, the world has become smaller and it is easier to be inspired by other things in the world that you would have to travel to, to get at. which is hard when you haven't got much money.

This is the kind of portrait shots I would like to take, focusing on subtle elements of people, controlling focus lengths, cropping and thinking about composition more.

This photograph is in because it made me laugh when I first saw it, pure and simple.


I love this photograph because it was when they came to England. This is just a typical shot of back gardens of houses. If you scroll down in my posts you will see a photograph I took out of my window at my parents house and you will see a similar set up. However as people from another country you have a tendency to photograph all the landmarks of the capital or big cities, which is fine but doesn't give an accurate portrail of a country. This simple, honest photograph captures what England is more about that a landscape photograph of the gerkin in London or the London eye and the house of commons etc. We are more of a working class society now a days. The economy is stronger and more oppurtunites for jobs have made the working class better off. I am working class and my family is and my parents have had similar jobs all their lives and we are much better off now than back in the 80's. Also if you look back in history in the Victorian times we were much more of a middle class society, the lower classes were forgotten about. Well things are still bad now, we still have poverty in this country, just now we have an intense media that doesn't report on it so much.

Well I digressed a lot there, sorry.


This was the zine I bought from them. If your live in England, the exchange rate is good so buy one, it isn't much and it's really good. I am a bit nerdy and picked up on the little details. I liked the paper stock they used, it had a nice grain to it and the pictures sat really well on the paper. I a guessing it was a laser printer they used, very good quality. The front photograph was great and summed up the theme of the zine really well. I love the stitched binding and the cover photograph stitched really neatly. Very high quality zine and the photographs were a great collection of summer photographs and as a person who has never been to America I found it captured a really fresh and fun essence of American life and culture. One we see little of in the news and films anymore. It's all wars, debt, terrorism, power struggles, spin etc and it is a shame because we see all that spewing from the papers and the TV and it doesn't show that there is more going on there that if you look a little harder you will find. Like I did.

I know no body reads this thing but thank you if have read it all and got this far anyway. This blog and this post is really for my own benefit but I hope if anyone does see this post that you will enjoy Jeremy & Claire weiss's photography as much as I do and find out more about art and music an all that stuff.



This last photograph is my own, haha. I love my art box, I always have it with me when I go to university and it is becoming a piece of art it's self. I stick everything onto it that I find or stickers that people give me like the DAY19 sticker I got with the zine. It has pride of place on top of my art box.

reflections and fireworks

A guy I know called Mark Cockedge who has just graduated from my uni is an amazing photographer and he does this double exposure kinda thing and it was amazing. So I took a photograph into the reflection of the window because it reminded me of his work. Also there where fireworks going off and I have a perfect view of them from my room so I took a few snaps. The ones on here are my favorites because they are very abstract images and make me think of all kinds of stuff.

Switzerland

I want to live in Switzerland.
I have decided it suits me down to a tee. Great countryside, buzzing cities, art, culture, friendly smart people, different languages, fantastic food, clean air. Never been so I should start saving so I can take a visit.

updates kinda, sorta, almost, nearly

Stuff is happening. A bit vague I know. I am doing some freelance work, can't put anything of that up yet. I am starting a typographic collective at my university and I've done the ident for it and promotional material but again can't put that up yet until it is finalized. Also doing an ident for a friends art business that he is setting up. again can't put any of that work up yet. I don't really know why I am writing this then. I am doing some research and sketches and little personal artwork thingys at the moment that I can put up shortly. woooo!!!!!!!!
Also some updates on the urban typography project are due pretty soon.

Max Spencer

http://www.monostation.co.uk/

Wow. I wish I could claim to have done this. I love it, it flows wonderfully and makes me want to have it as a big poster. This guy is only 17. I would be jealous but its a wasteful emotion. I love all the subtle elements to it and pastel like tones.

My wish list.

This is my wish list. Picky I know, I want it all. haaha. I am not normally the one that desire material objects, but these aren't just fancy pants to look at, they are serious hardware as well. I wish I could afford them. Maybe one of you with enough money will buy me all that. Who knows. haha. I make do with my old G4 imac though, bless it they last for years.

new website

Me new website is finally online. I was going to make a mailer to advertise my website to select people but I am too busy. It will change a bit, I need to correct some spelling.

Overall I am pleased with it. It best represents me and shows my cleanly. Less is more an all that jazz.

Eric Ellis

widmest.org Eric Ellis is a Design student in America. I found his work on the inter-web and was amazed by his typographic compositions. I have recently bought one of this huge posters. I shall take a photograph of it soon. I am trying to find a wooden frame big enough for it but can't find one anywhere. Looks like I have to make one.

Situation Leeds

Ok so I'm a few months out of date by posting this now. Situation Leeds happened in june. But I am crap and not posted about it till now. I walked past here everyday to get to university and I hated looking down at this horrible space, it used to be an underpass for pedestrians but was blocked in a few years ago and was used by passers by as a fly tip. So when one morning I walked past and I saw all these wonderful artists wrapping all this in yellow thread. I love how abstract it is and there are so many angles that you can view it from. Lines and paths are inter-twined, spanning off in different directions.
As I was walking past I over heard some numbskull talking to his friend that he thought the art installation was a promo for the new spider man movie release. Oh dear, that guy is a bit dull.

Memories

I have recently started restoring old photographs of my grandmas. I love old photographs and these are particially special to me because they are my family history. Events, memories, moments. This is a start of a long project for me.

Purdy

Another picture of the pets. Purdy, she looks a bit deformed on this photo.

Norfolk

Norfolk isn't as boring as I remembered it to be. I went for a week with the folks. I went bike riding most week and went on the beaches with the dogs a lot. Below are a few photos from my trip if your at all interested.

action dogs.
There are lots stones on the beaches, walking bare foot hurts a lot.
On top of the highest point in Norfolk, which isn't very high.
Look closely, it's a face.

SUMMER

Summer at last, blue sky's all around. All the rain can be dried up.

Is this summer?

This was taken from my bedroom in July. JULY!!!!!!!! It looks like autumn. Has the weather gone mad? Last year was roasting, now we are all swimming in the shit infested flood waters. This is not good, people have lost their homes, belongings and some have lost their lives. It's so horrible and people might be able to cope a little better if the next month or so was roasting hot and dried all the water away and cheered up. But it has fore casted more of the same Luckily I live on a hill as you can see from the photo so my house is ok but the town was well flooded in June. now it's the south and lower midlands turn for floods.

My pets

Hands off, mister, thats my turtle.

I eat turtle for breakfast

My cat loves macs too.

She also likes modems as well. She finds them very comfy.

New Website on the way

New website along the way.
I feel really happy about this one because I feel my visual realisation skills are finally up to my ideas.
I feel I am producing more honest and more truthful work because I have stopped being so heavily influenced by aesthetics of other designers and look more for things around me in my life and historical art & design.

I have taken advice from various other designers and visual people with regards to my website design. I have made it all about my work and the actual design elements of my site are very minimal. This is because a portfolio site should be simple and quick to navigate, accessible, content focused and function over form. In my opinion anyway. I have lots of plans for the websites future and will let it grow and evolve. I am going to attempt to learn basic javascript, hahaha that should be hard work.

I don't know exactly when it'll be completed because I want to finish some current projects first.

I need to post more.

This is the start of more regular posts. I feel an urge to update more because maybe more people will view it, but mostly for it be a tool or an asset to me. To force myself to search for more historical and contemperay art and design references and other things in life that my inform me creatively.
A big part of my degree is written theroy and I didn't realise this until the end of my first year (the acedemic year just passed) and I looked at all my grades and I didn't do very well on the written and theroy side of things. haha oh well, you learn from mistakes.

So with this in mind I can use this blog to write about art and design and with practise, improve my skills. Also I like to talk about updates and things to do with my website as well because I am shifting towards different ideas and projects that will use my web space as part of the projects I have planned.

One trip to frank's coffee place thingy.
Thirty minutes.
Two coffee lateey things(steamed/froathed milk with a bit of hot strong coffee)
And a few scribblings and pages.

Here is a bit of creative writing I did there. Well it isn't very creative but I thought of lots of things as well other that what is below. I guess you will have to take my word for it.