tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34378585843233363792024-03-13T11:53:35.816+00:00HELIOLATRYPhotography and Light.Bolton Mass Observationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11742313739594774904noreply@blogger.comBlogger65125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3437858584323336379.post-78893755727896626392008-12-15T11:18:00.003+00:002008-12-15T11:26:41.265+00:00Tokihiro Sato<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SUY9HyCqwUI/AAAAAAAAASU/5kUZd3oSue0/s1600-h/155.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279974817039827266" style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 322px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SUY9HyCqwUI/AAAAAAAAASU/5kUZd3oSue0/s400/155.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SUY9HsoJn4I/AAAAAAAAASM/TTdN4JPDDcA/s1600-h/25.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279974815586426754" style="WIDTH: 323px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SUY9HsoJn4I/AAAAAAAAASM/TTdN4JPDDcA/s400/25.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div></div></div><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Tokihiro</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Sato</span> uses a mirror or torch to create photographs 'Photo <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Respirations</span>' that trace time through light, a counterpart to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Hiroshi</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Sugimoto's</span> concerns. Interesting for me, when I was researching <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">initial</span> ideas I was looking at signalling using mirrors and the sun, thinking 'this can't make a photograph', but from depth of exploration comes discovery....images from <a href="http://photoarts.com/gallery/sato/satoexh.html">here </a>Bolton Mass Observationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11742313739594774904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3437858584323336379.post-60089091803229170892008-12-10T13:10:00.004+00:002008-12-10T13:36:21.602+00:00Judging a book by its cover<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/ST-_76HCHsI/AAAAAAAAASE/rtAxq8UOe9U/s1600-h/FRONTPAGE.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 296px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/ST-_76HCHsI/AAAAAAAAASE/rtAxq8UOe9U/s400/FRONTPAGE.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5278148324233453250" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This is perhaps how the front cover of the book will look, although, of course, I can't really envisage how the design will be as a physical object. Also still need to purge myself of over-ambitious expectations of both the book and the photographs it contains, thinking of it makes my stomach churn right now! Just had a hunt for, and can't currently find, a book that my grandfather made about a summer climbing trip to Skye. It is painstakingly handwritten with detailed pen and ink sketches of the routes on the mountains. A kind of Wainwright tribute, it is an intense and personal vanity project, presumably never intended for anything other than his own pride. Vanity publishing seems like a negative term but my grandfather's book is wonderful, despite or because of it its intended audience of one, or perhaps some of his climbing club friends. I've tried to bring this idea through in the way that I've presented my work in the book, and I suppose in the very notion of getting it hand-bound. The photographs are subjective experiences of light, and therefore I've presented them as a subjective book. I've also tried to bring in the relationship that printing had to the development of religion, and therefore the assimilation of ancient <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">sun cults</span> into Christian doctrine. Of course, most people will just think the cover is a nice colour and wonder why some of the pictures are blurry! And so they should...Bolton Mass Observationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11742313739594774904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3437858584323336379.post-16510495420993310532008-12-08T17:29:00.004+00:002008-12-08T19:27:59.947+00:00Festival of Light<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/ST1aK2QZPAI/AAAAAAAAAR8/c3CyrYpkhrE/s1600-h/festival+of+light11.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/ST1aK2QZPAI/AAAAAAAAAR8/c3CyrYpkhrE/s400/festival+of+light11.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277473480757558274" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/ST1aKjHzrOI/AAAAAAAAAR0/sQ_ZiRR4MtY/s1600-h/festival+of+light6.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/ST1aKjHzrOI/AAAAAAAAAR0/sQ_ZiRR4MtY/s400/festival+of+light6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277473475621268706" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/ST1aKd3z-fI/AAAAAAAAARs/-JPr2JwpHS4/s1600-h/festival+of+light13.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/ST1aKd3z-fI/AAAAAAAAARs/-JPr2JwpHS4/s400/festival+of+light13.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277473474212002290" border="0" /></a><br /><br />At the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Oldham</span> Interfaith Festival of Light on Friday photographing for my day (or should that be night?) job. The evening was a celebration of light festivals in different religions, (from the top) Hindi dancers celebrating Diwali, the Christian Nativity, and Islamic <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Nasheed</span>. Think I missed the Buddhist section of the programme but the pagans definitely weren't representing, despite all of the above arguably being <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">sublimations</span> of the solstice. Two things that I am thinking of here- firstly the different ways I could have developed my project. I've not really blogged about the book design and getting it printed and off to the binder, because, unlike childbirth there is no massive rush of hormones that instantly makes you forget the means to the end; all I can see of it at the moment is mistakes and tortured misjudgements. I could have done something very straight forward like the above; and let sequence and design ascribe meaning. I feel like I have far too much meaning with my book, like how they say a first novel always tries to bring in every experience of the writer's life to date massacring clarity in the process. Secondly, how much is easier is it to shoot digital? It takes a one hundredth of the time to get it to a point where it can be sent out into the world. I'm amongst millions having this dialogue still in my head, and there are fundamental reasons why I chose to shoot my project on film. Yet I can't help but think that I am a pretentious Luddite with this, thinking that shooting film makes me and the photograph more serious and worthy when ultimately the medium is not the message, the subject is. And to give a subject the value it deserves requires it to be disseminated as widely as possible, and to recognise that you can't control people's response to it once it is gone.Bolton Mass Observationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11742313739594774904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3437858584323336379.post-60562871388832230082008-11-26T22:44:00.002+00:002008-11-26T22:46:50.822+00:00The Somnambulist<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SS3RSsNcIeI/AAAAAAAAARk/_92V4IJqJJc/s1600-h/0706_somnambulist.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 264px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SS3RSsNcIeI/AAAAAAAAARk/_92V4IJqJJc/s400/0706_somnambulist.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273100857756099042" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Ralph Gibson, 'The Somnambulist'. I think the guitar stuff is kind of horrible though, like the photo <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">equivalent</span> of Paul McCartney's later career.Bolton Mass Observationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11742313739594774904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3437858584323336379.post-41948759901724905972008-11-26T22:36:00.002+00:002008-11-26T22:39:40.932+00:00Light is like waterI read this story years ago and often think about it in relation to photography, especially at the moment trying to find words for the book which enhance it:<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana, helvetica, arial;font-size:85%;"><b><u>Light Is Like Water</u></b><br />By Gabriel Garcia Marquez<br /><i>as published in the collection of short stories 'Strange Pilgrims'</i><br /></span><ul><span style="font-family:verdana, helvetica, arial;font-size:85%;"><br /><br />At Christmas the boys asked again for a rowboat.<br /><br />"Okay," said their papa, "we'll buy it when we get back to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Cartagena</span>."<br /><br />Toto, who was nine years old, and Joel, who was seven, were more determined than their parents believed. <br /><br />"No," they said in chorus. "We need it here and now."<br /><br />"To begin with," said their mother, "the only navigable water here is what comes out of the shower."<br /><br />She and her husband were both right. Their house in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Cartagena</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">de</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Indias</span> had a yard with a dock on the bay, and a shed that could hold two large yachts. Here in Madrid, on the other hand, they were crowded into a fifth-floor apartment at 47 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Paseo</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">de</span> la <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Castellana</span>. But in the end neither of them could refuse, because they had promised the children a rowboat complete with sextant and compass if they won their class prizes in elementary school, and they had. And so their papa bought everything and said nothing to his wife, who was more reluctant than he to pay gambling debts. It was a beautiful aluminum boat with a gold stripe at the water line.<br /><br />"The boat's in the garage," their papa announced at lunch. "The problem is, there's no way to bring it up in the elevator or by the stairs, and there's no more space available in the garage."<br /><br />On the following Saturday afternoon, however, the boys invited their classmates to help bring the boat p the stairs and they managed to carry it as far as the maid's room.<br /><br />"Congratulations," said their papa. "Now what?"<br /><br />"Now nothing," said the boys. "All we wanted was to have the boat in the room, and now it's here."<br /><br />On Wednesday night, as they did every Wednesday, the parents went to the movies. The boys, lords and masters of the house, closed the doors and windows and broke the glowing bulb in one of the living room lamps. A jet of golden light as cool as water began to pour out of the broken bulb, and they let it run to a depth of almost three feet. Then they turned off the electricity, took out the rowboat, and navigated at will among the islands in the house.<br /><br />This fabulous adventure was the result of a frivolous remark I made while taking part in a seminar on the poetry of household objects. Toto asked me why the light went on with just a touch of a switch, and I did not have the courage to think about it twice.<br /><br />"Light is like water," I answered. "You turn the tap and out it comes."<br /><br />And so they continued sailing every Wednesday night, learning how to use the sextant and the compass, until their parents came home from the movies and found them sleeping like angels on dry land. Months later, longing to go farther, they asked for complete skin-diving outfits: masks, fins, tanks, and compressed air rifles.<br /><br />"It's bad enough you've put a rowboat you can't use in the maid's room," said their father. "To make it even worse, now you want diving equipment too."<br /><br />"What if we win the Gold Gardenia Prize for the first semester?" said Joel.<br /><br />"No," said their mother in alarm. "That's enough."<br /><br />Their father reproached her for being intransigent.<br /><br />"These kids don't win so much as a nail when it comes to doing what they're supposed to," she said, "but to get what they want they're capable of taking it all, even the teacher's chair."<br /><br />In the end the parents did not say yes or no. But in July, Toto and Joel each won a Gold Gardenia and the public recognition of the headmaster. That same afternoon, without having to ask again, they found the diving outfits in their original packing in their bedroom. And so the following Wednesday, while their parents were at the movies seeing Last Tango in Paris, they filled the apartment to a depth of two fathoms, dove like tame sharks under furniture, including the beds and salvaged from the bottom of the light things that had been lost in darkness for years.<br /><br />At the end-of-the-year awards ceremony, the brothers were acclaimed as examples for the entire school and received certificates of excellence. This time they did not have to ask for anything, because their parents asked them what they wanted. They were so reasonable that all they wanted was a party at home as a treat for their classmates.<br /><br />Their papa, when he was alone with his wife, was radiant.<br /><br />"It's a proof of their maturity, "he said.<br /><br />"From your lips to God's ear," said their mother.<br /><br />The following Wednesday, while their parents were watching <i>The Battle of Algiers</i>, people walking along the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Paseo</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">de</span> la <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Castellana</span> saw a cascade of light falling from an old building hidden among the trees. It spilled over the balconies, poured in torrents down the facade, and rushed along the great avenue in a golden flood that lit the city all the way to the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Guadarrama</span>.<br /><br />In response to the emergency, firemen forced the door on the fifth floor and found the apartment brimming with light all the way to the ceiling. The sofa and easy chairs covered in leopard skin were floating at different levels in the living room, among the bottles from the bar and the grand piano with its Manila shawl that fluttered half submerged like a golden manta ray. Household objects, in the fullness of their poetry, flew with their own wings through the kitchen sky. The marching band instruments that the children used for dancing drifted among the bright-colored fish freed from their mother's aquarium, which were the only creatures alive and happy in the vast illuminated marsh. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Everyone's</span> toothbrush floated in the bathroom, along with Papa's condoms and Mama's jars of creams and her spare bridge, and the television set from the master bedroom floated on its side, still tuned to the final episode of the midnight movie for adults only.<br /><br />At the end of the hall, moving with the current and clutching the oars, with his mask on and only enough air to reach port, Tonto sat in the stern of the boat searching for the lighthouse, and Joel, floating in the prow, still looked for the north star with the sextant, and floating through the entire house were their thirty-seven classmates, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">eternalized</span> in the moment of peeing into the pot of geraniums, singing the schools song with the words changed to make fun of the headmaster, sneaking a glass of brandy from Papa's bottle. For they had turned on so many lights at the same time that the apartment had flooded, and two entire classes at the elementary school of Saint Julian the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Hospitaler</span> drowned on the fifth floor of 47 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Paseo</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">de</span> la <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Castellana</span>. In Madrid, Spain, a remote city of burning summers and icy winds, with no ocean or river, whose land-bound indigenous population had never mastered the science of navigating on light.</span></ul>Bolton Mass Observationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11742313739594774904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3437858584323336379.post-45876829214765673182008-11-24T10:25:00.003+00:002008-11-24T10:31:39.922+00:00Suns from the Internet<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SSqBZekpfwI/AAAAAAAAARc/K5iUI8mJxuU/s1600-h/Suns_large.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 147px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SSqBZekpfwI/AAAAAAAAARc/K5iUI8mJxuU/s400/Suns_large.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272168588494077698" border="0" /></a><br /> I had been looking and failing to find this for a while, but finally came across <a href="http://www.penelopeumbrico.net/"><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Penelope</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Umbrico's</span></a> 'Suns from the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Internet</span>' project again:-<span class="links"><br /> <br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">'This is a project I started when I found 2,303,087 pictures of sunsets searching the word “sunset on the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Flickr</span> site. I took just the suns from these pictures and made snapshot prints of them. </span><br /> <br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> I find it particularly absurd that the sun, the quintessential life giver, constant in our lives, symbol of enlightenment, spirituality, eternity, all things unreachable and ephemeral, omnipotent provider of optimism and vitamin D… and so ubiquitously photographed, is subsumed to the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Internet</span>, the most virtual of spaces equally infinite but within a closed electrical circuit. Looking into this cool electronic space one finds a virtual window into the natural world'<br /><br /></span></span>Bolton Mass Observationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11742313739594774904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3437858584323336379.post-18576746660521270022008-11-19T23:35:00.001+00:002008-11-19T23:37:51.715+00:00Book Planning<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SSSjJaMBWiI/AAAAAAAAARU/hKmplYNgDv8/s1600-h/room3.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SSSjJaMBWiI/AAAAAAAAARU/hKmplYNgDv8/s400/room3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270516845974215202" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Its kind of like playing pairs with cards, only better....Bolton Mass Observationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11742313739594774904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3437858584323336379.post-50046667995894182502008-11-19T23:28:00.003+00:002008-11-19T23:35:30.019+00:00Red Eye<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SSShJ9XaK7I/AAAAAAAAARM/HW_PrH-TzlM/s1600-h/redeye.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 296px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SSShJ9XaK7I/AAAAAAAAARM/HW_PrH-TzlM/s400/redeye.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270514656393964466" border="0" /></a><br /><br />My optician told me that I had too many red blood cells in my eyes yesterday. Its difficult to explain the desire to stare at magnified dust on a computer screen solidly for a week even to myself at this stage. I'm longing for straight forward sensor dust right now.Bolton Mass Observationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11742313739594774904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3437858584323336379.post-45344666950453479922008-11-12T21:22:00.003+00:002008-11-12T22:23:18.087+00:00The Nuremberg Chronicle<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SRtKEEmo0CI/AAAAAAAAARE/z4Hkowez_RU/s1600-h/chronicles.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SRtKEEmo0CI/AAAAAAAAARE/z4Hkowez_RU/s400/chronicles.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5267885622955659298" border="0" /></a>
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SRtKDq-pbRI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/3yjzu9CwARE/s1600-h/equinox-c.edge.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 263px; height: 417px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SRtKDq-pbRI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/3yjzu9CwARE/s400/equinox-c.edge.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5267885616077040914" border="0" /></a>
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<br />The first photograph is from a copy of the Nuremberg Chronicle held at <a href="http://www.chethams.org.uk/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Chetham's</span></span> Library</a>, actually photographed at the window seat where Marx and Engels used to meet up, and that's the shadow of the window of the oldest medieval settlement in the North of England over it, that is! <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_Chronicle">The Nuremberg Chronicle</a> is one of the oldest printed books, an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incunabulum" title="Incunabulum">incunabulum</a>. (I make no apologies for using <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">wikipedia</span></span> to reference to here, although I use to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">bollock</span></span> my students for using it as their primary essay source, as it is like the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">giant</span> index in the sky- a really good place to glean the general <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">facts</span> of something!) This copy of the chronicle is particularly interesting as it has been bound with a handwritten translation done in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Warrington</span>, in the North of England. I, like many in England, assumed that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Warrington</span> had been invented as a place at some point in the late eighties as its primary topographical feature are roundabouts and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Ikea</span>, and there used to be this advert trying to persuade people that it was a sensible place to house a business in (I think) with this guy with a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Chinese</span> accent going '<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Warrrington</span>- <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Runcorn</span>, its the heart of the nation!
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<br />I digress, but it astonishing to learn that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Warrington</span> was an ancient seat of learning and almost had one of the first universities in the world. This early Renaissance period has become increasingly <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">important</span> to my understanding of the photographs I took at Saint-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Sulpice</span> on the day of the Equinox. The time was such a mash up of superstition colliding with organised religion, and the Catholic Church subsuming pagan beliefs. This is evident, for instance, in the very architecture of Saint-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Sulpice</span>, the second image (both of these quoted in 'Discovering the <st1:placename st="on">Vernacular</st1:placename> <st1:placename st="on">Landscape</st1:placename>' by <st1:placename st="on">John</st1:placename> <st1:placename st="on"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Brinckerhoff</span></st1:placename>)<st1:placename st="on"></st1:placename>:-
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<br /><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Ccaroline%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceName"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceType"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="State"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoNormal">'There is very little doubt that during the entire Middle Ages there existed the belief in a distinct relationship between stone and stars'</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Peter <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Fingesten</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Eclipse of Symbolism</span>
<br /></p><p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p> <p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoNormal">'Today when the original treatment of stone has disappeared, we are only <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">occasionally</span> aware of it, chiefly there where old stained glass windows still gleam and where their light transforms the stone. We should think of the Cathedral not only in terms of colour, but as being suffused with the atmosphere of light….the building should ‘shine’, ‘sparkle’, ‘glitter’, ‘dazzle’…it would however be false to say that the Cathedral denies its stone <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">character</span>. It keeps it throughout, only it idealizes it by giving it a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">gem like</span>, transfigured, vibrant, crystalline aspect'</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Hans <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Sedlmayr</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Die <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Enstehung</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">der</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Kathedrale</span></span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><st1:place st="on"><st1:state st="on">.</st1:state></st1:place> </p> The role of printing in the shift of understanding during this time is, of course, immense, and this particular copy of the book seems to me, to <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">beautifully</span> represent the transition.
<br />Bolton Mass Observationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11742313739594774904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3437858584323336379.post-5466766049641496802008-11-11T16:01:00.003+00:002008-11-11T16:09:37.947+00:00David Alan Harvey<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SRmtRkjb6vI/AAAAAAAAAQk/BB6bPI5zSf4/s1600-h/living_proof_cover_2.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 301px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SRmtRkjb6vI/AAAAAAAAAQk/BB6bPI5zSf4/s400/living_proof_cover_2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5267431756568193778" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">© David Alan Harvey</span><br /><br />Some of the posts on David Alan Harvey's <a href="http://davidalanharvey.typepad.com/work_in_progress/">Work In <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Progress</span></a> detail his process when putting a book together, or rather the many different ways of putting a book together:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">'well, the first thing is the idea or the concept...this is the hardest part (and where i am now on this one)....the second thing, is the actual shooting....this is the hardest part...and the third thing is editing your work down to something that works...this is the hardest part....and the fourth thing is the securing of a publisher and the control over the layout....this is the hardest part.....and the fifth thing is the distribution, the creating of exhibitions and the pr "selling" of the book...this is the hardest part (because by this time you are totally tired of these pictures and are moving on to something else)...'</span>Bolton Mass Observationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11742313739594774904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3437858584323336379.post-50729089330723779042008-11-04T12:00:00.003+00:002008-11-04T12:06:45.493+00:00Tanning Salons<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SRA5lxte3FI/AAAAAAAAAQc/R2rcIElZfO0/s1600-h/tan8.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 286px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SRA5lxte3FI/AAAAAAAAAQc/R2rcIElZfO0/s400/tan8.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5264771285558156370" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">© Caroline Edge</span><br /><br /><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:595.3pt 841.9pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I’ve been hanging out in tanning salons lately; in fact I even went on a sun bed the other day, all in the name of research, of course. Trying to create a contrast to the more ‘spiritual’ photographs that I have taken at the eclipse, solstice etc. However the sun bed photos have a spiritual atmosphere all of their own, if I don’t sound a wanker saying this about my own work. This is because of the light; the eerie glow of the blue, the unusual effect by having this enveloping light source, and the shorter wave length of UV. Mostly though the pictures remind me of mortuary slabs in TV police procedural dramas. <span style=""> </span>The light makes the body seem lifeless. Being on the beds is akin to being slowly roasted in an industrial cooker. Surprisingly hot and really claustrophobic.<span style=""> </span>I only managed about two and a half minutes but now I feel really good for having a dose of sunshine- so begins the slippery slope! By January I’ll probably have full scale tanorexia. My beloved, being a man, insisted on going on for twice the recommended time and now has sun burn. I feel a bit guilty, for me the whole idea of going on a sun bed seems wildly exotic and massively irresponsible, yet for masses of people, particularly in the North of Britain this is normal. The list of tanning salons in <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Manchester</st1:place></st1:city> extends into the hundreds. <span style=""> </span>The owner of the salon showed me older beds which were more powerful and looked even more 80’s factory. Apparently people travel from the other side of <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Manchester</st1:place></st1:city> for the sake of this additional radiation. I only they took <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanotan">Melanotan II</a> instead, after they got over being violently sick from the injections, they could be horny as well as brown! There’s nowt as queer as folks…..</p>Bolton Mass Observationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11742313739594774904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3437858584323336379.post-82274172966027594522008-10-28T10:38:00.005+00:002008-10-28T10:58:41.702+00:00Incline Press<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SQbsSxLnR8I/AAAAAAAAAQU/DPn3QNjX42A/s1600-h/forsbergcover.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 375px; height: 352px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SQbsSxLnR8I/AAAAAAAAAQU/DPn3QNjX42A/s400/forsbergcover.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262153021812852674" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SQbsSRyI68I/AAAAAAAAAQM/aZzrkRiqZ5k/s1600-h/forsbergopen.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SQbsSRyI68I/AAAAAAAAAQM/aZzrkRiqZ5k/s400/forsbergopen.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262153013384506306" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SQbsR-9VEtI/AAAAAAAAAQE/q0uBgymgaLc/s1600-h/testamonial.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 335px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SQbsR-9VEtI/AAAAAAAAAQE/q0uBgymgaLc/s400/testamonial.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262153008331166418" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I'm lucky to have guidance on putting a book together which matches the research potential of <a href="http://www.chethams.org.uk/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Chetham's</span> Library</a> in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Oldham</span> based <a href="http://www.inclinepress.com/index.html">Incline Press</a>. I went to meet Graham Moss, the founder of the press yesterday, another <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">time warp</span>. Seems I shall probably be having a round binding so that the book will open flat and double spreads can be put in as inserts to avoid the problems of having two halves on an image <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">misregistered</span>. Also can get a title page beautifully handset. Yet to decide quite how the cover will be, but I know that I'm getting great advice as you can see if you check out the output of the press: some examples above and more information, including how to buy the books, at absurdly low prices for their beauty on the <a href="http://www.inclinepress.com/index.html">website</a>.Bolton Mass Observationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11742313739594774904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3437858584323336379.post-48862893538907894202008-10-28T10:31:00.002+00:002008-10-28T10:35:05.524+00:00Is there a ghost in my house?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SQbqFatB1DI/AAAAAAAAAPk/tIj4QGqJB7M/s1600-h/ghost.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 286px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SQbqFatB1DI/AAAAAAAAAPk/tIj4QGqJB7M/s400/ghost.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262150593417434162" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Slightly off topic but a long standing personal interest. The upper half of a man's body manifesting in my front room! The magic of sunlight..Bolton Mass Observationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11742313739594774904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3437858584323336379.post-65259407170662851132008-10-23T12:00:00.005+01:002008-10-27T17:59:38.670+00:00A Shepherd's Calendar<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SQBZecOXZzI/AAAAAAAAAPc/PZA55EviqeQ/s1600-h/astrologicadetail3.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SQBZecOXZzI/AAAAAAAAAPc/PZA55EviqeQ/s400/astrologicadetail3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260302744276133682" border="0" /></a>
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SQBZeKWEEVI/AAAAAAAAAPU/s2JYsHl2-II/s1600-h/astrologicadetail2.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 232px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SQBZeKWEEVI/AAAAAAAAAPU/s2JYsHl2-II/s400/astrologicadetail2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260302739476582738" border="0" /></a>
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SQBZeBdQh4I/AAAAAAAAAPM/0OVTEstbQ14/s1600-h/astrologicadetail.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SQBZeBdQh4I/AAAAAAAAAPM/0OVTEstbQ14/s400/astrologicadetail.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260302737090840450" border="0" /></a>
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SQBZdcC4TfI/AAAAAAAAAPE/4pDTLk70HyA/s1600-h/astrologicadetail4.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 324px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SQBZdcC4TfI/AAAAAAAAAPE/4pDTLk70HyA/s400/astrologicadetail4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260302727048089074" border="0" /></a>
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SQBZdNc3YYI/AAAAAAAAAO8/nUdWS15EqkI/s1600-h/astrologicadetail5.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 225px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SQBZdNc3YYI/AAAAAAAAAO8/nUdWS15EqkI/s400/astrologicadetail5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260302723130548610" border="0" /></a>
<br />
<br /><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Ccaroline%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:595.3pt 841.9pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Visited <a href="http://www.chethams.org.uk/index.htm">Chetham’s Library</a> last week to look at some of their collection for two reasons. Firstly to look at sun symbols, but also to get design inspiration. I’d like to have a (subtle) reference to the early Renaissance going on in the design to echo the concepts going on in the photographs. As I write this I realise that it is the first time I’ve articulated this particular understanding of the project- early renaissance being the point where superstition hit reason…. Anyway I don’t want to produce a school history project to recreate the Magna Carta, all burnt page edges and staining with coffee: rather to take some influences like binding, type and proportion in to a modern design. I’m lucky that I’ve some great resources nearby for researching this sort of thing in Chetham’s Library and the <a href="http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/">John Ryland’s Library</a>, both of which have superb collections. Visiting Chetham’s library is an adventure in itself; you go through a small door (</span><st1:city style="font-family: georgia;" st="on"><st1:place st="on">Alice</st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family:georgia;"> in Wonderland, Being John Malkovich) and go back in time. It is a place where the act of consulting a book is made beautiful. The images here are details from a ‘Shepherd’s Calendar’ (late 15</span><sup style="font-family: georgia;">th</sup><span style="font-family:georgia;"> C) - a misleading name for a stunningly complicated book charting solar and lunar cycles and eclipses. This astronomy is then linked to astrology, in a manner abhorrent to our modern scientific understanding. It is a beautiful object but the funny thing is it seems like a really really good school history project, the sort that the kid who was amazing at drawing would do!</span> </p>
<br />Bolton Mass Observationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11742313739594774904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3437858584323336379.post-46637916947485927592008-10-20T14:04:00.004+01:002008-10-20T14:18:22.759+01:00Pieter Ten Hoopen<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SPyB8SKyxAI/AAAAAAAAAOE/Zk5xHf5gFwk/s1600-h/purple_amazing.png"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SPyB8SKyxAI/AAAAAAAAAOE/Zk5xHf5gFwk/s400/purple_amazing.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259221337531139074" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SPyB8peNosI/AAAAAAAAAOM/RtgiIQM3-9Q/s1600-h/15pieter-ten-hoopen.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SPyB8peNosI/AAAAAAAAAOM/RtgiIQM3-9Q/s400/15pieter-ten-hoopen.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259221343786607298" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">images © Pieter Ten <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Hoopen</span></span><br /><br />Pieter Ten <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Hoopen's</span> photography is massively atmospheric, due to his use of movement and colour. He was a winner in the <a href="http://www.worldpressphoto.org/">World Press Photo Awards</a> last year for his story on <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Kitezh</span> 'the invisible city'. He <a href="http://www.worldpressphoto.org/images/stories/videos/Interviews/index.php?">talks</a> about the project on the World Press website, explaining how in missing the exact time that the legendary city is supposed to rise up from the lake now standing in its place he focused instead on the neighbouring town of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Vadimirskoe</span>, also invisible in its dearth of employment and high rate of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">alcohol</span> abuse. He is represented by <a href="http://www.agencevu.com/photographers/photographer.php?id=167"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Agence</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Vu</span></a> which showcases a great selection of his work.Bolton Mass Observationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11742313739594774904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3437858584323336379.post-78089562909817424492008-10-19T18:24:00.004+01:002008-10-19T18:30:37.039+01:00On Demand publishingIn a quandary about the best way to go about producing this book. There are so may things that can go wrong between scanning a negative and holding the book in your hands. My issue with on-line <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">publishing</span> is the lack of control and the lack of physicality to the process. But with self-publishing I'm not sure of the best way to actually get the photos on the paper- I worry about precise registration. <a href="http://www.jmcolberg.com/weblog/2008/09/what_it_takes_to_selfpublish_a.html">Conscientious has a good collection of </a><a href="http://www.jmcolberg.com/weblog/2008/09/what_it_takes_to_selfpublish_a.html">experiences</a><a href="http://www.jmcolberg.com/weblog/2008/09/what_it_takes_to_selfpublish_a.html"> </a>about these issues to learn from.Bolton Mass Observationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11742313739594774904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3437858584323336379.post-32758260121061089812008-10-19T18:05:00.005+01:002008-10-20T10:00:55.121+01:00The Grateful Dead<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PYhyDUgK1U8&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PYhyDUgK1U8&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />I'd like to go to Egypt to shoot but it's looking unlikely as it isn't vital to the book. So here's the Grateful Dead and The Merry Pranksters grooving at the pyramids in 78.Bolton Mass Observationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11742313739594774904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3437858584323336379.post-70035591786645915742008-10-16T23:39:00.003+01:002008-10-16T23:48:35.786+01:00Sun Dog<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SPfC1NQ56MI/AAAAAAAAAN0/aw3-KqmXiI0/s1600-h/December_sundog_-_NOAA.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SPfC1NQ56MI/AAAAAAAAAN0/aw3-KqmXiI0/s400/December_sundog_-_NOAA.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257885309327763650" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SPfC1VMu23I/AAAAAAAAAN8/kw7gGPg-Kio/s1600-h/400px-V%C3%A4dersoltavlan_cropped.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SPfC1VMu23I/AAAAAAAAAN8/kw7gGPg-Kio/s400/400px-V%C3%A4dersoltavlan_cropped.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257885311457745778" border="0" /></a><br /><br />How have I never heard of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">sun dogs</span> before? Or to give them their correct name <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">parhelions</span>? It like when I <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">realised</span> that there were no adverts on the BBC at the age of twenty. Both images <span style="font-family: georgia;">courtesy of <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Sundog"><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">wiki media</span> commons</a>, the second a seventeenth century copy of the</span><i style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="unicode audiolink"></span> </b></i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A4dersolstavlan"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Vädersolstavlan</span></a> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">depiciting</span> the optical phenomenon over Stockholm.Bolton Mass Observationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11742313739594774904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3437858584323336379.post-33344912506237047012008-10-11T15:40:00.001+01:002008-10-11T15:43:18.659+01:00Prayers<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SPC7PLPdE6I/AAAAAAAAANY/LJeWMGjPAlU/s1600-h/equ04_i.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SPC7PLPdE6I/AAAAAAAAANY/LJeWMGjPAlU/s400/equ04_i.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5255906634531410850" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SPC7PmqHPoI/AAAAAAAAANg/_z8dmfh42kg/s1600-h/equ04_b.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SPC7PmqHPoI/AAAAAAAAANg/_z8dmfh42kg/s400/equ04_b.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5255906641890983554" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SPC7Qcr_SeI/AAAAAAAAANo/VU1OC7yqAI0/s1600-h/equ10_c.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SPC7Qcr_SeI/AAAAAAAAANo/VU1OC7yqAI0/s400/equ10_c.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5255906656394365410" border="0" /></a>Bolton Mass Observationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11742313739594774904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3437858584323336379.post-70335536603217639982008-10-11T15:11:00.003+01:002008-10-11T15:23:39.649+01:00Hans-Christian Schink<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SPC0PtZbHFI/AAAAAAAAANQ/FoZ_TO3IuL8/s1600-h/chink-SOL-Spitz.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SPC0PtZbHFI/AAAAAAAAANQ/FoZ_TO3IuL8/s400/chink-SOL-Spitz.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5255898947118636114" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Another</span> proponent of the black sun (see Chris <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">McCaw</span>, Harlan Erskine, Ansel Adams). But presumably an originator, and winner of the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">inaugural</span> REAL photo award, some more information on <a href="http://www.beikey.net/mrs-deane/?p=488">Mrs Deane</a> and read in the <a href="http://www.bjp-online.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">BJP</span></a> last week. The photography is stunning, I love the role of the light in <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">exaggerating</span> the graphic of the composition. It is so difficult to avoid covering the same ground as other people- something that used to torment me as a mannered art undergraduate. As I get older I begin to think does it matter. Each of the contemporary photographers who I'm aware of has used this motif in a visually and conceptually different way: each has been <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">successful</span>.Bolton Mass Observationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11742313739594774904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3437858584323336379.post-36105718556929629002008-10-09T10:40:00.004+01:002008-10-11T17:27:36.199+01:00Saint-Sulpice Tripych<span style="font-size:78%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SO3SrpFoZjI/AAAAAAAAANI/yVBKFrKVXVk/s1600-h/annonciation-bergery-campbell.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SO3SrpFoZjI/AAAAAAAAANI/yVBKFrKVXVk/s400/annonciation-bergery-campbell.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5255087987416917554" border="0" /></a><br />Image © thismediathing</span>.<span style="font-size:78%;">com</span><br /><br />A pleasant surprise at Saint <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Sulpice</span> was the LED triptych installed by artists Jim Campbell and Benjamin <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Bergery</span>, working under the name <a href="http://www.thismediathing.com/">'<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">thismediathing</span>'</a>. The LED installation gives a very low light working in harmony with the church interior and the imagery relates to Biblical themes, filtered through through the reinterpretation of Renaissance representation. The faces are blurred and the content ambiguous, yet contextualised through the location. The dim light of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">LEDs</span> and the church interior emphasising the remote reverence of the work. Churches make fine galleries, as I suppose was one of their original functions... Saint <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Sulpice</span> itself also housing some stunning painting by Delacroix.Bolton Mass Observationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11742313739594774904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3437858584323336379.post-79165541257137304342008-10-02T12:43:00.006+01:002008-10-02T12:53:39.853+01:00Catholic Sun Worship Devil YouTube Frenzy<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0eaWtNhdihk&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0eaWtNhdihk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />I find the Catholic Church's absorption of pagan beliefs and symbolism interesting, but some people are a bit more paranoid about it, or even that it is evidence that the devil won the battle between good and evil and Christianity is a trick to get us all to worship the Sun- sadly I can't locate this particular entry to the youetube canon so I'm posting a more reasoned argument...Bolton Mass Observationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11742313739594774904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3437858584323336379.post-58557603991341942252008-10-02T12:37:00.000+01:002008-10-02T12:40:43.597+01:00On Sungazing<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Vv1VPQr7GZ4&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Vv1VPQr7GZ4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Bolton Mass Observationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11742313739594774904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3437858584323336379.post-14206101154870580552008-10-02T11:43:00.003+01:002008-10-02T12:31:21.797+01:00Saint Sulpice<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SOSmDgmJAuI/AAAAAAAAALw/eMe0PH1oM3k/s1600-h/equ10_1.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SOSmDgmJAuI/AAAAAAAAALw/eMe0PH1oM3k/s400/equ10_1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5252505644640568034" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SOSmDh0I8TI/AAAAAAAAAL4/92q0UQRCKOQ/s1600-h/equ07_2.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SOSmDh0I8TI/AAAAAAAAAL4/92q0UQRCKOQ/s400/equ07_2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5252505644967719218" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SOSmD5oEf4I/AAAAAAAAAMA/4Y_u1rrRaQw/s1600-h/equ11_4.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SOSmD5oEf4I/AAAAAAAAAMA/4Y_u1rrRaQw/s400/equ11_4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5252505651359547266" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Back from France and in a scanning marathon. Its initially depressing to see the photos and then gets better... but apart from a few instant standout shots my opinions can shift quite a lot on what will or will not be included. At the church of <a href="http://www.paroisse-saint-sulpice-paris.org/">Saint <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Sulpice</span></a> in Paris for the Equinox, as <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">detailed</span> in the occult conspiracy blockbuster the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Da</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Vinci</span> code (see the second picture) the church has a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">gnomon</span> (see the first picture) and is in effect a giant sundial. On the equinox the sun is channeled through a hole and hits a marker on a brass line set into the floor of the church. The circumstances of the installation of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">gnomon</span> are explained without reference to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">CERN</span> or mad monks in J.L. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Heilbron's</span> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sun-Church-Cathedrals-Solar-Observatories/dp/0674854330">'The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories.'</a> which details how the Catholic Church came to convert four cathedrals into solar observatories during the 17<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">th</span> and 18<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">th</span> centuries, despite the church's reactionary response to scientific advances.<br /><br />Due to a slight error, still a sore point, I have no picture of the light hitting the marker. It was a gloriously sunny day too! These photography missions I have been taking for my book all revolve around a chance moment of light; at Stonehenge the sun rising over the heel stone, being able to see the eclipse in Siberia after days on a train. This reflects for me the chance nature of the photograph itself- the search for the decisive moment, but through the process and looking at the resulting photos I'm getting to understand that it is about what lies around getting to that moment of chance too. The Catholic Church, and indeed all spiritual belief systems that I am aware of, make use of light, as symbol, and as atmosphere. The calendar is intrinsically linked to the sun of course, and this made its movements of vital importance to the Catholic Church, seeking to define its year of worship. The <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">failure</span> to get the money shot, which given the placement of the line after the church's construction, would not have been terribly interesting visually, gave me a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">chance</span> to think more about how the church used light to instill reverence and glory into its rituals. Devices such as stained glass, rose windows, and candles result in this controlled cinematography of worship. The final photograph I've posted here was taken in one of the side chapels that line the church, and it was like a pool of 17<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">th</span> century light had been fixed in time. Also its interesting to think ultimately the church is a giant camera obscura..<br /><h1 style="font-family: georgia; font-weight: normal;" class="parseasinTitle"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span id="btAsinTitle"><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"></span></span></span></span></h1>Bolton Mass Observationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11742313739594774904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3437858584323336379.post-75982223096317347032008-09-15T19:50:00.003+01:002008-09-15T20:02:42.449+01:00Smaller?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SM6ujLmOFLI/AAAAAAAAALg/rsNH-sz61a0/s1600-h/square.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SM6ujLmOFLI/AAAAAAAAALg/rsNH-sz61a0/s400/square.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5246322535364957362" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SM6ujXqJniI/AAAAAAAAALo/Qah_EoFpFrQ/s1600-h/square3.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VLFP5T4ywGI/SM6ujXqJniI/AAAAAAAAALo/Qah_EoFpFrQ/s400/square3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5246322538602667554" border="0" /></a><br />Thinking about layout, the above being rather influenced by the layout of Tony Evan's photos in English Sunrise as designed by David <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Hillman</span>. The book is curiously modern in concept and presented with the attention to detail that makes viewing the book a great experience. Little things like how the pages open and the size of it in your hand. Simultaneously the book is really dated by the circular corners of the pictures, and the colour of the prints- I don't know whether the nostalgia trip was attended but it is a great lesson in design. In particular I like how the photographs are presented small, demanding an intimate viewing experience. I am working with a small format and <a href="http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2008/01/reporters_notebok_alec_soth.php">creating book photographs as Alec <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Soth</span> would have it</a>. I want my photographs to be like icons, small and richly coloured prayers.Bolton Mass Observationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11742313739594774904noreply@blogger.com