‘Tell all the Truth but tell it slant’ – Emily Dickinson

“Spectators watching the fight between Hood and Thomas at Nashville, Tennessee, December 15, 1864”, Jacob Coonley The Battle of Nashville, Tennessee, in the United States Civil War, lasted two days. It was fought over December 15 and 16, 1864. It represented the last of the large scale fighting in the war. Over those two days, […]

Accretions

The late photographer Allan Sekula once said, “Every photograph is a point of view.” The punning nature of Sekula’s comment allows for ambiguity, openness, viewer-participation and the simultaneous absence and presence of dogma, within an image. Meaning doesn’t have to be singular or prescribed. It can be ascribed post-facto by the viewer as much as […]

Camped out in Vélez-Blanco

We were sitting outside in the early-evening warmth at the Bar Rinconcillo, in the town of Vélez-Blanco, in southern Spain. I went into the bar to order drinks and tapas. Inside there were no tourists, just a few locals oblivious to the glorious weather, and happy to have their daily, post-siesta chat. On the large […]

“Curiouser and curiouser!” Cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English).”

The above, very small image, (it measures 132mm x 82mm) is a family heirloom of my wife’s family. No one knows when it was taken, nor who the subject is. But, the image arouses curiosity for many other reasons, not just its unknown subject and the date of its capture. The camera on the tripod […]

Improving the Product – Firmware Updates…

I use Canon and Hasselblad cameras. Today’s digital cameras, even basic ones, are capable of extremely high image quality (at least up to a reasonable size, say, A4 – more than most of us need 90% of the time) that is the match of old-school large-format photography. In addition, most phones can now shoot broadcast […]

August Sander

“I hate nothing more than sugary photographs with tricks, poses and effects.” August Sander London gallery Hauser & Wirth is currently hosting an exhibition (until July 28) of the work of German proto-Conceptualist photographer August Sander (1876-1964) entitled “August Sander Men Without Masks.” Born in 1876 into relative poverty in Herdorf, east of Cologne, Sander […]