Tuesday 30 June 2009

Light Drawing

I have always thought of night photography as 'light drawing' - the process of film, or a light sensor capturing the only available light and leaving it's mark which eventually becomes the photograph or image we look at. I have experimented with this for years - from using torches and lazer pens to literally draw lines in front of the camera to make interesting 'light graffiti' images, to going out with tripods and cable releases to capture night images of landmarks surrounded by artificial lighting and the movements of car head and tail lights.

The element of chance is what really keeps me returning to working with darkness and light in photography, and although you can make a visually interesting image pretty easily using simple methods, making super striking images can usually only takes a bit of forethought and a lot of experimentation.

I just spotted an image that shows that there were people experimenting with these techniques 60 years ago. This image was taken by LIFE photographer Gjon Mili who visited and hung out with Picasso in 1949. See the rest of the set here... This one is my favourite - a fantastic portrait.

Friday 26 June 2009

Original Bboy



It's all about The Robot at 1:20

Thursday 25 June 2009

:-(


















Michael Jackson RIP

Wednesday 17 June 2009

Sunday 14 June 2009

History

All of my childhood years were spent skateboarding on the streets of Bristol. Undoubtedly this helped to develop a creative outlook on the world around me - a low wall becomes a rail slide, a tree stump that has raised a paving slab becomes a jump ramp, modern architecture becomes a challenging obstacle to ride on...

Even when it rained i lived skateboarding. Hooking up 2 VHS video recorders with scart leads so we could rip copies of the latest videos was a winter hobby... 

Curiosity lead me to see if anyone had uploaded my favourite clip from the New Deal video - Whatever! and there it was. Just as terrible a copy as i owned 15 years ago - but the style of Ron Knigge is still just as inspirational. I spent days trying to recreate the trick he does at 2:04...


Thursday 11 June 2009

Mr Colston












































A couple of night shots grabbed on the way home from meeting my best man - a study of Edward Colston in Bristol City Centre...

Monday 8 June 2009

Flow.

Recently I have found myself uploading a photo I have taken onto this blog and then heading straight over to Flickr and uploading the same flick there – without changing much of the text or adding anything new. Having just enjoyed reading some text on Knautia’s blog (highly recommended for a slightly more candid approach to the wider spectrum of Bristol graffiti) I thought that perhaps I should use this blog as a more text-based outlet. I did have the intention to do this but you know how it goes…

Anyway, with that in mind I’ll reply to one of Knautia’s recent posts, which I found to be an interesting view on this weekend’s UPfest. I guess the reason it struck a chord with me was down to fact that whilst painting my own piece at the Tobacco Factory I didn’t occur to me to link my piece with Don to the left or Grease to the right. Despite having had a chat and a laugh with Don (respect due!) I made a decision to leave a white border between pieces to make my piece stand out. Simple graff mentality I guess, but after reading Knautia’s post I wonder whether something more subconscious was going on.

The question of how much of the ‘flow’ (of graffiti artists working collaboratively) is cultural to Bristol I find intriguing. I know that personally, I have always painted with other people from the very first tags to the full-scale burners. Out of these experiences comes camaraderie and in my experience sometimes even brothership. For me it has allowed me to get to know some of the best street artists in the city/country/world on a personal level - and this always helps when you are painting with them.

But working together is a fundamental graffiti ethos in my option. Talking thing over with other writers, discussing styles, composition, colours, shading, 3D – all of that stuff is what makes you progress, you learn form others, you share ideas. You produce new art. I think the ‘flow’ of graffiti art is born of people just doing graffiti and is not intrinsic to Bristol. Its just that we are quite good at it ;-)

Sunday 7 June 2009

Bboy Ooze Des Portrait @UPfest

Bboy Ooze Des portrait painted on the boards at the Tobacco Factory, Bristol as part of the UPfest yesterday...

Cheers to all who stopped to say hello, take photos and the kids who asked for my 'autograph' - Honored!

Saturday 6 June 2009

All Roads Lead to the UPfest


Get yourselves down to the UPfest today - starting at The Tobacco Factory and on towards the Grain Barge... Dont forget your umbrella.

Friday 5 June 2009

Bboy Ooze Des


Painting in progress...