Wednesday, 28 October 2009

The Baltic

Whilst visiting the Baltic i found that much of the work exhibited clearly addressed the theme of reportage, and was relevant to my own work.

Alec Soth - Sleeping by the Mississippi



International Federation of Trade Unions - No More War!




Yoshio Takase - Benjo (Toilet)



The Diarrhoea-Shit Reproductive Collective of 5 - Mizugi no Yangu Redii - Tachi (Young Ladies in bathing suits)





Hans Eijkebomm - World Financial Centre 12.00 - 13.00 hours, Manhattan, New York, US




Richard Billingham - Images taken from "Ray's a Laugh"


Monday, 26 October 2009

Just more t-shirts...

Griff

"This is pretty rare, you won't see many of these about"

"From a nightclub in London, from the t-bar in London, advertising music and the website which is t-bar.co.uk or something

"My ex-girlfriend worked there, just used as staff t-shirts. Ive been sick on it four times and it still washes out."

Dennis Jones

(Mrs Jones):"I picked it"
(Dennis Jones)"No you didn't
(Mrs Jones)"Don't argue"

(Mrs Jones) "It was from Burtons, in the sale, it was eight pound."

John Jo Williams

"I didn't actually buy it, i found it in my dad's drawer. Im not a fan of buying t-shirts because they're so expensive. As long as they're colurful you'd be surprised what you can get away with."

Sarah Wood

"i don't know, i liked it because it was bright and on sale."

"It was from new look, six pounds."


Andrew

"Hold on, i have a t-shirt thats completely unique, theres only one in the world"

"I got it at the weekend from a charity auction, it was £150"

"fully signed by the band innit. Got all the money people owed, and spend it on shit"

Thursday, 22 October 2009

Peter Bailey - Jean Shrimpton, Tower Bridge


I really like this image, and enjoy the sense of narrative behind it:

"The model Jean Shrimpton is wearing a man's coat, which looks as if it may have been borrowed from film stars Jean Paul Belmondo or Humphery Bogart as protection against the chill of the morning. The cobblestones underfoot lead up to Tower Bridge. But what is she doing standing on a usually busy road in the early morning light? She has the look of someone on her way back from the all night city."

Wednesday, 21 October 2009

My new favourite website



It's a pretty simple concept; the web site is updated
with an illustrated fact every day.

More book people

Rob

Before i even started explaining to Rob here what i was doing, he blurted out "i don't know the area at all!" Im guessing he gets quite alot of hassle from lost students.

"I like Hendrix"

"About ten pound, from east sussex"


Aiden

"The colors went with my trainers. Do you know where foundation housing is?"

"it were thirty five, from foot locker"

Not quite as good as the last group of people, pretty dull. One of the main problems im facing is getting photos of women. It turns out not many wear t-shirts, and when they do its one of those t-shirt/skirt combinations, which i don't want. When i do find them they really aren't that keen on having their photo taken, they seem to think i'm just some maniac who wants to take a picture of their chest, which, clearly, i am not. Another problem is that the questions im asking sound pretty dull, so i need some more decent ones.

Nguan


I enjoyed looking at Nguans website very much. Apparently he's interested in the "social heart" of big cities, which is essentially what I'm exploring in my book project. Sounds Good.

http://www.nguan.tv/

Statement of Intent

In short, im interested in learning how things work, and how to make my work as effective as possible. One of my main goals this year is to begin to learn how to use software like Photoshop and Illustrator effectively, rarther than jut having a mess about with it. I feel that one of my main weaknesses is my drawing skills, which i hope to develop by choosing drawing practice as my elective.

Tuesday, 20 October 2009

Richard Billingham



I really wish "Rays a laugh" hadn't been stolen from the library.cack! I really don't fancy forking out 350 quid for it, so i'll just have to do without.

I love this series of photographs. They convey a complete sense of documentation and reportage. In none of the photos that i have seen from this series do the subjects even acknowledge the fact that there is a camera pointing at them. Richard Billingham simply documents the life of his family; his mother trying to cope with his alcoholic father.

Starting the Book

Yesterday, i started to collect material to be used in my book, which is focusing on t-shirts in Leeds. I set out around, 5, which is the worse possible time i could have chosen, as everyone was on their way home from work. But nevertheless, i managed to photograph three people. I asked them their name, why they chose that particular t-shirt, where it was from, and how much it cost.


No Name Man
I was so pleased that someone had stopped for me that i forgot to ask this chap his name. We shall call him "No Name Man."
Why did you choose this t-shirt?
"The style jumped out at me, i liked the red against the backdrop, it's like a...what are those things? A Kalidoscope! Its all very geometric"
What is it exactly?
"Oh, its the insides of a rams skull."
Where did you buy it, and how much was it?
From the allsaints website, it was about thirty pound.
(if anyone knows No Name Man please tell me his name, otherwise he wont go in the book)

David Crockin
Where did you get the t-shirt from?
"It was a present"
From Who?
"My sister. I have alot of funny t-shirts. I have one that says "i beat anorexia," which works quite well with my man boobs."

Simon
Why did you chose this t-shirt?
Its the sort of thing that appeals to me, ive got worse than this though, i got done for wearing one of them by a mormon.
What did that one say?
"If Jesus comes back, we'll kill him again,"but some people don't have a sense of humour.
Where/How much?
shocktees.com, its was about ten quid.

It didnt go too badly for starting point. I think i could have done with recording what they said, rarther than trying to scribble it down as they spoke. I missed out on alot of "small talk" becuase of this.

Friday, 16 October 2009

Photo Day


I made this

Wednesday, 14 October 2009

Fanzine Pages

I made two double page spreads for the "Junk" fanzine, and here they are:

Scribbles for Fanzine


These are drawings i didn't use on my fanzine pages. I don't really know whats going on with them.

An Introduction to Badminton



More things from the market.

Comics with nice covers
I was expecting more from these comics, probably a bit too much.They have nazis, haunted woods, floating green heads and underwater "death struggles" on the cover but the content was pretty crap. But anyway, the covers are very nice, and here they are:



Old Books




The day of many posts

Last Friday, i had my print room induction. This is what i made

I was very proud

Thursday, 8 October 2009

Actually, i'm quite good at shopping...

After making several journeys to the secondhand Thursday market, these are all the "wonderful" things ive collected...

Creepy Russian Dolls



I really wanted to get some Russian dolls with the faces of primeininsters on them, however, i thought they were very overpirced at twelve pounds, and even though i tried to haggle with the market man, he wasnt having any of it, so i walked away, with my head down, in a considerable amount of distress. Luckily, as i turned around the cornder, the clouds parted, and the sun shone down on these. I like them very much, and they were only one pound fifty!

Night of the Crabs



As ridiculous as it is, im actually quite looking forward to reading this. The blurb reads "The Welsh coast basks in summer tranquility. Then the "drownings begin. But not until the monstrous crustaceans crawl ashore, their pincers poised for destruction, does the world understand the threat it faces. A SEAFOOD COCKTAIL FOR THE STRONGEST STOMACHS." Sounds pretty sweet.

Since my blogger has decided to start being really really crap, thats all i can post at the moment.