Black Dog Collective

Martin Usborne and his project Mute: The silence of dogs in cars. His website is actually a lot of fun to go through.

Summer is coming (we hope) and just like the weeds in our garden, beautiful and weird images keep popping up in our flickr pool. Here’s a little update, if you want to see more of what people have been sharing with us click here.

Jonas Kamm

Alex Cretey-Systerman

Mariah Hamilton

Stoneybutter

Thierry Clech

Jim Naughten recently told me about a project called “Ghetto”. I looked it up and was instantly hooked. I am getting the book as soon as possible. When you look through the images you might find yourself thinking “hmm..those two children must have been placed among the other images by a mistake”. They are not – and that is partly why I instantly fell in love.

“This is a journey through 12 modern ghettos starting in a refugee camp in Tanzania and ending in a forest in Patagonia. In each of these places, Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, as editors and photographers of COLORS magazine, methodically documented their inhabitants, and asked them the same questions: How did you get here? Who is in power? Where do you go to be alone? To make love? To get your teeth fixed? For many of those photographed it was their first time in front of a camera. Some looked into it with a hard, penetrating gaze. Others obeyed the ritual of photography with smiles. And Mario, on the cover, turned his back on the camera and waited for the shutter to click.”

Visit Adam and Oliver on their own website for more.

These images have been haunting us for a while. Charles Negre’s use of light, smoke and models creates the perfect kind of universe. If you want to see more of his work go Here.

During the last weeks I’ve been having an interesting conversation with the talented Jim Naughten who has just returned to London after spending some days in New York opening his show “The Re-enactors” at the Klompching Gallery. We talked about exactly this project and how he went along planning an executing the complicated mission that it turned out to be. Let’s kick things off with a little pitch on the series:

“Every summer thousands of people from all over the world gather in a Kentish field and leave the present firmly behind. They step out of their routine daily lives and transform into historical characters from the First and Second World Wars, often with such vigour and obsessive attention to detail that it’s hard to imagine them in contemporary settings. Taking on a different name, identity and sometimes even a different tongue, the role players re-enact battles and drills from an imagined past. It is something more than acting, a collective fantasy played out on a massive scale.”

Kim William Catton
When seeing your images of the re-enactors for the first time I remember this feeling of being taken back to my own childhood. I remember the evenings I spent gluing together Spitfire fighters, Lancaster bombers and various other World War II miniatures. I was taken aback by the astonishing amount of detail found in the clothes of the re-enactors you have portrayed and really puzzled with the fact that behind these “costumes” are real people with real lives. Of course this is also what drives me to keep looking at the pictures; knowing that it’s real but still feeling uncertain about it. What was your main reason for starting this project?

Jim Naughten
Like you I built model aircraft, tanks and soldiers, mostly from World War two, so when I came across these shows and gatherings of WW2 re enactors I was thrown back to my childhood. They are strange toys to give a child perhaps, but thats what we had then and I spent endless hours building, painting and making dioramas for them. It was quite strange too see my tiny 1/32 scale models in life size 1/1 scale, now trundling around a field in Kent. It had a powerful resonance. At college I was entranced by the Diane Arbus monograph and books like Avedons ‘American West’ where he photographs drifters and outcasts from the edges of US society. They were the first photographs to show me that photography could be a language or an art form. I’ve always been drawn to photographs of real people, and especially outsiders, and have dreamed of doing an updated version of ‘American West’ for a long time. When I saw the re enactors, I knew I had my project. I just didn’t know how difficult it was going to be!

KWC
I too feel strange about having played around with miniature weapons, tanks, soldiers and other machines of war. Now, having grown up I really can’t stand war and the mere thought of young boys and girls heading overseas to fight for whatever course makes my stomach ache. Despite this I still love the aesthetics of war; The uniforms, the weapons and the technology. Strange. And then there’s something about World War II, I guess it was a war that had to be fought. You mention that people is what really drives you to do your photography and that doing this project was more difficult than you thought it would be. What made this project stand out compared to some of your earlier ones?

JN
Yes, well, the tanks and uniforms are somehow ‘cool’ when you are a kid, and very striking as an adult. Like the toy versions though I feel that the Re-enactors have nothing to do with real war or any of the associated horror or realities. What you mention about WW2 also, it was not so long ago and most people had grandparents who were in some way involved, so it still resonates somehow. People have asked if I would be interested in working with other periods, like the Tudors, Vikings or Civil war, but it would feel more like fancy dress I think. Not so with WW2. For example, whilst I mentioned the fact that Re enacting is not real, the image of the swastika still has enormous power to shock and disturb, its still very much in our consciousness. The project stood out as it was really the first one where I decided to make it an extensive body of work which would become a book and exhibition. It meant huge amounts of planning, ( almost a military operation ! ) and a lot of work in the field, lots of post production and exhibition work. So it would be a body of work that stands on its own, and can take on a life of its own. I think my primary interest is still in portraiture, but perhaps after the next project I would like a break from people to work with less troublesome subjects!

KWC
The thing you mention about the swastika is really interesting in my opinion. I’ve always had a small fight going on with myself about whether or not it is “right” of me to be facinated by the nazi uniforms and symbols. This fight is nearly over and I’ve sort of come to the conclusion that it’s OK. You would most likely agree with me, and the guy in the uniform pictured below too, on the fact that being attracted to the visual apparence doesn’t automatically mean that your into the whole ideology, in this case nazism. But how does people in general (who perhaps didn’t play with guns and soldiers when they were kids) view this when looking at your pictures, when seeing contemporary people dressing up like this?

JN
Most people seem to think the German uniforms are amazing. Actually when asked why they chose to re enact the Germans they often say the uniforms – and they are certainly the most impressive, and still have a power of sorts. When the German commanders or SS came in to the makeshift studio there was always a moment of tension or fear, usually until they spoke ( with English accents, or from wherever they were from ) and broke the spell. Conversely a strange feeling of relief when an ally or civilian came in. Did you know Hugo Boss designed most of the Nazi and SS uniforms ? That might explain some of the quality, but they were also designed to intimidate people, and they still do ! Theres really a circular argument that started with my assistants and I from day one of the shoot, where we ask why would they choose to wear uniform with such a heavy history and shocking past ? Are they actually Nazis, or sympathizers ? Its pretty strange to dress up your child as a Hitler Youth, no doubt, but also one might argue, if you were an actual Nazi would you dress up in a 60 year old costume and run around a field in Kent pretending to shoot pretend American soldiers ? Its all a bit strange. The photographs do raise these questions, but make no attempt to answer them or give an bias or conclusions. Its really up to the viewer to interpret them how they please.

KWC
I didn’t know that some of the uniforms were designed by Hugo Boss but it made me smile because I know that they (Hugo Boss) at one point, not too many years ago, designed the suits for the English football team. Now they are being made by Marks & Spencer.

I think that photography becomes most interesting when the viewer has to interpret and this series, in my opinion at least, really invites to exactly this. With contemporary-looking portraits showing bits of the past but not revealing much about the actual person and with re-enacted scenes of war looking like a mix of the real thing, staged scenes and re-arranged studio pictures the viewer in many ways has to get curious. You mention the makeshift-studio and the use of assistants; how would a day on the battlefield look like for you and your assistants if you had to explain it?

JN
I guess you mean how did I work with the studio and assistants ? The first time we just turned up and were promptly turned away. I had to write lots of emails and letters explaining what I wanted to do, and the fact that I could identify the tanks, guns and some of the uniforms seemed to make all the difference. In fact I was often asked if I wanted to become a re enactor myself. I don’t ! I took two camper vans, a small wedding marquee and a mess tent ( for eating and hanging out in ) a generator for the lighting and three assistants. Two were out asking people to sit for me and one was working in the studio. It was a military operation of our own. The first ever show was indescribably intense, with five days in a row surrounded by Nazis and Russians with tanks rumbling past in the middle of the night amidst some of the worst flooding in recent memory. The floods turned it in to a mud bath. There were around five thousand tanks and vehicles, and many thousands of re enactors, all completely covered in mud. It was a long time to spend in their fantasy world, really hard work. It took us a week to recover and return to reality afterwards. I ended up working at about seven or eight shows in total, but they got easier as I went along…

KWC
Wow – it does sounds like a military operation! When you finished the seven or eight shows a lot of files and a lot of editing must have been piling up. I know that this can seem quite overwhelming – Do you go about the photoshopping and reconstruction of images yourself or do you act as a director in this stage of a photographic project? Furthermore, could you tell us a bit more about the constructed scenes of war. When I look at them I instantly come to think of old black and white 8mm/16mm film footage from WWII. It also springs to mind that these images are also like paintings in a way. Where do you draw inspiration for these scenarios?

JN
Yes, an overwhelming amount of files and editing. I do the lions share of the retouching, positioning, cropping, color work etc, but have a very experienced retoucher to finish and perfect the final image. I would prefer to do everything myself, but really need it to be perfect. Hopefully on the next project. The portraits and tanks were fairly straightforward in terms of editing, but the battles were tricky. I grouped all the battle files in to separate folders, Germans and Russians etc and then looked out for muddy fields, beaches, and anywhere that might work for the background. For the battles, I treated them in a very similar way to how I built diorama scenes as I child. Back then I would build a battlefield from mud or sand mixed with hardener, little buildings from balsa, and then various materials like lichen or whatever worked in miniature. Finally I would add the tanks and soldiers. I think there is a parallel between the response of a child to these ‘toys’ and the re enactors response. Its kind of naive and unreal. I treated my battle scenes a bit like this, and hired a cherry picker to try and replicate this viewpoint. There are one or two clues here and there that show I and the re enactors are not entirely serious. The first image ( although over six pages in the book ) is actually on a go cart track, and in the WW1 image they are more or less on a cricket pitch, and one or two of the dead soldiers appear to be laughing… In one small political act I made the German soldiers look somewhat disorganized – in the last battle scene there is total chaos, but of course a bit like the a-team, no one has been shot ! So there’s no serious message in the battle scenes, rather the opposite, but it felt like a new and very strange way to work – capturing ‘real’ people pretending, then using photomontage to create a further fiction. Guy Lane wrote in Foto8 ‘compellingly detailed, assiduous and mannered fictions, fraudulent even – but what better way to picture the might of the Red Army, dressed for a Russian winter, as it advances on a hazy summer afternoon across a field in the Garden of England. ‘

KWC
It’s been interesting talking to you about this particular project and now I will try the best I can to round this up with a last question. You mention that you would prefere to do the whole retouching business yourself and that maybe it will be possible on the next project…this makes me wonder; would you care to tell us a bit about your future plans in terms of photography?

JN
With the next project, I was hoping to find something simple, paired down, basic and preferably something I could shoot at the bottom of the garden with zero retouching. Instead the project that has ‘got hold of me’ involves six months away from home in a fierce desert working with some tricky people in difficult circumstances. Its going to be logistically almost impossible, hideously complicated, very expensive and involve a monster amount of files, editing and retouching, even if I manage to get the shots in the first place, keep sand out of the camera and get home in one piece with the files. Then the real work starts ! Its got a tight grip on me, so I have to do it somehow. Have you read ‘Werner Herzog’ – great interviews where he talks about holding up a bank to get a film made – whatever it takes ! I’m in the process of trying to raise some funds ( not rob a bank ) so if I can manage to do this its going to be a few months before I can begin anyway. The subject matter is quite abstract, and I don’t really want to discuss it until the images are coming together, or possibly not until the book is ready. I think if you discuss a project and then don’t actually act on it can be a bit of a let down, so I would rather try and get it done first. I’ll be sure to let you know.

KWC
Wow. Better just follow that intuition even if it means going on some rampage ala Herzog! Funny you should mention him – I have seen a lot of his stuff and have also been enjoying him in documentaries and interviews. What a character! I mean…Herzog and Kinski. What an unholy yet strangely natural alliance. All that aside I can’t say that I disagree on not discussing a project before it’s actually there. But seeing what you’ve done with the Re-enactors I can’t wait to hear more from you in the future!

Take a look at Jim’s website here

Re-enactors is available as a book. it’s published by HotShoe International and I’ve found it here.

All the images in this post are © Jim Naughten

Allright. So this guy is f*****g amazing. We have been watching him for quite some time and are more than happy to bring you a small selection of videos, mainly ones that shows Bruce when he’s in the field working. “Unique” would be one word to describe him. “Scary”, perhaps another. One thing is certain; this is one talented guy.

Also, this Magnum essay called Picnic With Sergey should not be left alone.

Back in October we did this post about the Farm Security Administrations huge archive of images from the the Great depression. We still have a huge fascination with historic archives, so when we found out that Sydney’s Justice and Police Museum houses a large collection of forensic images dating from  1910’s to the 1960’s we started salivating just a little bit. Not only do they have all of these beautiful and sometimes disturbing images but they provide a lot of detail in the description of these images, background stories and context which is completely engulfing. If you feel like getting a look into the lives of Australian cops and robbers back in the beginning of the last century, you can find it right Here.

This is a bunch of mugshots to give you an idea of what it looks like, mmmmmmmmmm glassplates.

James Reynolds project “Last Suppers” depicting death row prisoners last meal requests before execution, is a perfect example of how a strict concept and simple aesthetics can sometimes get to a deeper place than straight up documentary.

EDIT
Thanks a lot to Christian from Blog61 on pointing out this other, and older, project by Barbara Caveng: Final Meals

Happy New Years peeps!

We’ve been busy with our lives hence the quiet front on here, but don’t fret we definitely have some goodies coming up.

To continue our Guide to the crazy world of photography schools, we talked to Tine Bek Hansen who is currently a student at Glasgow Art Academy in Scotland. If you want to check out the first guide which was on Städelschule in Frankfurt go Here. And remember if you have any questions for Tine just ask in the commentary and she will answer.

If you want to see more of Tine’s work visit her blog Here

School: Glasgow Art Academy
Duration: 4 years (3 years with merit)
Program: BA (Hons) Fine art Photography
Application Deadline:  1st september to 15th January
Location: Glasgow, Scotland

You’re a student at Glasgow Art Academy. For how long have you been attending and what were you doing before?

That is correct:) I just started in the fall 2010 so Its all still very new to me, even though I sometimes feel like I have been here for years.

Before Glasgow School of Art I spend some time in New York City where I was interning with Ryan Mcginley, an american photographer, in his studio in china town. To see how it all works in the real work and realize how much more work comes before and after the actual picture is taken. It was amazing researching a project online and running around town with strange props in my hands, to seeing a huge billboard on times square. It truly was a crazy time. This giant city, all the people and all the street lights in your face. I didn’t rely see any stars when I was there, cause the lights of the city are way to bright.

I met this guy in a park who wanted to take pictures of me, I laughed cause no one ever asked so direct and with out a care in the world. We started talking, and he told me that there are more photographers in NY than yellow caps. What he said kinda stuck with me ever since, and even though it does intimidate me a lot, with all the competition, it also made me feel at home in the city.

Before I left for NY I studied for a year at the Danish School of Art Photography Fatamorgana. I believe that Fatamorgana was the main experience in my life that really gave me a whole new view and understanding of photography. And I learned so much about myself  in that year. I remember being amazed that I was in a class where every one had the same interest. I had never met anyone before that were interested in art photography, it was amazing, and most of my dearest friends are people I met at the school.

Im telling all this kinda backwards, but I also feel that I should mention that I started out studying History at the University in Copenhagen. This was a really strange choice on my behalf, but I felt I had to try it out even though my heart was longing for photography. I just didn’t know how to do what I wanted, and felt really scared by stepping into a business as uncertain as art photography, knowing that  no one ever makes it really big, and that Id probably be broke all of my life.
I know now that that is horse shit, cause there are plenty of amazing successful art photographers out there. And Im fine with being a penniless artist, I cant go back now
So next to the university I started interning at a photography studio in Copenhagen. They all called me the grown up intern, cause all the other interns where normally around 14, and here I was a 19 year old who had no idea what she was doing. This later turned into a job as an assistant for photographer Thomas Tolstrup. I really loved working there, but could feel that I wanted more, and honestly I was never that great an assistant. Im not really that technical, and numbers and organizing was never my strong side. So Thomas suggested that I applied to Fatamorgana, which Im so thankful he did:)

Tell me how you found out about the school and what your thoughts were in the process of picking the schools? (What is the school’s reputation etc.)

Honestly I never thought about going to Glasgow. I heard about it for the first time at Fatamorgana. A fair amount of student end up in Glasgow after Fatamorgana.
It just never occurred to me that it might be a school for me. I did hear people say that it is a bit unorganized, or to free spirited rather. I had the expression that it was a bit to playful for me. I wanted something more serious and strict.
I had gotten into my head that I was gonna go to the south of France and take a bachelor in photography in Arles. This is still a dream of mine, but I realized that my french is not as good as I always imagined, so for now that is on my to do list for the future.
After spending time in New York  my body was itching to come back to school, so I figured I should just apply at a couple of schools and cross my fingers.

Did you apply to many schools?

I wanted to apply to as many schools as possible, so the royal art academy in Copenhagen was on my mind, Rietveld in Amsterdamt and Fabrica in Italy.
I applied to Fabrica while I was at Fatamorgana, and one year later I got an email that I wasn’t accepted.
That’s when I realized how hard it is to get into these schools, so I was determined to make it happened.
I applied for Rietveld and Glasgow School of Art. For some reason my application for Rietveld got lost in the mail system. So that left me with Glasgow. As time went by I got more and more in love with the idea of Glasgow, and I started getting really nervous, since I kept hearing how hard it is to get in.

What are the entrance requirements and the application procedure like?

There are no specific academic skills, or degree required. But it is a really good idea that you know how to structure your time, and you have to really want it. There are not a lot of written assignments, but a fair amount. Every term there is an essay due, and the amount of words acquired gets higher for every year of studying. I saw on the schools website that every applicant were to send in a portfolio with 10 pictures and an artist statement. Previous academic achievements and two recommendations from teachers or artists. I did anyhow choose to boom them with my work. I didn’t feel 10 pictures was enough. So I sent two books I made and that was it.

How many people apply to the school?

Im not sure exactly, I know its a lot. People keeps saying different things. But I know that since I applied for 2nd year of the course,  I had gone to Fatamorgana and that gives you merit, we were only 3 people who got accepted. Im not sure how many exactly apply, but I know that around 40 came to the interviews. And some place I heard the number 200. But don’t hold me up on it:)

What language do they teach in?

English

Is it a photography only school or do they have other arts as well?

Glasgow School of Art has many lines, so its a great mix between the genres. There is architecture, design, printmaking, fine art paint, sculpture and photography.

How are the classes built and what are the teachers like?

I have a course called fine art photography, here we deal with a subject per term. This term we are dealing with colour! its very broad:) But we learn to use colour darkroom, and computer facilities, and then we all have to work on a personal project. We have two teachers, and they are both really great. But it changes from year to year, so you get to work with different people, which is really great. The head of department is a really talented american photographer called Thomas Joshua Cooper, he is like the sheep shepherd, taking care of all us young and confused artists.

What kind of ressources are at the school?

There is a whole basement filled with darkrooms, I think there are like 5 total. We have a big colour printer and a developer for film. Upstairs there is a computer room, with giant printers. There is a scanning suite, and another print room for large scale prints. Then there is a studio with lights and stuff. And best of all there is a `store^where you can borrow all the cameras you like..Its heaven. If you are in 3 or 4th. year you get a working/studio space, where you can work in privat and decorate as you like.

The social “spirit” seems to differ quite a lot between schools. What is it like where you are?

I feel that the social aspect of the photography department is really important. Im not sure if its because of photography, or the people, or its just because we are all in a house by ourselves, but there is always a lot of stuff going on. And I mostly speak to people doing photo, mostly because we think alike, and we are around each other all the time. I have a good friend who just started studying paint at the same school, and she tells me that its really hard getting close to people because they are 60 people pr. class. I think this makes a huge difference. In my class we are only 24. Which makes us a team. And I also do find that most photographers are just super friendly and outgoing:)

How are you supporting yourself, is the school expensive ?

The school is a bit expensive but luckily I get money from the danish government with me to Scotland, and because of some special arrangement between some countries and Scotland called SAAS, everything is covered. I don’t have to pay a penny. So Im much luckier than most of the other students at the school, and Im so grateful for it. I do however always seem to be broke, cause the materials we use are really expensive. I shoot in film, the paper for the darkroom is pricey, and we pay 75 pounds 3 times a year for using the facilities at the school..so it all rounds up. But Im doing alright, used to being broke by now:)

What is Glasgow like and what is the cost of living?

Glasow is great. Im really starting to feel the city. It is a very strange place though. Interesting. It had spirit and caracteur.  Its very pretty yet ugly at the same time, and I really like that diversity. But it is generally a pretty big city. There are the shopping street you find in every european city with all the same stores as everywhere else.
But there are also a lot of secret places, and beautiful parks, which means a lot to me. And if you drive half an hour out of the city you’ll find the highland! Its not a cheap city, but cheaper than what Im use to. So if you are smart you can save money. And you can eat all the fish and chips you like, its is so cheap here..can’t find pizza though, they aren’t big on that. only if  it’s deep fried. And the rent is reasonable, for a big city you can live really cheap.

Is there an art community there?

year, there is always a lot of stuff going on, always an opening. And there is a fair amount of artist collectives. Think a lot of people choose to stay after the art school. And the feel of the city is something that attracts artists I think.

Is it easy to find a place to live?

Yes, compared to so many other places, its real easy. It depends on what your looking for I guess. But I live in a really nice flat for the first time, much nicer than anywhere else I ever lived. And most students live in the same area, so its always possible to find something. I remember looking on gumtree, which is a community on line for most of UK, there is a lot of stuff there. And some where in the city there is an actual wall where people put post-its up if they need or offer anything. This I find amazing since it seems everything these days happens  through the internet. Found it very satisfying standing on the sidewalk, looking at a wall, with a bunch of other people. But actually my flatmate found our place in a local newspaper, so there is lots of options.

Are you planning on doing any kind of exchange to another school, if so where?

Yes, Im hoping to get accepted to Pratt in New York for my exchange, which will be in the 3rd year of studying. We are allowed to apply at two schools. Thats it. And if they don’t accept you, its too bad. So I have to really think my second choose through. Something a bit more safe perhaps, even though I would prefer somewhere a bit crazy, Japan is on my mind!

Are you happy with your choice?

I sure am. Its funny though how things turn out. Im just so glad being given the opportunity, space and time to work with my art, and see what happens. Thats really all you need. It can be anywhere. And I do believe that with the right attitude you can get this out of most schools, so its more a question about where in the world you wanna be. Its all possible!

We came across Jim Kanzanjian’s image composites through the 72dpi blog. We’re not really sure what he means when he says that he uses “found” photography to create these, but we sure do like the effect.

Looking at Jim’s images we got a bunch of associations, everything from the animated movie Howl’s moving castle to Ron Herrons Walking city

And most importantly the brilliant Jerry Uelsmann and his darkroom manipulations.

We hope you enjoy your sunday afternoon!

See more of Jim’s work Here

Visit Jerry’s website Here