Respect.
July 14, 2011
Sheffield Star, Thursday 14th July. Headlines; Murder Suspect Extradited from France.
I’ve been thinking about Sartre a lot this last week, the “Hell is other People” one, not Fulham’s new signing from Senegal. Jean-Paul was wrong, Hell, obviously, is some other people, those who’s lack of respect for, not just their fellow human beings but those dealing with tragedy beyond measure, should condemn them to a life of abject misery. I found myself having awful thoughts, thoughts I’m not happy with, thoughts along the lines of I hope the Americans do find evidence of tampering post 9:11 because they will tear Murdoch’s heart out without a moments hesitation or offering platitudes along the lines of “we are all in this together”. Well we are not, me and the clever people at Private Eye had it right all along!
I have been discussing respect with some of the refugees I have been working with over the years, the context being Cameron’s speech in Germany declaring that multiculturalism has failed, Britain has encouraged different cultures to live separate lives. It is interesting, it would appear that this “encouragement” is directly linked to aspects of our media culture. I have had conversations about how we use ritual humiliation as a form of entertainment, Alan Sugar, a Lord of the Realm, was mentioned. X Factor, Britain’s got Talent, I could go on but I won’t. They also have a point that making the decision to keep themselves to themselves is partly based, using clear examples, of not wanting to be part of this banal and dangerous idiocy. I for one applaud their honesty. What also seemed to upset most of them was that the speech was made at a security conference, not a cultural one.
So, it’s simple really, hit them in the pocket. It is the only place these leeches feel pain. I believe in a free press but I also believe in sanctions that clearly demonstrate respect as being one aspect of British culture that is non negotiable.
CE
Barry Hines
July 4, 2011
Sheffield Star, Monday 4th June. Headlines; Kes Auther a Shell of Former Self.
Barry Hines lived a few doors down from us when we were kids in Broomhill, a proper gent, he helped another mate of mine Rob Dawber, sadly deceased, write his screenplay for “The Navigators” a film made by Ken Loach as I’m sure many of you know. Today’s obviously one for name dropping, here’s another, Colin…
All this reading I’m doing at the moment is actually quite a challenge shedding light on some fairly underhand archive methodology. Falsification, destruction, neglect and other acts of deliberate malice. Reads like Eastenders, but with an intellect. I’ve hooked onto a sentence in an article written by Richard Stapleton about the debate over modern archiving definitions and standards; “…archives are not collected, they come together and reach their final arrangement by a natural process, a growth you might say, as much an organism as a tree or an animal.” I like how this sounds, it also feels how mine is coming together allowing some things to just take their time and when they are ready to present themselves, they do.
It’s not very easy to portray a city without falling into the celebration of its monuments and the obvious. Mere touristic and picturesque banalities. The best way to know a city is to walk through the streets without prejudice, leave the map at home, discard other people’s ideas and try to use our own minds and visions, pursuing our own personal research and not accepting the recollection of a deja-vu. Not easy as I said and I for one have accepted much guidance along the way, advice, introduction and encouragement to fuel my own natural curiosity.
CE
More of my teaching methods, Minor White and Ansel Adams never did this!
Everybody Out!
June 30, 2011
Sheffield Star, Wednesday 29th June. Headlines; New crime crackdown on children as young as EIGHT shows the way by cutting youth offending by 67%.
Nail some sense into them I say. Ah! Counselling, tricky, I like it…
I’m on strike and feel not a jot of the guilt they are trying to heap on us by saying that parents and children will be inconvenienced. We are educators, not a creche service and I for one invited all my students along to, well, educate them into why this was happening, try and persuade them that they are not the victims in this and that some of them may well one day find themselves in the same game, as it were. Er, does that make me a scab?
The wonderful Dr Cheryl at the proper archive has furnished me with a couple of extremely interesting documents that, whilst being theoretical in parts, have some key moments that sit quite comfortably with my aims and intentions, namely; “…archives are established by the powerful to protect or enhance their position in society. Through archives, the past is controlled. Certain stories are privileged and others marginalized.” It is this last element that most interests me. It is also a major concern for the city’s archive that they are working towards addressing.
I’ve actually got so much to read at the moment it’s difficult to know where to start, but the Minor White one should be finished over the weekend, fascinating stuff about his relationship with his students. It reminded me of an image taken demonstrating my own technique.
CE
The Smoke 3
June 25, 2011
London Evening Standard, Saturday 25th June. Headlines; Labour ‘lost touch’ admits Miliband.
Try calling yourselves something different Ed, try, ooh lets see, New Labour or something pithy like that. Might work, you never know, you might have to turn yourselves into the Tory party tho’…
The Brunette and I took a steady stroll through town today calling in first at the Tate Modern to take in the Burke and Norfolk and happy once again to stare at the Diane Arbus, I never seem to tire of her subjects, I want to know where they all are now some 40 years on. Norfolk has an intelligent take on the situation in Afghanistan, the “collaboration” with Burke’s late 19th century photographs say, I think, very eloquently; Afghanistan, you are in the wrong place! Burke explored British and Russian Imperialistic designs on the place and Norfolk seems to have simply, subtly reinforced the fact that it is still going on. The word why seems almost superfluous.
About ten years ago we stumbled on a vegetarian Indian restaurant in Marylebone, stunning, but we have never been able to find it again since, until that is, today. The Woodlands, listen, just go, I don’t care if you eat meat, I’m a pretty unreconstructed carnivore myself but this place for lunch is cheap and will make you just want to keep ordering stuff to discover new tastes. That was four hours ago and I still can’t do my belt up.
http://www.woodlandsrestaurant.co.uk
The mistake we made was deciding to walk down to Bond St tube station which, as I’m sure you know, means crossing Oxford St. Sweet Jesus, on a Saturday. It taunted me; so you believe in a shared humanity huh? Well share this! I’m bad in crowds, which was lucky because this was not a crowd, more compacted flesh for as far as the eye could see. This was the moment the Brunette chose to look in a shop window, noooo, not now for pity sake! Too late, before I could promise to do the washing up for the rest of my natural life she was in and admiring something vaguely in her size. How can this be described as a leisure pursuit, there is nothing Hades has ever cooked up that even compares.
I’m home, I’m calm, I’m on my second glass of Merlot, yes that Merlot, bought to celebrate my lottery win and celebrating I am, £2:50, come on…
CE
Some more of what I saw today.
The Smoke 2
June 24, 2011
Londra, London Turkish Gazette. Friday 24th June. Headlines; Primary Pupils face Tough Competitions.
Actually when you read through this article it is surprising just how sobering some statistics are; in our capital one million pupils speak English as a second language, in some parts of London as many as three quarters of pupils speak other languages, almost a quarter of state school pupils are from an ethnic minority, 10,000 pupils are being taught in classes unlawfully above the 30 limit per classroom and 18% are eligable for free school meals.
Talking of meals, I’ve adopted this fabulous little Turkish grocers on the Caledonian Road as my source of all things edible. They were very patient with me as I explained that I wasn’t from round these parts and required some assistance in making a decision. Why have I never had a Turkish Pizza before now? I don’t expect you to know the answer to that, but before I’d remembered that I was only feeding myself I had spent about 15 quid! I then went next door to the Co-op to buy a EuroMillions ticket and a bottle of Merlot to celebrate my winnings. Asked what I would do with said winnings by the assistant I informed him that I would be buying Greece and with whatever was left over, the Elgin Marbles.
The Brunette joins me tonight for the weekend, her purpose it is to remind me that I’m not as clever as I think I am. There will be plenty for her to snack on over the Wimbledon highlights.
I spent the morning in the British Library. I actually envy London few things, really I mean it, but this place is probably top of the list, it’s amazing. My IQ went up just walking into the building. I returned tourist-like to the permanent collection and peered once more at Shakespeare’s first editions, Lennons lyrics on a napkin and those extraordinary early maps having a quiet moment contemplating those pioneers. I’ve been looking for examples of how photographers have approached the enigma that is the city. I came across Charles Pratt’s “Edge of the City”, moving in parts, document in other but worth the effort, very American, but I got distracted; oh look there’s a fluffy dog, by none other than Minor White. A book called “The Moment of Seeing”. It’s an enlightening tome about his time at the Californian School of Fine Arts. Being in education myself I have always been intrigued about that interface between the teacher and the student, what exactly rubs off? There seems to be some great stuff about taking responsibility for ones own pictures as being an overall goal but I’ve only skimmed it so far and intend to report back once a more in-depth study has been done.
CE
Things I’ve seen today.
The Smoke
June 23, 2011
London Evening Standard, Wednesday 22nd June. Headlines; Single Mothers to be Hit Hardest by Coalition Cuts.
So, in a change from tradition we have a guest publication because, as my regular readers will already know, I am a very important person and have been invited to talk at the 5th annual Community Archives and Heritage Groups conference at the UCL. A fascinating day in all and after explaining where in the UK Sheffield is to the delegates my work seemed to be pretty well received, until that is, I mentioned foolishly that I actually live in Nick Clegg’s constituency. It got pretty ugly; some even stopped knitting!
The conference was opened by the Dean with an up-beat ten minutes trying to convince all that the “Big Society” presented us with a series of opportunities. Now I don’t know what the Big Society is but I’m pretty sure I stepped in some whilst walking in Endcliffe Woods the other day, but what I do know is that trying to be jolly to a bunch of people from archives and libraries, many first in line for the cuts, was as painful as watching Andy Murray trying to find his inner human being.
I find myself increasingly being asked why I photograph the things I do, it feels like being one of my own students, they too find it difficult to express at times. My primary concerns are with the plight of the ordinary person, it’s complex but I enjoy the intimacy of being with them as they perform aspects of their daily lives eager to explore the vicissitudes of the situation. I have moments where anger meets empathy and have no other outlet except to photograph them; I believe in a shared humanity. Central to this is a deeply held political perspective which when viewed locally can be quite claustrophobic, but I strive to understand what responsibilities a photographer has in this regard, how do we experience the world and how should we portray it to make connections for the viewers? This last element is questionable in a world where it is simple to make a photograph; 2 billion and counting on Flickr alone. How are we able any longer to read and attribute meaning to a photograph? Maybe that’s why I started my archive, perhaps we are unable to do this immediately and actually it’s pretty arrogant to think that we can. Some things require the time we no longer feel, as a society, able to give. As a photographer I am guilty of whimsey, fleeting glimpses but endeavor to counteract this with a more prolonged and dedicated study exploiting a combination of the medium’s formal and emotional qualities. I explained at the conference that I did not view myself as a documentary photographer; I’m not, rather a concerned photographer choosing narratives that touch me and trying to make a coherent body of work from it. I am learning how to learn and I take some inspiration from Wynn Bullock who said; “If you stop searching you stop living because then you are dwelling in the past.” This is clearly counter-intuitive to the perceived notion of an archive, however it is the nub of the research; can we develop a template that looks forward and makes key decisions in the present about events we should save for the future?
CE
On the way to the conference…
Closing Time.
June 19, 2011
Sheffield Star, Saturday 18th June. Headlines; Hen Do Holiday Cash Stolen by Bridesmaid.
Charlene and Nadine are not friends anymore apparently. Matron of Honour indeed! What tickles me are the photographs, the second one of Nadine and posse is priceless. I can just imagine the instructions from the photographer; the old fold your arms and look angry variety, he has got to be a Les Dawson fan.
http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/local/hen_do_holiday_cash_stolen_by_bridesmaid_1_3494626
I have been wanting to add the archives voice to those expressing concern over the amount of pubs closing in Sheffield. Apart from photographing them I am conducting a series of interviews with landlords whose pubs are catergorised, according to the likes of Punch Bowl Taverns and Enterprise Inns, as ripe for disposal. What actually needs disposing of is the damaging tied-trade business model these companies employ. This is not just a local phenomenon obviously, but the archive likes to think globally and act locally. The vast majority of these places were hubs for the communities around them, they had football teams, darts teams and numerous other activities that brought people together. I despair at times as to what some will do for profit alone; we have some serious priority issues deep at work in our society. Well run pubs are a community asset, they have cohesive properties that we undervalue at our peril.
Right, got that off my hair free but well-defined chest, who’s next? Southern Cross perhaps, where my mum is being very well cared for, I should add, by workers who despite being amongst the lowest paid in our workforce already are being invited, yes invited, to sign away some basic employment rights. So Steven Schwarzman, my mum sleeps just fine at night, and most of the day for that matter, but just how in the hell do you nod off?
CE
One City Many Cultures
Buddy Can You Spare A Dime?
June 14, 2011
Sheffield Star, Tuesday 14th June. Headlines; Labour Pledges £2m extra cash.
So Labour have a sense of humor too in allocating funds, not to my dire straights, but to gewgaws like putting 10 more community support officers on the beat!
It has been an emotional few days, my students all left last week with tears in their eyes and nothing in their wallets desperate to see what the big bad world has in store for them. “The only place you will find success before work is in the dictionary”, I offered by way of comfort. I know they will miss me.
Truth be told we have a lot of soul searching to do at our University. It is only a few weeks since we were issued with the new strategy document, a reaction to the hike in fees. Page one is dominated by a series of bullet points, pledges if you will, the second of which is; to prepare the student for the work place. I was reprimanded, politely, in the meeting for crossing out the word “place” and replacing it with “house”.
Universities are a changed place, no longer an educational model but a business model. Sheffield’s two boasts the cities biggest turnover from any industry once all the spin-offs are taken into consideration. But looking through these bullet points I couldn’t help thinking, well, Polytechnic actually. Remember them? Preparing individuals for the work place was a Polytechnic thing to do, and they did it very well for the most part. There is no doubt that this will put a strain on many of my colleagues whose cognitive skills are vast but have no tangible practical skills to pass on to an attentive customer, sorry, student. It is a shame frankly that we do not acknowledge that a young person gains much more than just a work skill from three years at University, and no I’m not talking about Chlamydia or an eating disorder, I’m talking growing up, first time away from home, social intercourse and much more.
I spent a couple of wonderful days with Position Doubtful, Sheffield’s newest circus theatre group last week. An interesting idea, physical theatre of a different kind. One weeks R&D culminated in a final show on Saturday night at the Blue Shed. The show, called Rift, invited the audience to feedback after each act and an invigorating debate followed as to the good/bad bits. I seem drawn to performers, I’ve not tried to analyse it too much, I enjoy the process, the mainly invisible work put in to perfect one aspect. The way they support one another, sometimes literally, vulnerabilities explored. I found it quite moving.
CE
M.I.A.
June 6, 2011
Sheffield Star, Sunday 5th June. Headlines; MP’s support striking Sheffield University Staff.
Yes, with one notable exception. Is this a letter you felt unable to sign Nick? I suspect that those who made the decision to take that “Pension Holiday” in the 90’s are not the same as those now having to make up the shortfall. And some people have the nerve to call me a cynic…
I was pleasantly surprised to see how many people turned out to shake Mr. Clegg and his acolytes warmly by the testis at the recent elections. We now have a fresh Labour council whose first act was, well, to not empty my bins for three weeks? Just settling in I suspect, busy moving furniture around, changing the pictures on the wall etc.
Yes, it’s welcome back Clive; we miss your “bitter drivel” one email shared with me. I tell you, this PhD malarkey is not for the faint of heart, it’s not like I haven’t been doing anything, I’ve even been to Chesterfield to pursue a story. They hate having a Sheffield postcode and I found out something else about the place too. Did you know that one out of every three people living in Chesterfield weighs as much as the other two? Anyway, this blog thing, don’t expect it to make any sense; I don’t have any rationale other than not having to write in the same way that I do for my research. Talking of which, it looks like a busy summer, which will be a welcome distraction from those balmy evenings, Pina Coladas and endless salads. I have been ambitious with my subjects too which takes time, meetings, more letters, meetings; “yes I’m a photographer not a terrorist” kind of meetings. I do find it curious, most people welcome the attention and actually quite like the act of being photographed, the biggest question is always as to where the images will end up. There’s a clue in the title of my project, I offer smiling from ear to ear. You will end up on a dusty shelf forgotten about for the next two hundred years, but then, wow, you will be more famous than Vera Sklemitt!
CE
Lest We Forget.
Serious Stuff.
January 15, 2011
Sheffield Star, Saturday 15th January. Headlines; Kids Ban for Jailed Sex Gang.
OK, so it’s time to get serious. Since May of last year I have effectively been setting up a platform with which to undertake a PhD. Archive Sheffield is it and I wanted to share with you in this post my initial thoughts from last year. It’s a bit “stream of conscience” I know, but tries to get to the nub of the research.
Toward a New Archive
This research aims to assess if we can influence the way photographs are made, stored and used within a given environment, in this case the city of Sheffield, to provide a more active and coherent archive for future generations. It will look at providing a template for both individuals and communities to work with by assessing methodologies not generally considered by an individual photographer.
Methods will include 4 phases.
Collection
What kind of data can be collected? For a photographer access is everything, does this therefore mean that certain aspects of any archive will be missing? Certain social groups will be naturally reticent about such endeavors but could they be persuaded to produce their own images perhaps by using workshop techniques giving them total editorial control. Is this control a desirable attribute or is anonymity a requirement for this template? What ethical dimension does this present? This first example will look at images made by what could be described as amateurs, an untrained eye if you like, reinforcing the idea of photography being the most democratic of mediums we know, or as Coleman would put it “Photography is too important to leave to photographers”.
Using other like-minded photographers. It is of course possible that an archive already exists, it is just not organised. An example of this in Sheffield is the Firth Brown archive. Further references would include the Stryker’s FSA [Farm Security Administration] where photographers were organised to document the American depression of the 1930’s. In the UK there was the Mass Observation project that ran from 1937 to the early 50’s and is currently administered by Sussex University. Photography for many is an individual pursuit with evidence to show that very few mix with, or share images of this kind. There are professional bodies of course, however their main concerns are about generating revenue for their members. What then are the strategies to organise this? Is it in fact necessary and should the main concerns be to produce new work but allow the template to “point” at existing photographers/images?
Editing
What tools of decision-making could be developed for such an archive? Photography by its very nature produces an abundance of images so how should the decision be made for what is included and what is rejected? Who should do this and what defines photographic quality for archive purposes as opposed to other uses of a photographic image?
Access
What does access mean for an archive? Are the images merely for view or can they have a wider purpose? The most obvious contemporary viewing platform is the Internet and there are examples of image-based web-tools that allow for varying degrees of access, uploading and downloading for example. To what extent can these examples be followed or adapted? How do people without Internet facilities see the work?
Although my concerns are more about the images themselves the archiving of them cannot be ignored. If we concentrate on just the preserving for future generations aspect of archiving, it is clear that there are major concerns presently about how this is achievable. Digital archiving is currently a serious logistical undertaking sometimes requiring three copies in different geographic locations; some institutions are already looking into rotating these locations every few years. Others are looking at underground storage at temperatures of -15C. It has been estimated that domestic storage may have as limited a lifespan as ten years. What funding implications does this have for this template?
Distribution
Inevitably there will be those who will wish to use some of the images produced during this research. What legal implications will arise in terms of intellectual property given the current debate surrounding the Digital Economy Bill? Does this template need legal scrutiny to validate its objectives?
There have been many biopic studies of city life made by photographers; one thinks of Atget’s Paris, Roger Maynes London and Nayoa Hatakeyamas Tokyo for example but again highlighting the polemic of an individual and not of a community. This research will look at certain theoretical support systems to assist in studying the visual within an anthropological framework. Capra, a physicist, describes it thus; “a system that recognises the fundamental interdependence of all phenomena and the fact that, as individuals and societies, we are all embedded in [and ultimately dependant on] a cyclical process the principals of which include partnership, flexibility, diversity and sustainability.” [Capra, 1996,p.33].
I will look to revisit certain aspects of McLuhans theme of Social Constructionism as described in “The Mechanical Bride” 1951, the core idea of which is that truth is something people construct in the process of living in a world that is constructing them. What do pictures of real life mean to us and why do we keep returning to them time after time? It could be argued that they re-enforce a kind of mass-interpersonal relationship as described by Newton [The Burden of Visual Truth 2001, p.151] or, as touched on with my MA, a form of Stieglitzs’ photographic equivalents theory suggesting a link between the physical and the representational.
To summarise, it is clear that the practice of photographic documentation and archiving has changed with each technological breakthrough. What has not changed is the ongoing need to understand the world and those around us.
I get asked about the Star headline often. It started out as a way of getting onto the blog, I read the paper to look for potential stories but it is also a reminder about what is going on right now both positive and abhorrent.
Oh, and one last thing, the brunette can cook…
CE
