I’ve been working on a scrapbook project recently. My aim is to print all the photos I’ve made over the past 18 months - the ones which I like, anyway. I’m not sure why this project appeals to me nor why I need to do it now. Usually I prefer to create new work rather than look at (or print) old work, but this personal retrospective is fascinating me and, for the moment, taking priority over new work.
I’m always keen to hear what people think of my photography. So if you have any comments on my work then I invite you to leave them here. Thank you.
I recently worked with someone who has synaesthesia, which if you don’t know is a kind of sensory overlap where, for example, someone visualises words and music as colours. Maria has a far richer sensory experience than I will ever have - she experiences things that I can never know - her “truth” is subtly different from mine. I find this interesting because the subject of truthfulness in art has been on my mind recently: in particular, the relationship between originality, truth and something photographers call vision.
Today I opened my online shop. I intend to keep a selection of new and favourite prints there available to purchase. You can still buy my work at the Contact Printers Guild website - now you’ve got two places to look with a slightly different selection of work in each one.
At last I’ve been able to set up a news reader feed for my galleries pages.
I’m thrilled to say that I was recently interviewed by Francois Croizet for a French photography website (Galerie-Photo). Here’s a link to the interview in French, otherwise here’s a version in English.
This morning I visited the National Gallery to see Alison Watt’s Phantom exhibition, and afterwards I went to see one of my favourite paintings, the Rokeby Venus. I’ve been thinking a lot about truth in art recently, and while I sat contemplating Velázquez’ masterpiece some of the threads started to come together for me.
As some of you are aware, this year has been very successful for me with many more print sales than last year. Unfortunately however, this increase has sometimes meant that I have difficulty fulfilling print orders as quickly as I would like to. In order to ensure that I can continue to provide the service [...]
Platinum is a wonderful printing medium, unequalled by any other in my opinion. Many people aspire to printing with platinum, but few people actually take the plunge and learn how to do it, and even fewer actually master it. There are many reasons for this…
“Damn it Ian, when are we going to work together?”
Libby and I had talked on and off about possibly collaborating on a project, but for various reasons we’d not managed to actually schedule any studio time. Last summer she finally lost patience with me and demanded my attention. I’m glad she did because this led to the most significant project of my photographic career to date.