Sunday Morning Reading

A couple of articles in the FT make interesting reading this morning.  One does not expect quality photographic critique on the FT, but these days you take it where you can get!!

The first is an interview with Cindy Sherman.  For those not familiar with her work then this article reveals a great deal.  It is a prelude to her forthcoming retrospective at MOMA.  Say no more:

Cindy Sherman in the FT.


The second is a more difficult concept to get your head around but nevertheless a thought provoking one.  A review of a project on Israel with a group of the most famous photographers in the world.  Sounds extreme and from reading the article, seems.  If you are interested on how Koudelka and Shore and Struth spend their days then this a is a little, but not huge insight.

FT Ways of Seeing.

Finally the reason for my long time silence is that I am busy and that includes another book.  I always wanted to publish my Glastonbury homage.  And with a year off - the Olympics in June will use up all available portaloos in the country- this is the time to do it.


As a taster here is a photo from Chumbawamba in the Avalon Tent - not many musicians can play the tie!!

Everest Here Continents Collided In a Store Near You

Finally and I mean what an amazing feeling to have this book out there!!

You can get a copy here:

https://www.ebookit.com/books/0000001219/Everest-Here-Continents-Collided.html

Enjoy the book.  I wrote it for you :-)

Alex

 Now what will I do next?  Maybe climb a mountain!!!

Latest book to the distributor

Everest Here Continents Collided has now gone to the distributor.  I expect the 160 page book to be available from eBookit in a couple of weeks and thereafter Amazon, iBookstore and Barnes and Noble by October.

You can follow the book blog at

Everest Here Continents Collided

Elsewhere you can already find my "Kate and Wills Royal Wedding" book on Amazon or iBookstoe.  Again in eBook format. 

Glastonbury - Paul Simon and Bono Rock

I feel a bit odd at Glastonbury, and not because you are in a tent city with 180,000 people. And strangely at home at the same time.  There is something for everyone and for me as a photographer there is a compelling photographic story from the moment you get up in the morning to when you crawl into your tent in the wee small hours.  The older acts are inspirational and this year non more than BB King at 85 and Paul Simon at 70.  There is something amazingly uplifting to see an 85 year old man playing the guitar sitting down and in front of 100k+ people.  And then you have the young acts trying to make their mark, but few will be around when they are 70 I would guess!!!

Then there are the headline acts.  U2 were outstanding however I am identifying my generation here.  Coldplay no less so.  For these events I stood up close wishing to photograph the individual artists.  For Beyonce I decided to stand back on the hill to capture the broader perspective. Eventually when I made it up the hill I was sitting on my own watching it all beneath me like a surreal model, but in real life.  The remarkable thing about this image is how clear Beyonce is on the stage.  The image reminds me of a Gursky image I saw years ago where despite having thousands of people present at the event that one key person stands out.  And so she did!!!

 Beyonce Glastonbury 2011

 U2 - The streets with no name

 BB King - The Godfather of Jazz

 Don Maclean - American Pie

 Paul Simon - The Boy in the Bubble.  An understatement to say a living legend

 Dance Village

Glasto  Stonehenge

Glastonbury 2011 Preparations for the Annual Pilgrimage

Four more days and we will head down the long M6 to Glastonbury on our annual pilgrimage.  Al and I have reviewed the images from the previous two years and are fired up for it.  Al for the music and me for the photographic opportunities which abound.  And of course the music.  I am excited to see the anarchistic Chubawamba and the consummate U2.  On previous years we have seen 40 bands in a weekend and it remains astounding even on this the third run around.  Difficult to convey other than say that it is a feast of what is good in contemporary culture.  And in a way it keeps me contemporary.  It allows me to slip thing into the conversation like the Bombay Bicycle Club or Let's Buy Happiness or Enter Chakari hopefully in the right places and context.  My favourite spot where I normally have my Glastonbury moment is in the corner of the John Peel tent where I normally snooze in the morning sun and listen to the latest bands.

If you are there say hello.

Alex

The Late and Great Clarence Clemons The E Street Band

Top Guys

Michael Jackson 2009

Waiting

Stevie Wonder Pyramid Stage 2010

Fun

Marina and the Diamonds John Peel Stage 2010

John Peel Tent

Thursday 2010 waiting orderly for the start

La Bourgogne an incredible landscape and a remarkable hotel

In April I drove back down memory lane across the Bourgogne in central France.  It was one of those unexpected days.  I had no plans to be there but was and it was wonderful.  The fields were full of colourful rape seed and the countryside lay out in front of me like a regulated carpet.  I could not believe the intensity of the landscape and the depth of my feelings.  The yellows and greens in the brilliant sunshine were without parallel.  France has it all.

  I had been here 20 years before drilling an unsuccessful exploratory oil well.  On the edge of the Champagne district.  And here I was again driving thorough visiting my old haunts and reliving how beautiful and rich this part of France is.  It is a paradise of agriculture and alcohol and when I was here in in 1989 they were celebrating 200 years of Republic.  I stopped at the Champagne hotel and the Maitre D agreed with me that it is paradise but it is a tough time in France.  Delivering the promise is no longer guaranteed. 

The night before I stayed in the Grand Hotel Terminus Reine in Chaumont.  It was one of those places you visit that is unforgettable.  For two reasons.  The owner was a hunter and in the middle of all the richness of decor and flowers and leopard skin upholstery there were these fabulous animal heads protruding everywhere from the walls and from all over the world. When I went upstairs it was completely transformed with bold colours, blue walls and orange doors and fabulous wall art.  And why?  Because this is the town that hosts the world poster competition - of course why didn't I know.

Grand Hotel Terminus Reine Chaumont - Heads and posters

Grand Hotel - Leopard skin furniture and stuffed pig

Room 64

Bourbon Stairwell

Rape Seed and Pylons

La Bourgogne at it's best - amazing empty roads and vistas

Country Roads

Maitre D Champagne Hotel - Would only serve a 5 course meal at 3 in the afternoon - where else?