Monday 28 March 2011
For Roger
Our friend Roger, currently based in Tokyo, has a dog a French bulldog. Lots of hugs to you, guys! We hope you are both doing well, despite the earthquake...
Sunday 27 March 2011
Friday 25 March 2011
Work space
We have since this picture was taken, made some tweaking to our workspace (and finished filling in our tax return applications!) and Simon's new sofa, ups I ment to say, new work space is arriving tomorrow! We might even consider inviting some guests for a drink since they will actually have someting to sit on...
P.S. To my previous post: Philip Glass will be performing during the Edinburgh Festival this summer; tickets go on sale on 2nd of April.
Tuesday 22 March 2011
Not quite as avant garde as one would have thought...
Philip Glass's Symphony No.3 / Movement 4 was used by... Marc Jacobs as a soundtrack to his fashion show for Louis Vuitton A/W 2012, you know that one that Kate Moss closed smoking a cigarette. I wonder what the composer thinks about all that, world of fashion and other trivial things like handbags? I hope he at least got some monogrammed freebees or Marc just told him it will be good for his portfolio?
Thursday 17 March 2011
A little bit Kielce-like
As some of you already know (because we were talking about it so much!) we went to Derby Format festival portfolio review at the beginning of March. We have met with excellent team of reviewers and heard some helpful stuff about our old and new bodies of work. The highlight of the stay was meeting with Amy Stein (see her blog in the bloggroll on your right) - she is smart, charming, intellightn, helpful and funny.
You know as you sometimes think something when looking at your own work but are too lazy or too shy to actually change the direction of an advanced project and start from scratch. That is why I was deeply impressed with Amy's scrutinising eye. What she said will allow me to move my work forward. I am on a lookout for a studio space now so that I could continue my project. Though it is actually quite weird to hear somebody whose work you admire to pronounce aloud what you were secretely thinking about your own work. Well, she said she liked it so fingers crossed for the progress of this new work amidst the wedding work whirlwind.
Derby is a very weird place - visually, of course. I think it must have been quite damaged during WWII (a nearby Coventry was completely flattened) and then rebuild without any particular plan in a very haphazard way. On Sunday morning, while Simon was meeting with his agent (Regina was one of the reviewers) I went in search of Sunday newspapers and it took me quite a while to find a newsagent open at 10 am. Luckily people who I asked about directions were most helpful and I got my Sunday Times and Telegraphs in the end of a quite a long walk in the rain. Just in case I went to say a short prayer in the nearby church (again an interesting architectural mix - gloomy and medieval from outside, pink and welcoming inside!) - for a preagnant Amy, Simon's trip to Warszawa to photograph The Polish National Ballet there (he was going litterally a day after our return from Derby), my mum and dad and many other things that one does not write in a blog post.
You know as you sometimes think something when looking at your own work but are too lazy or too shy to actually change the direction of an advanced project and start from scratch. That is why I was deeply impressed with Amy's scrutinising eye. What she said will allow me to move my work forward. I am on a lookout for a studio space now so that I could continue my project. Though it is actually quite weird to hear somebody whose work you admire to pronounce aloud what you were secretely thinking about your own work. Well, she said she liked it so fingers crossed for the progress of this new work amidst the wedding work whirlwind.
Derby is a very weird place - visually, of course. I think it must have been quite damaged during WWII (a nearby Coventry was completely flattened) and then rebuild without any particular plan in a very haphazard way. On Sunday morning, while Simon was meeting with his agent (Regina was one of the reviewers) I went in search of Sunday newspapers and it took me quite a while to find a newsagent open at 10 am. Luckily people who I asked about directions were most helpful and I got my Sunday Times and Telegraphs in the end of a quite a long walk in the rain. Just in case I went to say a short prayer in the nearby church (again an interesting architectural mix - gloomy and medieval from outside, pink and welcoming inside!) - for a preagnant Amy, Simon's trip to Warszawa to photograph The Polish National Ballet there (he was going litterally a day after our return from Derby), my mum and dad and many other things that one does not write in a blog post.
Monday 14 March 2011
Funky Maceo
Joe has definitely taken on a task of being my social director last week as he very kindly took me under his protective wing to see Maceo Parker performing in The Picture House this Saturday. This venue is just down the road from us and last year it was Adam who intorduced us to an excellent music spectacle there and this time it was also a great fun! I had a great time listening to an amazing performance (that woman singer, what a voice - she nearly brought the walls crumbling down!) but also observing people bouncing around me to the rythm of a funk jazz music while absorbing a great energy coming from the stage.
However I could not help but notice that in these circumstances (of live music) one has some trouble with finding a right way of behaving while standing in the audience crowd - should I be dancing? Should I better just move my head to the rythm while smiling approvingly? Should I just move my feet shuffling or should I work out a more elaborate performance? Perhaps Ishould just be standing clutching my drink and not move at all getting more and more embarassed by people getting crazier and crazier around me?
In the end Joe and I we got fed up by avoiding being hit by several dancing vigorously (and whistling furiously at the same time!) Latin teenagers and we moved back towards the bar area which turned out to be a master stroke as the sound was so much better there. This was also the place where a more sophisticated kind of jazz fans gathered perched on several bar stools at high tables and I must say I liked it there much more than being tuck between a couple making out in the darkness and a dreadlocked and unwashed foreign students jumping up and down.
Maceo granted us with almost two hours of extremely vigorous performance (as one might expect from somebody who used to be a saxophone player for James Brown). It definitely put me in a good mood for the rest of my working Saturday evening (as yes, I have skipped a round of drinks with Joe to start working on my latest illustrative commission due on Monday). Thank you, Joe! Next drinks are on me.
Images courtesy of Joe's iPhone as my little camera (mea culpa as I brought my old little Olympus with me because of the size of my handbag) could not cope with the speed of Maceo's movement on stage (and I have resized Joe's image):
However I could not help but notice that in these circumstances (of live music) one has some trouble with finding a right way of behaving while standing in the audience crowd - should I be dancing? Should I better just move my head to the rythm while smiling approvingly? Should I just move my feet shuffling or should I work out a more elaborate performance? Perhaps Ishould just be standing clutching my drink and not move at all getting more and more embarassed by people getting crazier and crazier around me?
In the end Joe and I we got fed up by avoiding being hit by several dancing vigorously (and whistling furiously at the same time!) Latin teenagers and we moved back towards the bar area which turned out to be a master stroke as the sound was so much better there. This was also the place where a more sophisticated kind of jazz fans gathered perched on several bar stools at high tables and I must say I liked it there much more than being tuck between a couple making out in the darkness and a dreadlocked and unwashed foreign students jumping up and down.
Maceo granted us with almost two hours of extremely vigorous performance (as one might expect from somebody who used to be a saxophone player for James Brown). It definitely put me in a good mood for the rest of my working Saturday evening (as yes, I have skipped a round of drinks with Joe to start working on my latest illustrative commission due on Monday). Thank you, Joe! Next drinks are on me.
Images courtesy of Joe's iPhone as my little camera (mea culpa as I brought my old little Olympus with me because of the size of my handbag) could not cope with the speed of Maceo's movement on stage (and I have resized Joe's image):
Saturday 12 March 2011
Organising
Floor in our appartment last night. I love a bit of organising and getting rid of all that paper junk accumulated over last months:
Socialising, with fish
Last evening Joe invited me for a real sushi binge! I even got a doggy bag to take home so my last two meals were a lavish overdosing on raw salmon. Thank you, Joe! Btw, Simon and I we are still on a lookout for a perfect teryaki chicken since our favourite place in Krakow closed down.
Wednesday 9 March 2011
Erika has moved, Martin's book is coming out
Erika Stevenson has moved her hilarious and beautiful photo blog to a new location:
http://erikastevenson.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/dog-of-the-day/
Go and check it out!
Speaking of dogs, Martin Usborne is coming up with a new book (I cannot wait!) where the main protagonist is his own dog Moose:
http://www.mynameismoose.com/
^ In case you were wondering what to get for me for my bday next year...
http://erikastevenson.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/dog-of-the-day/
Go and check it out!
Speaking of dogs, Martin Usborne is coming up with a new book (I cannot wait!) where the main protagonist is his own dog Moose:
http://www.mynameismoose.com/
^ In case you were wondering what to get for me for my bday next year...
Jeremy up North
I had a couple of extremely intense weeks packed with work and a Derby portfolio review but one of the highlights of that time was a visit of my friend Jeremy from London.
We met during our MFA course at ECA (Jeremy was working there on his animated film feature and my studio happened to be right next to his working space) and he very kindly posed for one of my first portraits in the Temporal | Portraits series. Since then I photographed him couple of times as he is simply excellent in front of camera, performing just the right amount that is needed for the image. Therefore I am not surprised that his latest venture inludes a big dose of performance as Jeremy came to Scotland to work on his first song and a music video! I had a sneak peak into the demo version of the recording and I absolutely loved it - it is a great mixture of good pop music, clever lyrics and good vocals. Jeremy seems to be a new incarnation of a modern David Bowie but his work definitely has his very own vibe. I hope he will get extremely successful as he really deserves the recognition with his personality and work.
So when he wanted to do some location scouting for his new video I was very keen to hop on a train and visit the Grangemouth rafinery area in Polmont, 20 minutes away from Edinburgh. We arrived there just as the twiligth was setting down, climbed a hill on completely empty golf course (extremely spooky location but an excellent view to the Grangemouth's panorama) to take some pictures. It was cold, dark and I felt like at any moment somebody will hold us at a gunpoint for tresspassing a private property so I worked very swiftly (which I hate) but hopefully to the great results. Here are some digital polaroids that I took before pressing a button on my medium format film camera.
For some more of Jeremy's work have a look at his youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/madeapus1
and his MySpace account:
http://www.myspace.com/jeremywarder
We met during our MFA course at ECA (Jeremy was working there on his animated film feature and my studio happened to be right next to his working space) and he very kindly posed for one of my first portraits in the Temporal | Portraits series. Since then I photographed him couple of times as he is simply excellent in front of camera, performing just the right amount that is needed for the image. Therefore I am not surprised that his latest venture inludes a big dose of performance as Jeremy came to Scotland to work on his first song and a music video! I had a sneak peak into the demo version of the recording and I absolutely loved it - it is a great mixture of good pop music, clever lyrics and good vocals. Jeremy seems to be a new incarnation of a modern David Bowie but his work definitely has his very own vibe. I hope he will get extremely successful as he really deserves the recognition with his personality and work.
So when he wanted to do some location scouting for his new video I was very keen to hop on a train and visit the Grangemouth rafinery area in Polmont, 20 minutes away from Edinburgh. We arrived there just as the twiligth was setting down, climbed a hill on completely empty golf course (extremely spooky location but an excellent view to the Grangemouth's panorama) to take some pictures. It was cold, dark and I felt like at any moment somebody will hold us at a gunpoint for tresspassing a private property so I worked very swiftly (which I hate) but hopefully to the great results. Here are some digital polaroids that I took before pressing a button on my medium format film camera.
For some more of Jeremy's work have a look at his youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/madeapus1
and his MySpace account:
http://www.myspace.com/jeremywarder
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