Misery Is The River Of The World

The End

2010-09-24T16:05:00.000-07:00

Thanks and Goodbye.

Maybe next summer.

No.40 - Clinic / Popshot Present Semiotics

2010-08-22T11:45:00.000-07:00

I had a show a yesterday, it went very well. The bottom photo is of the lovely Roy who put it all together.

No.39 - Reps

2010-08-22T11:04:00.000-07:00

Reps is a Uk based rapper with a cult following in Poland. He gained his fame in Poland by playing 100's of shows and eventually moving out there. I went to his flat in Dalston for a shoot and moved onto his favourite Greek cafe where we had a couple beers and a wonderful salad. Here are a couple of my favourite shots.

No. 38 - Clinic

2010-07-23T14:00:00.000-07:00

Once again I had the pleasure of shooting the poetry/art collective that is Clinic. They have recently put together a fantastic book which is available here: http://www.clinicpresents.com/p/store.html. It contains an ample range of poetry, illustrations and photography.

In late August Clinic will be putting on an all day event at the incredible space Uthrophia.

We shot in the space out side of Uthrophia, which has an eclectic mix of automobiles, beat up furniture and vegetable boxes. Here are a couple of my favourites from the shoot.

Every time I do a shoot with Clinic they seem to be one more member down, the first was Ben and this time Andy was no a show. So hopefully this shot of Roy can be used some time in the future.

No.37 - Trainerspotter SS10 Sunglasses

2010-07-15T18:20:00.001-07:00

I recently did a shoot for my good friends at Trainerspotter. It was for their new sunglasses which you can find at Trainerspotter.com, their producing a lot of great items and collaborating with some incredible artists such as Roots Manuva. Trainerspotter also have some great things lined up for the next season.

I think it went quite well, Kyrone is always wonderful to work with. Here are some of my personal favorites.

No.36 - Riviera et Catastrophe

2010-07-15T18:19:00.000-07:00

It turned from tranquil beuty to devistation after a stormy night's sleep

'R/C I'

'R/C II'

'R/C III'

No.35 - June - July

2010-07-15T18:12:00.000-07:00

'The final curtain'

'Mon Frere'

'Untitled'

'Burnt earth'

'Ling'

'A sign of trouble to come'

Listen:

No.34 - Tuna and Fish wifes

2010-07-15T18:08:00.000-07:00

These photos were taken in Tsukiji fish market on the out skirts of Tokyo. It felt like the most unwelcoming place in Japan. Dirty looks were ten a penny due a year long ban of tourists from the market had been lifted ten days before I walked the blood soaked planks of this miserable place. The Tuna was being sliced and diced with band saws and three foot knifes. It felt like a hack and slash movie, where any moment all doors were going to be locked and outsiders were going to be cut down and sold off as a delicacy. One thing that struck me in running the market was the way in which men did the work and the elder women were in make shift offices dealing with the money. This marital arrangement is evident though out Japanese culture, where wives hold the purse strings and the man is sent of to work. The first photograph was taken on a point and shoot and was shot from the hip, they were not happy with people photographing the meat. The last three were shot with a range finder, which is the worst and least inconspicuous camera to use in a busy market place. Even though I felt unwelcome and slightly ill at times, I recommend visiting Tsukiji fish market if your ever in Tokyo.

'Catch of the day'

'Tokyo fish wife I'

'In the belly of Tuna'

'Tokyo fish wife II'

No.33 - Collage III

2010-07-15T17:58:00.000-07:00

'A long good bye'

'Heart Songs'

Listen:

No.32 - Swimming Lessons

2010-07-15T17:52:00.000-07:00

My work is in the new issue of Swimming Lessons by the name of TROUBLE. Swimming Lessons is an awesome zine, its overflowing with great work by a stack of artists. Its put together by two American girls by the name of Phoebe and Grace. They had been hanging out in London for awhile, but sadly gone back home and will be surely missed. You can find the zine at: http://swimminglessonszine.blogspot.com/

No.31 - Sports?

2010-07-15T17:43:00.000-07:00

'Mouth'

'The lads ?'

'George'

'Untitled'

No.30 - Tour de France 2010

2010-06-19T09:18:00.000-07:00

'FIGHTERS'

'Trente deux'

'Station service'

'Arrêt'

'Unititled'

Listen -

No. 29 - Yomiuri Giant Sumos

2010-06-19T08:54:00.000-07:00

'Untitled'

'Hey ho Yomirgo'

'A day for Giants'

'Round one'

'The real champ'

No.28 - Les Champs Elysées

2010-06-19T08:35:00.000-07:00

' Les Champs Elysées'

'Légion'

'Mo'

'Untitled'

'Mo deux'

Listen -

No. 27 - A Shinjuku's night

2010-06-13T10:35:00.000-07:00

'Tokyo Love'

'Rats in a maze'

'Our lights'

'Our lights II'

'The Nightly Commute'

Listen -

No.26 - June

2010-06-13T10:21:00.001-07:00

'Mr Oak'

'Frizbee'

'Omi II'

'Uncle Bert's Village'

No,25 - Big in Japan

2010-06-07T17:13:00.000-07:00

'Shopping for Pornography'

'Sushi King'

'Lost in Migration'

'Sober'

'Tuna'

' ¥ 45,000 worth of happiness'

No.24 - R.I.P Guru

2010-06-07T16:42:00.000-07:00

This post it more than late, but it is surely needed. In late April a hip-hop
legend was lost, on the 20th of April Guru died. The response to his death highlighted his legendary status, rarely has a death within hip hop been featured in the guardian obituaries and on the bbc. It was also quite sad to hear that even in death guru was not willing to put aside his differences with his former dj Premiere, as shown from these quotes taken from his statement (sourced from bbc.co.uk):

"I do not wish my ex-DJ to have anything to do with my name, likeness, events, tributes, etc,"

"I had nothing to do with him in life for over seven years and want nothing to do with him in death."

No one knows exactly what the beef was about, but there is allot of Internet speculation, a recurring theme seems to hold Mc Solar to account, the dislike for MC Solar seemed to hit a whole new level when rumours circulated over the Internet concerning him preventing guru's family from seeing him on his death bed. This has been covered on a previous post within this blog.

His death should not be over shadowed by Mc Solar actions, he should be remembered in his prime for producing some serious tunes as one half of the legendary Gang Starr.

Listen -

No. 23 - The Sister Ruby Band

2010-06-06T12:11:00.000-07:00

The Sister Ruby Band consists of one young Californian by the name of Johny Ruby. Johnny has been living and creating in London, for the last couple of years. I was able to capture Johnny a couple of weeks ago, right before he left London to play some shows in his home town of Holywood.

Listen:

Sweet Georgia by THE SISTER RUBY BAND

No.22 - Game on Tokyo

2010-06-06T11:37:00.000-07:00

'100 yen down'

'King of the west'

'First date'

'Last date'

No.21 - May

2010-06-06T09:56:00.000-07:00

'Samuel'

'Chasing the Sun'

'Untitled'

'La Grand'

'La Grand II'

No.20 - A post

2010-06-06T09:55:00.000-07:00

I have been out of the loop lately. So this is my first post in a long while but I'm not going to plague you with the details of my life, which seems to be current theme in the majority of blogs I've been browsing. Dont get me wrong, there are some that I find an enjoyable read. Over self indulgence was the reason for getting rid of my previous blog, this is something I'm going to avoid, but I do want to make this completely impersonal . For me the point of blogging was to display the work I was creating and the process behind it, while making it slightly personal and informal, otherwise I would just have a site.

There also seems to be a great deal of negativity these days; every time somebody has a problem they seem to have the sudden urge to find their way to the nearest computer and tell the world. Therefore on this blog I thought it would be productive to highlight the work of my peers and friends. I recently realized that in the last couple of years the largest influences on my work have been my friends, this is due to not pursuing a creative education and continuously taking interest in the work of the people around me. Therefore on this blog I'm going to start to highlight the work of my peers.

Any way, Ive been away and I'm going away again. But I do have alot of time on my hands till September there fore I will be producing quite abit of work. So I will be posting here alot, so keep your eyes on the space.

No.19 - Most Popular

2010-04-14T08:16:00.000-07:00

The five photographs bellow are the most popular photos on my flickr. It doesn't mean much, its just the photographs that people have shown the most the interest in. I find it quite odd that people prefer these five this is because when I choose five pieces to exhibit not a single one of these made the cut. I don't plan to use these five for anything particular so I thought I might share them on here.

'Lights of Loring'

'F6'

'Lewisham's hangover'

'Public transportation's finest'

'Lord Biddle - King of the Gypsies'

Listen -

No.18 - March

2010-04-11T09:11:00.000-07:00

'Untitled'

'Nigerian materials'

'Fun Land'

'Barkerlo Bawlin'

'Wood you' and 'Untitled'

'The Nicholson'

'Dalston politics'

'Blood bruva'

No.17 - Shooting from the hip

2010-04-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

The work of John Balderssari has had a massive influence over the way I approach my work. His influence has helped me move away from trying to produce pretty pictures and push my work forward. Lately I have been very conscious when taking photographs to not use the conventional approach of looking through the view finder to create an image. Instead I have been shooting from the hip, for the time being its quite exciting because i'm now completely unaware of how an image will come out. Here is an example of this process, this piece is titled 'Johnny Ruby'.

No.16 - Faces of the internet

2010-04-11T08:37:00.001-07:00

I'm working on a new series of portraits called Faces of the internet. The premise behind this idea is to pretty simple, its to take portraits of individuals that I have met over the internet. There is a great deal of anomanimity when it comes to chatting to somebody new over the internet, unlike in reality people can control how much of them selfs they want to put out. Over the last couple of years due to doing photo shoots for various people and concepts, I have met allot of people; some who were great and became good friends. There were also others whom were disappointing and odd. The whole process of meeting some one off the internet is kinda bizarre especially when your not too sure what they look like, you also have no idea what the person is going to sound like. Through this project I plan to meet a range of people via the internet, spend some time with them them to create work. The work produced will consist of their portrait accompanied by a small text of how the encounter went socially.

The first set of images in this series is of an actress called Sophie Allen, who got in touch with me for some head shots. I shall scan in the text that goes with this set of images shortly.

No.15 - Orwin

2010-04-11T08:31:00.004-07:00

This is part of the series that started with Maurita. Senate House is a very interesting building. Its one of my favorite buildings, I enjoy working there. Apart from the odd aged computer, its stacked full of colorful books and journals. Also during the day light is stunning. I recently went there with the lovely Orwin, it was great to spend time with some one in a space which is usually just my own. Here are some the results.

No.14 - American Werewolves in London

2010-04-11T08:31:00.003-07:00

So pleased with the response to the collages that I posted on this blog. Collage is so new to me, its so great to make further use of the photographs I take. Here are two new collages the first is tittle 'American Werewolves in London' and the second is 'Windmill the Amersham' .

No.13 - February

2010-04-11T08:31:00.001-07:00

'Bring in the Clowns'

'Stumble'

'98'

'Backwards film'

'Sandwich search'

'Untitled' and ' Spring tea'

'Caught by Camera'

No.12 - Bandit Country update

2010-04-11T08:31:00.000-07:00

I had planned to do my Bandit country series as the soon as the sun popped is shining face out of the grey and gloomy clouds, bringing fourth the glimmering light of spring. This is because I prefer not use a flash and have a thing for natural light. I imagined that a series full of wonderful images with light pouring in threw windows, illuming the subjects and their treasures in a spring glow would be created. But this was not to be. The unpredictable nature of the weather was the first problem encountered. Secondly even when the sun was out in full force, I found that it was often on the wrong side of the house, never mind. Lamps will probably be used to tackle this problem, the results will be up as soon as one figures out where to acquire them from. Here are the results so far, a bit too dark for my liking.

No.10 - Maurita

2010-04-11T08:11:00.000-07:00

Recently I spent some time with my good friend Maurita and I happened to bring my camera. By trying to push my work forward and and better my self artistically I seem to have forgotten how great people close to me are. Its obvious that close friends and family should not been taken for granted, so a serious effort will be made on my behalf to capture the time I spend with these wonderful people.

No.9 - Adult Youth

2010-04-08T10:40:00.000-07:00

This show was good all round, had a lot of beer and a lot of fun.

No.8 - God's away

2010-04-01T05:43:00.000-07:00

No. 7 - Strong Magic

2010-03-31T18:40:00.000-07:00

No. 6 - Guru

2010-03-29T16:03:00.000-07:00

There has been allot of Internet chatter about Guru. Guru was one half of the legendary rap group Gang Starr. He has recently fell in to a comma and is life is the hands of rap partner MC Solar, who is rumored to be keeping him hidden away from his close family and has gained legal control over his life. I had the pleasure of meeting Guru last year, all I can say is that he is a lovely man and was more then willing to drop pose after pose when I asked him if I could to take his portrait. I also met MC Solar, who was very off and rude, and freaked out as soon as some fans came into their private area just for a chat. Long story short, I wouldn't be surprised if half the shit about Solar is true. I'm not really on these teen blog posts, but Guru has been a legend to me since I was about 15. I hope he gets well soon. The Photograph bellow was taken last summer and the song is one of my favorites.

No.5 - New Yoga

2010-02-15T11:48:00.000-08:00

NEW YOGA = http://www.myspace.com/newyoga

No.5 - Collage drop out

2010-02-15T11:21:00.000-08:00

I haven't messed around with collaging for a very long time. In the first collage stood a blond kid, who managed to get in the way of every shot; he kinda pissed me off, so I took him out. The second photograph lacked all sense of the space in relation to the beautifully high celling which needed to included.

This track companions the bottom collage.

No.4 - Clinic for Breakfast

2010-02-11T04:22:00.000-08:00

Clinic have been receiving some well deserved hype in South East London for a while: this is because they have created something very different from the norm. Anyone who has left the comfort of their living room on a Saturday night is fully aware that there have been a hideous amount of dull nights springing up; consisting of a handful of friends djing and vast amount of kids taking photos of other kids. Yet a Clinic night feature none of these- their nights consists of zine/poetry workshops, a handful of live acts and some incredible poetry, always set in a well curated space; which amalgamate to an unexplainable atmosphere that can’t be captured on any DSLR. I recently had the pleasure of catching up with the collective for breakfast.

We started out just wanting to workshop our own poetry in a healthy environment, then we started to read to an audience, and luckily, people enjoyed listening to us. We soon realized that the poetry we read and wrote could be combined with the music we listened to and the art we liked and we wanted to bring it to the attention of as many people as possible. We had to travel far for all the gigs and readings we really enjoyed, so we’ve just tried to bring it to the South East. It’s made us discover more artists and writers and musicians, bring attention to people who deserve it.

Poetry seems to be the thing that is binding you as group; do you produce work as a collective?

We made a zine last year that was a combination of Sean’s illustration work and our poetry, but we never really sit down and write together. Saying that, we have a big influence on each others’ work. We workshop our poetry with each other and Sam and Andy are always the first people to see my poetry, as I am with their work.

One of the things that set you aside from other collectives is that you also run poetry and zine Workshops, what do these entail?

We started the poetry workshop a long time ago, and it basically consists of a group of about 7 of us, sitting in a pub, reading and commenting on each other’s poetry, getting steadily and comfortably drunk under the watchful eye of Millwall fans. It’s a really good environment for improving work, especially as Jack Underwood, one of the new Faber poets, leads the workshops and is incredibly patient and respectful of our work. The Zine workshops have the same level of creativity. People bring materials to collage and everyone sits and drinks and creates, the atmosphere is always creative and intimate, that’s something we want to retain.

Do you have anything in the pipeline at the moment and what are your long term plans?

We will be having another night of poetry and music and art on the 11th of February so we are in the process of planning that now. We are also gathering work together for an anthology of work due out before the end of the year. Also, we have a night planned at the Lock Tavern in collaboration with Bear Gami, as our previous night with them went so well, this is due to be on the 22nd of February. We will be having more zine workshops, carrying on with the poetry workshops, getting as many people as involved as possible, holding smaller events, holder larger events, collaborating. Everything. We’re also in the process of making our first anthology of all the best stuff so far and there will be a launch for this – but we’re quite a way off at the moment.

Words and Photographs by me, all questions answered by Rachael Victoria Allen of Clinic

No.3 - January

2010-02-03T19:25:00.000-08:00

'Loui'

'Felix Meats'

'Dinner at the..' and 'Untitled'

'Ruby'

'Come back in Summer'

'Omi'

No.2 - Bandit Country

2010-02-03T19:17:00.000-08:00

I have been meaning to do a large project for along while, the other day I decided to execute a project that has been floating in the back of my mind and scribled on a scrap peice of paper called Bandit Country.

The idea behind this project came about after a verbal altercation over a lighter with a short middle aged Millwall fan, where me and five of my friends were made to feel scared, intimidated and slightly emasculated, whilst being constantly reminded we were in Millwall territory “Bandit Country”. As someone who doesn’t really get sports and can’t comprehend having pride within a sporting institution, it got me thinking that we are in area full of pride for all the wrong reasons; not just sports related but also area codes. Even though South East London can be pretty grim at times it also contains a wonderful creative element which is often over-looked and of which I’m proud to be a part of. There is a lot of pride within the creative youth; people take pride within one's work, appearance and immediate environment.

This project will be explored through taking portraits of creative youth within their immediate environment, which they have created for themselves; presented alongside work/ objects of which they are proud of, and a hand written reason for this pride. I plan to capture 26 people.

There's been quite alot of feed back recived from people willing to participate, which I find seriously delightful.

No.1 - Black by popular demand

2010-02-03T18:03:00.001-08:00

Welcome. I really enjoyed doing thisishowispendmytime, so I thought I would give it another go. Life's going well, college work is going slow but photography has been going places, thanks to sweat and Sound. Not only did they put me on the website they also featured me in their printed issue and curated an awesome exhibition just off Carnaby street in Chapter One gallery. The photograph bellow is of Hype Williams in front of my work.

The opening was big, I really appreciate all the work that went into the show and those who made the effort to come down and a big thanks to Shane Connolly for putting the whole thing together. These pieces have become stale to me so I was a bit hesitant about the work I put forward. But it was great to exhibit my work from the last year and look at it for what it is, this helped me come to a conclusion that my personal work needs to move away from candid snapping towards a stronger thought process. Here is a great track by Nina Simone, it has little relevance to my work. I appreciate it because it creates memories of city I've never been to, this affect is what I would like to achieve with my photography.