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John Macpherson posted this on May 21st, 2012
I’ve been threatened with ejection from my local supermarket several times. You may guess which one by the red ‘s’.
They don’t like cameras. Not inside. Nor outside. Especially ones with big long white conspicuous lenses.
Shame really, because I just keep seeing things I want to record. Interesting things.
Like the crow, in their carpark, that can read and knows its place. (“Please stop photographing or leave sir.”)
 C for crow. © John MacPherson Or the starling flock that roosts in their sign. Every winter.
(“You cant use big lenses like that here sir” What way should I use them then? ”You can’t use them at all near our store sir.” Can I use a bigger one then, from further away maybe? ”Please stop photographing or leave sir. Now.”)
 S for starlings © John MacPherson
Or the deluge that bombarded the carpark one day.
(“Why are you photographing that car sir?” I’m not, I’m photographing the rain? “You can’t do that here sir.” What? Photograph the rain. “There’s customer’s property, cars, in your picture. We’re responsible for customer’s cars so you can’t do that sir.” Oh ok! Why does that sign over there on the wall say ‘We are not responsible for customer’s cars. You park here at your own risk.’ That seems odd, and dare I say it, even slightly contradictory? “I’m not arguing with you sir, please stop or leave”)
 sssssssssssssssssssssss for scottish summer shower © John MacPherson Or the ice patterns in the shop doorway, on a subzero day.
Because the trolleys were left outside all night in the cold.
And then the morning sun melted the frost from them.
And it drip drip drip drip dripped off the trolleys….everywhere that people took them….
And where the sun was, and the warmth, and the man scattering salt, there was only water left to show their dripping passage.
But in the shop doorway, beneath the rolling wheels and marching feet of shoppers, the shade was bitterchill, and waiting, unsalted……
….for the drip drip drip drip drip dripping to rearrange itself into a frostflower confection of cool blue.
It was gone in a short time.
 eff for eff off, no no no...... f for frost flowers © John MacPherson So was I.
(“Please stop photographing or leave sir.”)
But I had stopped long enough in the doorway, amidst all the unobservant shoppers, to take my picture.
Some people go because it’s a ‘market’.
I go because it’s ‘super’.
And I have a loyalty card, so its always worth returning………………….
duckrabbit posted this on May 20th, 2012
The blurb is below for todays BagNewsSalon. I think I’ll probably be coming at this differently than any of the other panelists because I’m not sure I agree with the premise of this webinar, that the Kony film ‘back-fired’. Backlash would be a much better word because I am of the opinion that the Kony film was a massive success for Invisible Children (that doesn’t stop me wanting to vomit when watching it.)
The Salon brings together the eyes and voices of the world’s leading photojournalists, visual academics and political and cultural observers (and duckrabbit) to analyze a current topic in visual politics in a 90 minute on-line webinar.
“The Visual Chemistry of Kony 2012” will look at how visual campaigns backfire in their success. What about Kony 2012 made it sticky visually? How did these images fuel viral compassion that was detached from facts? How do images like the one by Glenna Gordon trouble the narrative from within?
(photo credit: Glenna Gordon)
Here are the details:
Date: Sunday May 20th
Time: 10 am PST/1 pm EST/6pm GMT (running for 90 minutes)
Title: The Visual Chemistry of Kony 2012: When Viral Visuals Backfire
Where: http://bit.ly/BagNewsSalon (We’ll be holding the talk on the Open-i platform, hosted by the London School of Communications, via live audio. Below, you’ll find additional info on how it works.)
Hope you can join us!
Michael
BagNewsNotes
David White posted this on May 19th, 2012
Claudia Leisinger telling us a tale of the demise of the Billingsgate fish porters.
“In January 2012, the City of London Corporation – effectively an independent governing institution – withdrew all trading licences from the porters, revoking a bylaw dating back to 1876. Without this protection, the porters could legally be replaced by cheap casual labour.
The LFMA (London Fish Merchants Association) has been trying to change the porters’ working conditions from a collective agreement (which gives them collective protection) to an individual contract and has found a powerful aid in the City of London Corporation, who is currently making the funds (£2.5 million) available to the merchants to buy out the porters.
The question is, what is the motivation to so determinedly get rid of 102 working men?”
Thanks for educating me Claudia.
Peter posted this on May 18th, 2012
We had some fantastic entries for the scholarship place on this year’s Hinterlands workshop – very many thanks to all of you who took the trouble to send us your work. This year’s place will go to Christian Petersen. Check out his work HERE.
Congratulations Christian – we’ll look forward to seeing you on the 28 May in the Blackdown Hills.
Music night in Klaksvic by Christian Petersen
David White posted this on May 18th, 2012
Dan Cainey has something to share:
“The work asks what it means to be a Tamil refugee, and identifies these diasporas as a form of resistance against the ongoing erosion of the Tamil ethnicity back in Sri Lanka”:
Take a few minutes to read this, thanks.
Thanks Dan.
David White posted this on May 18th, 2012
Well well well. You will be after listening to this:
John Macpherson posted this on May 18th, 2012
 Water. © John MacPherson I like water. Water is amazing stuff.
I stood on this beach, a gentle slope, and watched fresh water from a little stream fan out across the sand.
To help it show me it’s tricks I stood in the water, facing the sun, letting sheen and glare polish its act.
It rippled and bubbled and moved and swayed around me and gradually formed itself into a wispy tendril-waving liquid creature that tickled it’s way over the sand to the sea.
Sometimes it was like a hand, sometimes it was like a plant.
But it was never like water.
Until it came over the rim of my shoe and soaked my foot.
duckrabbit posted this on May 18th, 2012
duckrabbit posted this on May 18th, 2012
‘I think there’s value in pursuing work that doesn’t aim for commercial value or validation in the fine art photography world.
I’m trying to avoid being overly cynical but it really seems that these days there’s an unhealthy obsession with the economics of photography and status within the community (whichever community you find yourself in). It just seems like too many people are motivated by either economics or receiving validation from the right people. The internet exacerbates this problem because the currency on the web is attention and recognition. It’s not exactly the best medium for contemplation.
For me though, I’m really interested in motivation, passion and dedication. Why are you making photographs? What are you thinking about? I find that many people can’t answer these questions. It’s hard, I know but at some point you need to be able to do it.’ (Two hands clapping for full post by Bryan Formhals on LPV Magazine)
duckrabbit posted this on May 17th, 2012
Wow, what a steal, for just $1500 you can buy dinner and a night out in Soho with VII’s Jocelyn Bain Hogg!
Worth checking the small print on the emphas:is website (its a reward on his project) cause it looks like you may need to bring your own food and wine.
Spotted this first here on HOT UK DEALS. (do go there and read the post)
John Macpherson posted this on May 17th, 2012
 Fallen angel © John MacPherson Sign I spotted on the door of a women’s hairdressing salon in rural Wales.
I wondered what Helen, the hairdresser, was doing on the roof.
Unless it wasn’t her roof.
Maybe it was different roof.
On a thatched cottage?
John Macpherson posted this on May 17th, 2012
 Boat art © John MacPherson
Did Jackson Pollock like boats?
He was born a long way from the sea, in Wyoming.
But if he did have a boat….
….just supposing for a moment that he might have had one…
Would it’s hull be any more artfully damaged than any other boat’s hull?
Rocktearscrapepullgrindscratchmarked?
I’d like to think it would.
Because good art comes from places that most of us cant see.
Places we least expect to find it.
But places that artists know about. Make it their business to know about.
They know to look where we others often forget to.
I didn’t see this picture. Not really.
My friend Paul told me to follow him one day.
And he showed me.
duckrabbit posted this on May 16th, 2012
John’s post earlier today reminded me of this black work by Ted Hughes, one of the great poets of the 20th century:
When God, disgusted with man,
Turned towards heaven,
And man, disgusted with God,
Turned towards Eve,
Things looked like falling apart.
But Crow Crow
Crow nailed them together,
Nailing heaven and earth together-
So man cried, but with God’s voice.
And God bled, but with man’s blood.
Then heaven and earth creaked at the joint
Which became gangrenous and stank-
A horror beyond redemption.
The agony did not diminish.
Man could not be man nor God God.
The agony
Grew.
Crow
Grinned
Crying: “This is my Creation,”
Flying the black flag of himself.
Ted Hughes – From, Crow: From the Life and Songs of the Crow
Georgina posted this on May 16th, 2012
“The guys at duckrabbit not only helped me gain skills in audio recording, interviewing and photofilm production, but also increased my confidence in getting closer to people, and hearing their stories. I recommend this training to anybody with an interest in people, their stories, and how they are represented.” Phil Lang. Photographer and Picture Editor, April 2012.
Two brand new dates have just been set for our three-day photofilm workshops:
August 15th-17th (Central London)
September 26th -28th (Birmingham)
And there is one more place left on the July 11th – 13th course in Central London if you’d like to snap that up.
The workshop is designed to provide participants with the practical knowledge needed to produce photofilms to a high standard. We will take you through the entire photofilm production process – from identifying a suitable story, to planning the steps needed to gather the audio and pictures, all the way through to final completion of a project. We will get you out on location to make your own short photofilm in groups, to put the skills we teach you into practise.
You’ll find full details of the workshop here.
To see photofilms made by duckrabbit trainees visit: student productions. Past students have had their work featured across mainstream online media, including on the BBC News front page, The New York Times, The Telegraph, SKY News Online, The Los Angeles Times, Trust.org and The Observer.
If you’d like to book a place on one of these course please do get in touch. We take our bookings on a first come first served basis for these workshops.
I’ll leave you with some feedback from one of our recent trainees:
“This three-day training offers you a very good understanding of all the elements related to producing photofilms. It provides you with an extensive checklist you can rely on when compiling your multimedia piece. I can recommend this workshop to those who want to start exploring the domain of multimedia storytelling.” Serge Van Cauwenbergh, Photographer, April 2012.
John Macpherson posted this on May 16th, 2012
 Crow business © John MacPherson
I like the cleverness of corvids.
Smart birds.
I watched this crow lift whelk shells on the seashore and drop them to smash them open, revealing the tasty morsel inside.
Clever.
I watched (and filmed) two crows trick an otter out of a crab one day. One crow landed behind the otter. The other crow landed in front. When the second crow was on the ground the first crow quietly moved forwards and pecked the otter’s tail. The otter turned round, distracted, and the crow in front nipped in and grabbed the otter’s crab and flew off.
Very very clever.
A man I met who photographs lots of birds told me crows can count very well. “If you want to photograph a buzzard” he said, “you need to put two people in the hide, buzzards can only count to one. So one person stays in the hide and the other comes out. The buzzard then thinks the hide is empty.”
“But crows. Aha. You need eight people!” he said. “Because crows can count up to seven.”
Thats very very very very very very very clever.
That’s mostly why I like crows.
But I like crows because they’ve managed to perfect a much more difficult trick.
Their bodies are darker than their shadows. How do they do that?
Thats too clever for me.
Shadowbirds.
duckrabbit posted this on May 15th, 2012
David White posted this on May 15th, 2012
Peter posted this on May 15th, 2012
Entries for the Hinterlands scholarship place close tomorrow morning so there’s still time to enter and win a free place on this year’s workshop. Enter HERE for your chance to train with us in beautiful Devon.
Here’s a couple of the entries received so far…
War Songs by Agata Pietron
The Black Waterfall by Christian Peterson
John Macpherson posted this on May 15th, 2012
 Bear? What bear? © John MacPherson
In a Scottish supermarket on a wintery day………
“They smell like wet dogs, they do” said the supermarket checkout man to me, as I pushed my shopping onto the conveyor for scanning.
“Eh?” I asked, puzzled.
“Wet dogs. Thats what they smell like” he repeated.
“Wet dogs?” I said, still puzzled.
“Yes” he replied.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about” I smiled.
“Polar bears” he said.
“Polar bears?” I said, looking behind me instinctively.
“Yes polar bears” and he pointed to the cover of the wildlife magazine lying amongst my shopping.
“Hmm. I didn’t know that” I said
“True” he replied “only two things smell like a wet dog and one’s a wet dog, the other is a polar bear.”
“Errr umm how do you know so much about polar bears then?” I enquired.
“Ha! I was born in northern Norway! We were warned about it as children. If you smell a wet dog, and there’s no dogs in sight, run. Just check which way you’re running!”
“How do you know which way to run then?” I asked.
“You learn.” he said.
I left with my shopping out into the snow. And ran.
The only way I’d learned.
Straight to my vehicle.
Never underestimate the experience and wisdom of the checkout people in supermarkets, you may live to regret it (or perhaps not).
David White posted this on May 14th, 2012
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