Lovestoned, 2010 © Laurent Champoussin

Lovestoned, 2010 © Laurent Champoussin

Lovestoned, 2010 © Laurent Champoussin

Lovestoned, 2010 © Laurent Champoussin

Lovestoned, 2010 © Laurent Champoussin

Lovestoned is one of many fantastic self-publications by Laurent Champoussin. The engaging corporeality of obstruction leaves us feeling irreconcilable, teetering on the notion of suffocation (similar to Slavoj Zizeks’s opinions on love). They exceed the mundane exchange of vulnerable glances, typical of a portrait, by rupturing the surface of the photograph.

Lovestoned
Edition 30
28 pages
14.5cm x 14.5cm
ISBN N/A
€12.00 (purchase enquires can be made via contact link here)

Via Self Publish Be Happy:

“We know there are lots of people out there that are either just getting into self publishing or are working on continuing projects. We are looking to show books which are in the process of being made. If you are currently working on a self publication we would love to see the process from images stuck on bedroom walls, Indesign screen shots, stapled mock ups right up until the final projecting coming out of the printers and into your hands.”

“If you are working on a book please contact us with images of the process for possible showcase” – selfpublished.behappy@gmail.com

The Terry O'Neill Award 2010

“The submission site for the Terry O’Neill Award 2010 is now open. This contemporary photographic competition forms a showcase for new work by both established and upcoming photographers, providing valuable exposure and a prestigious opportunity to promote their current practice. The award, an important addition to the cultural calendar, celebrates the diversity of talent working in the photographic medium today.”

“The closing date for entries is 22nd October. The winners will be announced at the preview on 8th December 2010 and will be exhibited for one week at The HotShoe Gallery, London.”

BJP International Photography Award 2010

“BJP’s International Photography Award has no theme. Photographs can be
captured in any format, and in any style or genre. Anyone can enter, from the UK
or abroad. All we ask is for fantastic images in two categories – a coherent
body of work and a stunning single image.”

“Photographers are welcome to enter both categories, and to enter more than
once. We have also extended the final deadline – you now have until 2pm on 30
September.”

Sashin yo Sayonara, 1972 © Daido Moriyama

Sorry for the lack of posts.

Come September I will be finished with my dissertation (Japanese Post-War Photobook) and the blogging will commence!

Wrong, 2010 © Asger Carlsen

Wrong, 2010 © Asger Carlsen

Wrong, 2010 © Asger Carlsen

Wrong, 2010 © Asger Carlsen

Wrong, 2010 © Asger Carlsen

Wrong, 2010 © Asger Carlsen

Wrong, 2010 © Asger Carlsen

Just as we begin to settle back into our comfy zones of photographic veracity, Asger Carlsen’s Wrong reminds us that photography is created and imagined, that the image doesn’t always have to seem indexical. At an age when digital manipulation strives to conceal truth while bearing the marks of reality Carlsen’s manipulations are flawlessly employed whilst rejecting the reliability of the real. All at once his images fasten to reality and blow it out of proportion.

As Geoffrey Batchen has stated: “The boundary between photography and other media like painting, sculpture, or performance has become increasingly porous. It would seem that each medium has absorbed the other, leaving the photographic residing everywhere, but nowhere in particular.”[1] These are the boundaries that Carlsen has leapt and embraced. The images always refer back to their construction and Carlsen willingly participates in reducing our faith in photography. Employing sculpture, performance and some ‘digital’ painting a simulated reality is born. But this simulation often leaves us tense and curious for explanation. The more we look the more we find ourselves creating our own dialog and partaking in this alternate world. Carlsen’s “gambit reminds us that photography’s other is not ‘reality’ at all, but a matrix of representational structures, already existing and only dreamt of, which photography appropriates, compresses, displaces, and occludes.”[2]

With over 40 black and white images, a sizable measure for a complete body of work, it contains mostly candid moments of both portraits and landscapes, plus a great introduction from Tim Barber. This has proven to be a most engaging book that I cannot stop appreciating.

[1] Geoffrey Batchen, “Post-Photography,” in Each Wild Idea: Writing, Photography and History (Boston: MIT Press, 2001), 109.
[2] Jeannene M. Przyblyski, “Moving Pictures: Photography, Narrative, and the Paris Commune of 1871,” in Cinema and the Invention of Modern Life, eds. Leo Charney and Vanessa R. Schwartz (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995), 274.

Wrong
Edition 1000
88 pages
22cm x 22cm
ISBN 978-1-907071-22-5
£20.00 (purchase can be made here or morelbooks.com)

Drinking the Kool-Aid, 2010 © Ed Templeton

Drinking the Kool-Aid, 2010 © Ed Templeton

Drinking the Kool-Aid, 2010 © Ed Templeton

Drinking the Kool-Aid, 2010 © Ed Templeton

Drinking the Kool-Aid, 2010 © Ed Templeton

Finally got my copy of Ed Templeton’s newest booklet ‘Drinking the Kool-Aid’. Echoing a non-judgmental attitude to his environs with brushes, camera and text, Templeton presents a document of today’s youth culture. Preserved amongst the pages of ‘Drinking the Kool-Aid’ is the do-it-yourself ethos of the skate and punk culture from which Templeton hails. The book fuctions as a whole due to its seamless presentation of collage, illustration, painting and photography. Also noteworthy is the complete vision of Templeton’s experience as he has created, designed and edited the booklet himself. More can be seen from the ‘Preview’ post here.

Copies can be purchased at the  Mörel Books website while available.

Drinking the Kool-Aid
Edition 1000
24 pages with multiple fold outs
15cm x 20cm
ISBN: 978-1-907071-20-1
£10.00 (purchase can be made here or morelbooks.com)

Technogeek? Love tinyvices.com ? Well Tim Barber has a solution, introducing the Tinyvices App for the iPhone, iTouch and iPad.

Find it here:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tinyvices-com/id376558809?mt=8
or look for it in the App store on your iPhone.

It’s free!