The Countdown

A delay this week, due to me having started at the ICA covering their Calling Out Of Context season for them; a massive job for me in terms of what it means for my creative output, my career, and as much as anything, intense work-rate and a constantly heightened level of concentration. Knowing what was ahead, I started last week with a trip to my mother's, in Portland in Dorset. There are two brilliant things there, aside from family. The dogs:






Their names are Silver, Dotty and Flint. Portland is a quarry island; most stucco has Portland stone in it. One of the quarries has been opened for carving and sculpture for the past twenty or so years.





I rarely think of things having to be shot in one way or another, but the rocky landscape there with the high contrast of all the shadows and edges lends itself so well to monochrome, it's how I generally end up processing those shots. Here's the cliffs and the spit:




Back to London; Thursday saw the launch of feller Le Cooler Max Leonard's book about fixed wheel bikes, called, amazingly, Fixed. He asked me to go along and take some pictures...





Afterwards I was off to Punk where A Rebours was DJing. I do not like Punk, as for me it encapsulates everything that's bad about East London, bottles it up, and sells it to foolish folks out for some fashionable culture in the City. I went along for moral support as much as anything; the moment I got there drunken idiots were asking me to take their picture. Here are some drunken idiots:







I do not know any of these people. I have found a hidden benefit of using a Quantum battery with my flash; when people pester me to take their pictures, I fire so many bright flashes in their eyes that they eventually wilt and run away. I have not yet caused an epileptic fit but it can only be a matter of time.

Friday Emperor Machine played at Corsica Studios, one of the best venues in London; I was shooting for Slutty Fringe.







It served as a decent warm up for my ICA assignment; next post will be on Monday, with the whole 9 days of Calling Out Of Context (hopefully) covered.