vanessa winship

2011-10-08T22:15:00.000+01:00

I am mightily proud to that George Georgiou will be one of six photographers selected for MOMA's annual New Photography exhibition.

George Georgiou (British, born 1961) began working as a freelance photographer after receiving a BA in photography from the Polytechnic College of Central London. He has photographed extensively in Eastern Europe and Turkey, spending most of the past five years in Istanbul. His series Fault Lines, made on his travels through Turkey, examines the country’s present-day struggle to maintain its traditions and natural landscape in the face of change and development. His pictures focus on everyday life but seek, he says, to “address and question the concept of East and West and the process of modernization, urbanization, and national identity that is happening in Turkey against a rising tide of nationalism and religion.” With its recent contentious elections and ongoing bid to join the European Union, Turkey is at a political and social crossroads. Georgiou follows this former imperial power in its search for a twenty-first-century identity.
Also showing are Moyra Davey, Deana Lawson, Doug Rickard, Viviane Sassen, Zhang Dali

Doug Rickard

Deana Lawson

Moyra Davey

Viviane Sassen

Zhang Dali

Henri Cartier Bresson Award

2011-10-08T21:31:00.000+01:00

A lot's been going on these last months and my blog has once more suffered for this.

My biggest personal news is that I have been awarded the Henri Cartier Bresson award.

The grant is to produce an entirely new body of work.

My project is to make a work in the USA.

Workshop in Barcelona Al-liquindoi.

2011-05-10T10:30:00.001+01:00

I'll be leading a workshop in Barcelona in June at Al-liquindoi.
follow the link for more information

Blue Sky Gallery Shows Sweet Nothings

2011-04-29T10:54:00.000+01:00

Sweet Nothings will be showing at Blue Sky Gallery at the Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts.
Opening on 5th May until 29th May

Exhibiting at the same time is Evžen Sobek from the Czech republic, who will be showing his work "Life in Blue"

Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros RIP

2011-04-24T11:44:00.000+01:00

Words fail me these last days on hearing the tragic news of the death of two passionate and dedicated photographers in Libya, Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros.
I am grateful that so many people in our community have managed to find words to express their thoughts and memories ...

For now I post this sensitive moment by Tim from his sleeping Soldiers series.
© Tim Hetherington
Rest In Peace.

"Visual narratives: European Borderlines" applications

2011-04-24T11:13:00.002+01:00

Young photographers (18-35) from Latvia, Turkey, Iceland and Portugal are invited to apply
for a long-term project workshop called "Visual narratives: European Borderlines"

The workshop will involve 12 photographers, 3 from each country, working in their own country and one other. The workshop will be taken my George Georgiou and myself, with help from the project partners in the 4 countries.
The project will begin with a one week workshop in Latvia this August during the ISSP workshops and conclude with an editing workshop next spring in Turkey. In between participants will undertake a short residency in one of the partner countries as well as produce work in their own. During this time they will be guided online.

The workshops and flights are funded and there is some money towards shooting costs, approx €1200.
Workshop partners will make a shortlist of 12 people from each country and Vanessa and I will select the final 12.
Please consider the portfolio you put together, we are more interested in seeing a well thought out long project than a selection of single images or small sets.

Application deadline: 20 May 2011. Applications here

*
Good luck

* please don't write directly to me or George for applications they are done directly through the website of the project.

George Georgiou Athens House of Photography

2011-03-16T17:00:00.000Z

If any of you are in Athens please take a trip to see George Georgiou's Faultlines exhibition at the
Athens house of Photography.
The gallery space is very new George's work is only the second exhibition they've put on.
The opening is tomorrow evening

For anyone living or visiting Paris, my exhibition Not Only Rare Birds Sing at Galerie VU is still on.
Closes on the 19th

Rober Frank Walker Evans

2011-03-12T08:49:00.000Z

I was in Switzerland the other week to lead a workshop on Portraits at MAZ..
On the train from Zurich airport to the main train station you are treated to the sounds of bird song and cow bells...I thought of Robert Frank....
and then of course I thought of Walker Evans who Frank assisted ....

Jason Eskenazi is compiling a list of photographers favorite choices from Frank's The Americans along with their reasons why they chose the particular image...
Here are two images that have touched me from Franks work along with one of Evan's images.
Sick of Goodbys of course was not part of The Americans book but made several years later ....
All images copyrighted to the artists

Format Festival, Derby, UK

2011-02-20T10:28:00.000Z

If you're in the UK at the beginning of march don't miss Format Festival

Runs from 4th of March until 3rd of April

August Sander

2011-02-20T10:15:00.001Z

I'd not seen this August Sander image before so wanted to share it.
The haircuts are reminiscent of the ones my sister and I had circa 1966

Exhibition installation images at Galerie Vu

2011-02-09T12:57:00.000Z

A bit tired post exhibition opening at Galerie VU , more than two months on the run, but it's finally up on the walls, so feeling both happy and somewhat relieved.
So far the web community has been the fastest off the mark, received two nice write ups from La Lettre de la Photographie here and here and also one from Photographie.com here .

Exhibition printing in Istanbul

2011-01-16T18:26:00.000Z

On either side of another journey to Georgia, I printed my exhibition in Istanbul on Georgia, ready for the Galerie Vu exhibition opening in Paris on the 3rd February.

Mrs Deane

2011-01-15T08:06:00.000Z

As I said always slow off the mark.
several months ago Mrs Deane posted a very nice piece about my Sweet Nothings series in relation to the work of the the Abdullah Freres brothers.

There's a nice follow on to this too which I'll post another time.

same, same but different [for vanessa]

Students, private school Mekteb-i Edeb-i by the Abdullah brothers

Another find in the Library of Congress is the Abdullah Frères collection, featuring school photographs which spontaneously nested themselves in the visual cortex (i don’t know if it exists, I am making this up as I go) between August Sander and Vanessa Winship’s series of Rural Schoolgirls from the borderlands of East Anatolia. The instantly striking difference between the two series of sweet nothings, as Vanessa calls them, is the interaction between the figures. In the 19th century, we see no bodily contact between the girls, placed side by side by the photographers, with many of them holding a book or paper in their hands. We learn nothing of their friendships, as we do in Winships portraits, and where the ‘school’ aspect is mostly indicated by the uniform dress they are wearing.

Students, private school Hadikatül-Maarif by the Abdullah brothers

It’s very tempting to talk about a shift in presence manifesting itself in these two bodies of work, comparing the contemporary girls with those from the Ottoman generation. However, we cannot assume that the abyss we feel is separating Abdullah’s portraits from Winship’s Sweet nothings, is of an existential nature and only concerns the subjects of the photographs. What’s more, we cannot even assume that felt abyss is actually there; it might be nothing but a feeling, conjured up by the differences between photographic techniques and visions applied.

Students, art school for girls Üsküdar Kiz Sanayi Mektebi by the Abdullah brothers

But what is funny, is that in the end it was Winship’s series having imprinted itself so strongly on my visual cortex which has sensitized me to these vintage school girl portraits. In a way, her images have actualized the work of the Abdullah frères, made it accessible for me in a new way. That is an aspect of photography, and a potentially powerful one, which gets but little notice. So yes, the work of the Abdullah frères is the same it ever was, it’s the same but also different when viewed through the ‘Winship filter’.

Published May 23, 2010 & Filed in Catch all

Exhibition and Workshop

2011-01-15T07:52:00.001Z

My exhibition Not Only Rare Birds Sing will open at Galerie VU from the 3rd of February running until 19th March.

I will also be teaching the first workshop organized by Agence VU during the weekend of the opening running from the 4th to the 6th. Details here.

Summer Sifestival in Savignano Italy

2010-09-18T15:00:00.007+01:00

The summer continued with Sifestival in Savignano

I wrote about this festival last year.
This year I was invited to participate in the Global Photography exhibition.
It was a pity not have been able to be there as there were several works I would have really liked to have seen as an exhibition, including Roger Ballen who I mentioned earlier.

My attention has been drawn to Mark Steinmetz's work, a photographer I wasn't really familiar with until relatively recently.

Other works include Simon Robert's We English
Amy Stein's Domesticated ( as part of the Global Photography group)
Finally Joakim Eskildsen's Roma journals.
All images copyrighted to the photographers
sorry I can't figure out the ordering of the images...small technicalities sometime defeat me..please forgive me!

Summer

2010-09-18T11:34:00.009+01:00

It's been a busy summer.
If anyone's considering going on a workshop next year then this is the one I would happily recommend. An intense week of photography taught by fantastic and creative teachers.
Last year I was invited teach at ISSP in Latvia, this year George was invited and I went along as a guest reviewer and floating assistant.
Other teachers this year included Roger Ballen, Peter Bialobrzeski, Ville Lenkkeri, Veronique Bourgin, and finally Andrei Polikanov,.
Images copyrighted to Peter Bialobrezeski and Roger Ballen respectively.

Alexander Gronsky

2010-08-30T16:32:00.006+01:00

I had the pleasure to meet Alexander Gronsky and his partner Iveta Vaivode at last years ISSP, who were both teaching at the summer school there.
This year Alexander won the Paul Huf prize for young photographers under 35, and the Aperture Foundation portfolio prize. His work is currently showing at Foam Fotografiemuseum in Amsterdam, and will later be shown at The Aperture Foundation Gallery in New York.
All images © Alexander Gronsky

Justyna Mielnikiewicz

2010-08-30T16:07:00.006+01:00

This week marks the beginning of Visa Pour L'Image. International Festival of Photojournalism.
I wanted to highlight the work of a good friend, Justyna Mielnikiewicz who was 2009 Canon Female Photographer of the Year. Her work will be exhibited during the festival.
Justyna, orginally from Poland, has lived for the best part of a decade in Georgia.
Her work shows the dedication of someone who has spent time really getting to know and understand the place where she now considers her home.

Exhibitition in Milwaukee

2010-07-28T07:38:00.004+01:00

A few months ago I was contacted by collaborative photographers John Shimon & Julie Lindemann with a proposal to show some of my portraits from Georgia along with their own Real Photo Postcard Survey Project at Art historian and lecturer, Debra Brehmer's Portrait Society Gallery in Milwaukee.
Here are a few of Julie and Johnie's portraits and some shots from the exhibition opening.
Installation shots are copyrighted to © Art Elkon

Exhibition in Foligno

2010-07-28T07:09:00.003+01:00

For the first time my work has been shown together with George's at the CIAC Museum of Contemporary Art, in Foligno, Umbria, Italy, during the Canti e Discanti festival of world music, film and photography.
My thanks go to Daniele Mattioli who is both a photographer and curator, for inviting us both, and curating the show. To Emanuele De Donno for doing a great job with the installation at CIAC and Piter Foglietta, the organiser of Canti e Discanti.

Phillip Toledano

2010-07-28T06:56:00.002+01:00

Another person from the reviewees group I met at PhotoEspana was Phillip Toledano
Days with my Father is beautifully touching yet unsentimental.
He's recently published a book of the work with the same title, which you can find by going to the books page on his website here.

Photoespana Descubrimientos 2010

2010-07-22T18:22:00.007+01:00

For the first time ever I participated in a portfolio review.
It was part of the Descubrimientos (Discovery) award that Photoespana has been running for the last few years.
I was strange as I've been on the other side of the table....
Anyway to cut a long story short I was lucky enough to be chosen as this years discovery, which means I'll have a solo exhibition in Madrid at next years festival.
I just wanted to highlight a couple of the other photographers I met there (one of the nicest parts of the whole process in fact).
The First is Nelli Palomaki who's been making some great portraits of children. First 2 images.
The second Photographer is Georges Pacheco
I really love this series "The Memory of Tears"

About George again

2010-06-14T05:30:00.006+01:00

Here's some images from the Side Gallery and the cover of his book Fault Lines Turkey East/West

George Georgiou Fault Lines Side Gallery

2010-05-21T20:50:00.002+01:00

For the second time the Side Gallery in Newcastle are showing George Georgiou's work.
This time they're showing his work from Turkey.
I was going to upload a couple of pictures, but for some reason the "upload image" button has decided to go on holiday.
If anyone's in the North of England tomorrow George will be giving a talk about his work.
2pm start

William Klein in Rome

2010-04-14T11:52:00.002+01:00

And to add to the excitement we managed to catch the opening of William Klein's work from the late 50's in Rome at the Mercati di Traiano, I was a real pleasure to see the great man himself...i will not forget.

The Birth of George's book

2010-04-14T10:35:00.004+01:00

We are in Rome for the printing of George's book.
This has been too long in the waiting, but for sure worth every minute, hour, year he has spent making this work.
Here are a few images from the printing house.

Sweet Nothings goes to Ile de La Reunion

2010-03-03T19:31:00.002Z

It's all or nothing with me these days I'm afraid.
So here's the third post of the day.
I'll be in Reunion for a couple of weeks along with my exhibition of Sweet Nothings.
I have to confess I know so little about this Island, so it will be a real voyage of discovery.

SCHOOLHOUSE EDITIONS

2010-03-03T19:01:00.005Z

I'm really happy to be part of this new and exciting venture by Richard Renaldi and Seth Boyd
at Charles Lane Press
Not sure when my image gets introduced, but keep an eye out...I'm in the middle school by the way!

Workshop/Masterclass in Latvia

2010-03-03T18:20:00.005Z

George and I will be teaching a two day workshop/masterclass in Riga on the 27 and 28 of March, organized by ISSP
There will also be an evening presentation which is open to everyone.
Anyone interested to join in please come along.
More details follow this link here

Toscana Photographic Workshops

2010-02-24T13:27:00.003Z

I will be teaching a workshop at The Toscana Photographic Workshops this summer.
If you want to check out my page follow this link here

Verve New Breed of Documentary Photography

2010-02-24T13:11:00.002Z

Geoffrey Hiller's blog site Verve The New Breed of Documentary Photography has featured one of my images from the Sweet Nothings Series. The format is quite straightforward with one image from the photographer along with a short anecdote about the image being featured.
If you've time to have a look there are quite a lot of interesting works to discover, thank you Geoffrey.

Installation images NPG/Taylor Wessing London, Kunsthal Rotterdam, Side Gallery Newcastle

2009-11-08T17:43:00.011Z

It's been a busy return.
On the way home from Ukraine we stopped off in Rotterdam to make a couple of images of my exhibition at the Kunsthal
Then at the award ceremony of the National Portrait Gallery/Taylor Wessing Award.
I'm standing between my own image on the left which received the second prize, and the winning image made by Paul Floyd Blake of Olympic hopeful, Rosie Bancroft.
Finally up to Newcastle for the the opening of The Black Sea and Sweet Nothings at the Side Gallery.
If you happen to be near any of these galleries and museums you can also see Edward Hopper and some of his contemporaries at the Kunsthal,

Faisal Abdu’Allah and the Chasing Mirrors Collective, at the NPG
and
PARRWORLD at the Baltic almost opposite the Side Gallery.

Side Gallery

2009-11-03T12:08:00.005Z

I will be opening an exhibition of both the Black Sea and Sweet Nothings at the Side Gallery this Saturday.
I'll also be giving a small presentation there at 2pm if anyone happens to be around, it's free.

The Side Gallery along with Amber films and cinema has a long history, and is one of the only galleries in the UK completely devoted to documentary photography and film.
The Side is a real gem and has supported many photographers over the years.
One of my early favorite photographers, Chris Killip was one of the directors of the early days of the gallery in the seventies.
Killip's In Flagrante has recently been remade as one of the Books on Books series by Errata Editions.
The Side also has an incredible archive including Killip, Weegee, Iturbide,Konttinen, Chapman, Davies, Steel Perkins....and more.

Paul Strand

2009-11-03T01:40:00.002Z

Just for the hell of it....have a bit of a look around the net

Arja Hyytiäinen

2009-11-01T13:11:00.005Z

I just wanted to write a post about a photographer whose work I really like.
I first met Arja Hyytiäinen at the offices of VU, the agency we are both members of.
We were both nervously preparing to visit a publisher...
Arja's book Distance Now published by Images en Manoeuvres is now available from VU as a special edition.
Arja currently has an exhibition on at the V8 gallery at Mohrenstrasse 2, 50670 Cologne.

Rafal Milach

2009-10-23T13:20:00.003+01:00

I met Rafal Milach at last years World Press Photo in Amsterdam, so I was delighted to hear he'd won this years Photography Book Now award.
I thought it would be interesting to make a joint exhibition with my own work from the Black Sea sometime.

Dorien Plaat

2009-10-23T13:07:00.004+01:00

I recently received an email from painter Dorien Plaat
She'd seen Sweet Nothings at the Kunsthal in Rotterdam and wanted to share some of her images with me.

Alina Orlova

2009-10-04T03:47:00.001+01:00

And if you happen t0 be awake in the early hours here's a link to Alina Orlova's My Space site
sent to me recently by Anna Block whose work I posted about recently, thanks Anna
http://www.myspace.com/alinaorlova

Alisa Resnik

2009-10-04T02:03:00.007+01:00

I met Alisa Resnik recently at the opening of the new Spa zio Prospekt space.
She recently joined Prospekt Photographers. Her images will be appearing on their site soon.
In the meantime you can see more of her image on the Tos cana Photographic Workshop site and on the Wine Pho to Festival site where she was one of this years winners.
Here are a few of her images.( all images copyrighted to the artist)

SIFEST Savignano, Italy

2009-09-26T13:30:00.004+01:00

I recently received an email from Massimo Sordi who curated a show of emerging photographers, called Global Photography at the Italian Photo Festival/SIFEST, in Savignano, www.sifest.eu.
Here are a couple of images from Massimo's own work from his pinhole series. These particular images are from the Bergman set.( copyrighted to the artist)
Photographers featured in the Global Photography show include:
evan baden (USA)/catherine balet (F)/mathieu bernard-reymond (CH)/michele cera (I)/samantha cohn (USA)/jen davis (USA)/wolfram hahn (D)/alessandro imbriaco/francesco millefiori (I)/seba kurtis (ARG)/molly landreth (USA)/kalpesh lathigra (UK)/maria leutner (D)/andrés marroquín winkelmann (PERU)/colin pantall (UK)/andrew phelps (A)/martine poussier (F)/blerim racaj (UK)/richard renaldi (USA)/frank rothe (D)/carla van de puttelaar (NL)/shen wei (CINA).
Fabio Severo of www.hippolytebayard.com. was one of this years reviewers take a look at his posts about the festival.

More ISSP

2009-09-26T13:00:00.007+01:00

I wanted to make a couple of posts before I set off on the road.
More from the participants of ISSP
From top to bottom Andrijs Strokins, Oskars Pastars, Grigory Rudko, and Evita Goze
All images copyrighted to the artists

Prospekt Photographers

2009-09-16T17:50:00.002+01:00

Last Friday I was at the inauguration of the new Prospekt photographers space.
My partner George Georgiou is one of the photographers of this small agency with a growing reputation, and also one that seems to be surviving in a difficult market. Now they have a new gallery to show off their works.

National Portrait Gallery Taylor Wessing Portrait Award

2009-09-16T10:37:00.004+01:00

Yesterday the National Portrait Gallery announced the shortlist for their annual portrait prize, I'm really happy to say one of my images is on it.
The BJP have posted a blog, as has Colin Pantall, there's also a mention in the Guardian.
I like image by Mirjana Vrbaski from Serbia.
Also on the list are Michal Chelbin from Israel who has a wonderful book Strangely Familiar, and finally Paul Floyd Blake from the UK.

Conscientious

2009-09-14T16:29:00.003+01:00

Thanks once more to Joerg Cloberg for posting our conversation over on Conscientious , the post also features a few new images from my latest work from Georgia.

Stefanie Schneider

2009-09-14T15:56:00.003+01:00

I met Stefanie Schneider in Les Rencontres D'Arles last year where she was one of the artists nominated for the discovery awards.
I recently received an email from her with the news that she has signed with the Bruce Silverstein gallery so congratulations.
I really like her usage of expired Polariod film.

Anna Block

2009-09-14T15:19:00.012+01:00

I'm posting a few images of the students from the ISSP workshop in Latvia this summer.
Unfortunately most of the participants don't have their own websites, so I will just add their names for you to follow.
The first is Anna Block from Russia who has made a project based around her memories of childhood.
Anna makes many of her images using the Lith printing process, unfortunately the screen doesn't really do them justice.

More to follow

2009-09-02T13:53:00.015+01:00

I returned recently from teaching a workshop at ISSP a photography summer school in Latvia.

This is its fourth year. I can't praise enough the dedication and commitment of the people behind the organization, who are : Baiba Tetere, Jūlija Berkoviča, Arnis Āboliņš, Egils Grasmanis, thanks for finding me!
Other tutors were Eiko Grimberg (Germany), Mehmet Kismet (Turkey), Peeter Linnap (Estonia) Iveta Vaivode (Latvia) & Alexander Gronsky (Russia).
I knew Mehmet from Turkey, but it was great to meet with another group of photographers whose work I was unfamiliar with.
From top to bottom Peeter Linnap, Alexander Gronsky, Iveta Vaivode, Eiko Grimbergand Mehmet Kismet. ( all images copyrighted to the artists)
I'll be posting some images from some of the participants in the coming days.

2009-09-02T13:28:00.005+01:00

Coming up really soon.
I was lucky enough to meet with Naoko Ohto who is the main curator of GALLERY 21 at Klee Inc. earlier this spring who invited me to show some images at this years TOKYO PHOTO which opens tomorrow.
THe image on the left is by Japanese Yuki Onodera (copyrighted to the artist).

September also sees the opening of Sweet Nothings, my first solo show in Holland at the Kunsthal in Rotterdam, from the 19th through to January 17 2010

2009-09-02T12:52:00.006+01:00

I'd never heard of SHOTS magazine until I was contacted by publisher, Russell Joslin.
SHOTS magazine is another long time survivor in the world of photography magazine publishing.
Rusell Joslin is also a photographer and sole publisher and editor of the mag.
I particularly like the work from Jessica Kaufman's Panopticon series ( image left)
The image on the cover is by Rebecca Reeve (all images copyrighted to the artists). I can't find a website for her unfortunately.

While I'm thinking of trees Richard Renaldi (also a fine photographer as well as regular blogger) made a post about a beautiful exhibition called ARBOR featured on the MichaelMazzeo gallery.

2009-09-02T12:33:00.004+01:00

I forgot to mention that Sweet Nothings was featured in European Photography number 84.
The magazine has been in existence since 1980 and is edited and published in Berlin by Andreas Müller-Pohle.
This issue features Simon Norfolk's Full Spectrum Dominance work (on the cover), Xu Baokuan, Paolo Patrizi, Andreas Gursky amongst others. (image copyrighted to the artist)

2009-09-02T11:55:00.005+01:00

As I said it's been a while.
Anyway here are a couple more images from my last trip to Georgia, with links to my newly updated website.
These are life size paintings of loved ones I found in several cemeteries dotted around the country.
Some of them are accompanied by poems and tales of how their relatives died.
And some more portraits, again from Georgia

back again

2009-08-31T04:49:00.006+01:00

I am finally ready to start posting again.
I'll try to do a bit of a catch up on what's been going on for me these last few months, here's something to get things moving.

2009-02-27T11:35:00.004Z

Yesterday one of my Sweet Nothings featured in the Guardian's "My Best Shot" series.
I'm starting to feel embarrassed at posting my own images here so I've left it as a link.
Over the weekend my site went down BANDWIDTH EXCEEDED it said....
The culprit for this was the traffic coming from a post entitled "Random Excellence" on The Online Photographer
I think I received a total of 2000 hits to my site on the day of the posting...thank you to Mike Johnston for introducing my work to so many people in one go.
Here's an image from this weeks posting of "Random Excellence", Breach of Peace Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders.

2009-02-27T10:44:00.005Z

Slow again
Have a look at DEEP SLEEP online magazine.
The concept behind came from a group of photographers who share an office space in east London, they wanted to go beyond simply occupying the same physical space so they've come up with an idea to set a theme for themselves in advance and see what they come up with.
They also thought it would be interesting to open up the doors to other people out there in the wider world....hence my invitation to put some work in
For the first edition the theme was Invisible, the next theme is Alien.
The image showing is by Wang Wei and is part of her Standard Room series.

2009-02-08T13:17:00.003Z

A few more images from the gallery

2009-02-08T11:55:00.003Z

Thursday evening was the opening of my show at Host gallery on Honduras St.
I was very happy and of course relieved that the snow stayed away, and that the gallery was full.
It was good to see both old friends from outside of the photography world, and also friends and colleagues from within it.
Peter Marshall, who has a very active blog-site, RE :Photo, wrote this in-depth piece the following day, many thanks Peter.
Thanks also to everyone who braved the weather to lend your support.
The show runs until March 5th

HOST exhibition

2009-02-05T01:40:00.000Z

HOST OPENING OF SWEET NOTHINGS

2009-02-03T09:39:00.004Z

MY EXHIBITION OF SWEET NOTHINGS OPENS IN LONDON AT HOST GALLERY.
Yesterday London stood still for a day with no public transport...hopefully leaves on the track or snow won't prevent people coming out.
Thanks also to Tim Clark at 1000 words for putting in a mention.

2009-01-30T06:47:00.007Z

             awake too 
                                early,but...    
                                yesterday I was writing
                                some texts for Georgia

http://www.wordle.net/.

idea not mine
but stolen from
JC

2009-01-29T00:20:00.000Z

2009-01-23T11:23:00.003Z

Always a bit slow in posting, but thanks once more Joerg Colberg-

http://www.jmcolberg.com/weblog/2009/01/review_sweet_nothings_by_vanes.html#more

Review: Sweet Nothings by Vanessa Winship

I could be entirely wrong, but I think that as the photography book market has expanded, so have photography books themselves. This, in part, reflects the fact that the photographs in those books typically tend to come in very large sizes.

But just like a photograph tends to have a natural size (beyond which a lot of its impact will simply dissipate), something similar might actually be the case for photography books (or maybe even more so): After all, unlike a photograph, which is typically viewed from a distance, one needs to hold a photography book to look at it. Some books are so big and/or heavy that you need to put them on a table - if not for the weight, then to create enough of a distance that you can actually take in the photographs.

So photography books are not even just objects that we interact with in some way, they also determine how we perceive their contents, and I think that part of the thinking about how to present a body of photography in a book needs to address what the book should feel like (form follows feeling?).

Vanessa Winship's Sweet Nothings can serve as a wonderful example of what I just talked about. Presenting her photography of rural schoolgirls from the borderlands of Eastern Anatolia (Turkey), Sweet Nothings wonderfully enhances Vanessa's portraits of those young girls, and it creates a little bit of a bond between the viewer and the work. I'm a bit hesitant to call this bond intimacy, because this word could so easily be misconstrued, but it might just be the right word. It's what Hellen van Meene tried to explain in our conversation, after I had asked her about her print size: "I think it's better for some photos to have this kind of intimacy, when you have to look at it getting closer. [...] With a small photo, I always spend more time with it, because I don't want to miss anything."

In that sense, you can spend a lot of time with Sweet Nothings, and you will then start to notice all the little hints of the different personalities in the portraits of those rural schoolgirls, who, when viewed superficially, look so similar.

Given I missed the book in my list of Best Photo Books 2008, it will be on this year's for sure.

2009-01-10T17:45:00.009Z

I was in Georgia when this was originally published by the British Journal of Photography in the September..thanks Simon Bainbridge.

2009-01-07T22:12:00.010Z

See this weeks British Journal of Photography featuring
George Georgiou's work from Turkey with an interview
by photographer and writer , Colin Pantall (his blog).

Here's a link to a readable PDF

book reviews

2008-12-28T12:16:00.007Z

Thanks to both Liz Jobey in the Guardian on the 18th of Dec, and Joerg Colberg in Conscientious on 22rd of Dec for their commentaries about "Sweet Nothings", much appreciated.

2008-11-30T20:49:00.003Z

AFEW IMAGES FROM GEORGIA

2008-11-30T17:24:00.003Z

On December the 6th the Photographers Gallery opens its door to its new gallery and print space.
I have been invited to show some work as part of a group exhibition of contemporary women photographers including:
Sophie Lewis and Emma Critchley, Edith Maybin, Faye Claridge, and Michal Chelbin.

2008-11-30T16:13:00.003Z

I finally got to publish the Turkish version of Sweet Nothings with FOTOGRAFEVI
The title in Turkish is Tatli Fisiltilar which means Sweet Whisper ( please note there shouldn't be a dot over the i in Turkish).
The books arrived from the printers in time for me to sign and dedicate a small message to each of the girls featured in the book.
I am hoping by now a book has reached each of them.

National Portrait Gallery Godfrey Argent Award

2008-11-30T15:46:00.009Z

I was lucky enough to receive the Godfrey Argent award for "Sweet Nothings" (this year the award went to the best Black & White image).
click here to go to the site.

Ben Okri writes a very nice article in the Independent about photography.
Click here to read it

Month of Photography Athens at Cats and Marbles Gallery

2008-11-30T14:33:00.014Z

The Month of Photography in Athens is one of the oldest photography festivals in Europe.The driving force behind it since its inauguration in 1986 is Stavros Moresopoulos.
This year featured the works of George Georgiou, Tod Papageorge,Peyram, Aris Georgiou,
Manuel Caurso, Delores Marat, Louisa Gouliamaki amongst others.

Marina Coriolana-Lykourezos owns and runs one of the nicest galleries I've seen in a long time:
cats&marbles
The images are visible from street level which means that they can be enjoyed even if you don't step over the threshold of the gallery itself.
Click on the gallery logo to go the gallery website.

Black Sea at Vannes

2008-08-29T20:26:00.003+01:00

click on the fish to go
to the website of the
Festival de Mer.

Summer exhibition at Arles

2008-08-29T19:55:00.004+01:00

"Sweet Nothings"
I was lucky enough to have
my work in a beautiful
room tucked away in the
Atelier de Maintenance.
As the sun moved each
image was lit by the sunlight.

appearance of the Icarosaurus

2008-08-21T12:19:00.011+01:00

I thought I would make my first post the cover of my first book.
The title of the book is Schwarzes Meer because it was published in Germany by Mare
In English it means Black Sea.
I had rolled those two words, or its name, around my mouth in several different languages, Karadeniz, Μαύρη Θάλασσα, Marea Neagră, Pontos Euxeinos, Pontus Axeinos, черное море, Mer Noir, Cherno more, Shavi zghva, but I suppose I'd never done it in German.
My original title had been Between Chronicle and Fiction: the Black Sea.....