Crossed Swords

Film-inside-film, building up textures. A ghostly trace of some wire from a fence is only just left after all the processing.

Silver print on 12x16 inch MGIV paper.

Printworks

Print 40x30cm (12x16inches) approx in silver coloured frame approx 52x42cm. Print is on Kodak RC glossy paper and has been selenium toned for longevity. Taken with Sinar Norma 4x5 camera and antique Aldis lens on Kodak 4x5 glass plate. This one has been sold.

A scan of a preliminary 4x5 contact print of this image is shown below, and shows some details not visible above. This scan is really quite faithful to the final print shown above.

Not a one-eyed view

My contention is that photography can be "art", though it usually isn't. Sadly the worst offenders are often photographs that are called "fine-art". David Hockney is quite right that the vast amount of photographs are not art, cameras (as normally used) cannot "see", and most people are utterly confused by the distinctions - many times deliberately so by people with commercial interests in selling us rubbish.

So this blog attempts to present my best, finished, photographs in a way that you can assess for yourself to make up your mind what you think. The pictures here are all accurate reproductions of finished prints - not scans of the negatives that gave them or any other cheat like that. It is a companion blog to http://cameramods.blogspot.com/ which tries to explain how I made my images and how to modify cameras and processes to get closer to "art".

This is not the place to waste too much time talking about what I mean by "art" in photography. I will try and summarise it quickly here, but it is (to me) exactly the same as with most visual art (painting, drawing, etc).

• One must look carefully and represent the object as it is, always with careful assessment, and it never suffices to just accept what your equipment "says" it "sees". Careful looking is vital and fresh and unusual ways of looking are helpful, several different ways in one image if possible. Cutesy or clichéd subjects are very much unhelpful.
• One must continuously assess all aspects of the image, from the subject to the media, and (making conscious and deliberate choices) change or modify it at all levels to improve the textures, details, quality. Often this means (paradoxically) making the photograph "bad" but always in an interesting way, adding new work or materials rather than subtracting, to improve quality.

When this process is finished, the picture is finished. It is very difficult to finish a picture, and a factory churning out a lot of "finished art" is unlikely to be producing good work.

Study of Yucca

10x8 toned silver print taken with Sinar 4x5 camera and home-modified lens.

This is a colour-corrected photograph of the actual print. The print is 10x8 inches (nominal) and is for sale - please contact me for further information.

Glimpse

16x12 silver print from a modified vintage roll-film camera.

This is a colour-corrected photograph of the actual print. The print is 12 x 16 inches (nominal) and is for sale - please contact me for further information.

Lilac

Toned 16x12 silver print from a 4x5 negative of a antique glass plate taken with a Sinar Norma using a vintage lens.

This is a colour-corrected photograph of the actual print, which is 12x16 inches (nominal) in size. The print is for sale - please contact me for further information.

A one-eyed man

"I've finally figured out what's wrong with photography. It's a one-eyed man looking through a little 'ole. Now, how much reality can there be in that?" David Hockney