Returning to some of my pictures from Morocco this week, I’ve found time to re-process a couple. I always liked the shot of this tannery worker, not least because he was one of the few people in Morocco willing to be photographed... Read more...

Tags: portrait, morocco

After a very pleasant lunch with young Tewfic on Friday, I took a leisurely ferry ride down the Thames to the Tate Modern to see the giant crack that has been made in the floor of the massive Turbine Hall.

The crack forms an artwork, an installation by Doris Salcedo called “Shibboleth”. Now, whether or not you think that a giant crack in the floor of a building can be considered “art” or not you’d have to admit that it’s an absolutely fascinating thing to see. The crack itself is, well, it’s a crack. It gets a bit deeper and a bit wider as it progresses along the length of the Turbine Hall and one can see that the sides of the crack are formed with a wire mesh that I’m told was once used in a fence that divided two countries in Eastern Europe. Whether that’s actually true or not I don’t know.

Flicking through the leaflet that visitors are given as they enter, I see that there’s a great symbolism attached to the work by the artist “the history of racism, running parallel to the history of modernity and... its untold dark side”.

However, walking up and down its length, I didn’t hear anybody discussing the broader themes of division and separation although perhaps those are just not subjects that many people would discuss openly. The main topic of conversation was, perhaps predictably, how was it done. How did it get here? Was it made elsewhere and lowered into the floor of the Tate? Had the actual floor been attacked by men with pneumatic drills? People laid down and tried to see if there’d been a change in the height of the floor, they pushed their fingers against the joins in the concrete to test the putty and they carefully paced out the width and length of the concrete blocks in an attempt to find clues.

I noticed that couples walking along the length of the crack, deep in conversation, would often subconsciously position themselves on the same side of the divide, reluctant to walk on different sides. Children, obviously, tried to climb down inside it and there was lots of posing for photographs that involved pretending to have got a foot or an arm stuck deep in the crevice. One unlucky man dropped his mobile phone, which caught the toe of his shoe at the perfect angle to send the device skittering across the floor until it plopped into the crack. This acrobatic disaster was accompanied by a chorus of several sharp intakes of breath.

From the floor overlooking the Turbine Hall it was interesting to see the snaking line of visitors as they followed the line of the crack, leaving the rest of the hall deserted. Yes, from a people-watching exercise it was a fascinating afternoon. I spent over three hours there, watching, photographing and occasionally recording some audio. Jo arrived later in the day, walked the length of the crack in three minutes and suggested we head to the bar. By which time, I have to say, I was in need of a beer. Clearly, she was more interested in the ‘craic’ than the ‘crack’.

Whether or not Shibboleth succeeds in prompting us to think about divisions in our society I’m not sure. It certainly succeeds in firing people’s imaginations in other ways and definitely gets people talking to one another. Which, we must admit, is quite an achievement for a crack in the floor.

Tags: art, tate modern, london, slideshows

Apple have released a list of 300 new features which will form part of the new OS X (Leopard) Mac operating system. Well, they say there are 300 new features but six of the features listed are the six new screensavers so you have to take that number with a pinch of salt.

Nevertheless, Leopard offers Mac users a few more of those nifty things that make using a Mac so much more satisfying that using a PC. Little things like being able to click on a name in your address book and being shown the appropriate Google map for that person’s address. And, as we all know, it’s the little things...

Of more interest to photographers will be things like 16 bit printing, which will be more important in coming months as more printers and cameras begin to support full 16 bit technology.

The new OS also includes “Time Machine”, which will provide backup versions of your Mac that allow you to return it to a previous state or offer previous versions of files that have changed.

The “Preview” application has been updated and we’ll finally be able to manipulate PDF files easily.

I guess it will be worth waiting a couple of months for Apple to iron out the bugs but it might be something that makes an appearance on my Christmas list. Although I never know why I make a Christmas list, I invariably end up buying most of the things on it weeks before Christmas.

Tags: mac

I’ve been a Digital Railroad user for a while, posting my pictures to their online service and using the cataloguing features of their web site. I first met up with some of their representatives at a seminar in New York and then again later at a similar event at the Apple Store in Regent Street. There’s obviously a vision for Digital Railroad that’s been followed since the service launched, perhaps at some stage to sell out to a Getty, Corbis or similar. The recent launch of the Marketplace feature seems to tie in with that vision.

Photographers with work on Digital Railroad can now sell their work through the Marketplace. It’s good for individual photographers as we can combine our images with other photographers’ work, in what in effect has become a library. Providing there is sufficient content then I assume buyers will like it because it will offer them a one-stop shop for new images.

I’ve heard a few reports of photographers making sales through Marketplace although it’s early days (for which you can read that I haven’t had any sales through it myself). I suppose that in this day and age it’s becoming increasingly important to have what I’m told is called an “online presence” and Marketplace may well offer another string to a photographer’s bow in that sense.

Tags: digital railroad, marketing, photography

The BBC start airing a new series about Photography on BBC4 next week. ‘The Genius of Photography’ is a six-part series that looks at the history of the art.

Programmes include a look at how Kodak brought photography to the mass market, Editorial photography, Travel, Documentary and Photography as Art.

Nice to see the my licence fee going to something of interest.

The first programme goes out at 9 p.m. on Thursday, October 25th.

Tags: photography, bbc, television

I’m tempted to ask if you can guess where I am but suppose that the photo of onions, garlic and a Euro price tag might make it a tad simple... Read more...

Tags: france, markets

Not according to my friend Masher it’s not. And if Modern Art leaves you bewildered then the latest installation at Tate Modern is probably unlikely to bring you any further into the folds of the Modern Art community.

After giant spiders, slides, white cubes and a massive solar installation, the Tate is, like The Jam, going underground. The latest piece to grace the massive Turbine Hall is a chasm that stretches the length of the building.

Now I can see how that might be an interesting concept and I can understand how it might invert our usual views of such a robust and impressive structure as the Tate but artist Doris Salcedo claims to be “addressing a long legacy of racism and colonialism that underlies the modern world”. I haven’t seen the crack in person but I must admit that it didn’t immediately bring the subject of racism to mind.

Either way, you can’t deny that it’s an unusual subject for an artwork and continues the Tate’s record of displaying ground-breaking art. “Ground-breaking” - geddit?

Tags: art, tate modern, london

iPhoto comes as part of Apple’s iLife package for the Mac. It’s pretty good and I’ve been using it to manage those photos that I want to keep out of my Professional workflow: pictures of friends and family gatherings, parties, etc.

The only problem is that the iPhoto library can soon get pretty bloated and it seemed impossible to manage multiple libraries very easily. I wanted to keep the main library on an external disk but a smaller library of the most recent photos on my laptop, so that they’d be available when I’m out and about.

Enter iPhoto Library Manager. Doing pretty much what it says on the tin, this software manages multiple iPhoto libraries, enables sharing of albums, copying, switching, iPod synchronisation and even a bit of iPhoto First Aid should your library throw a wobbly.

There’s a free version although that restricts copying to no more than 20 photos so pretty pointless really but the full version is only just over £10 and well worth the investment.

No, I’m not on commission although if anyone from FatCat Software is reading this...

Tags: mac

BBC Worldwide has bought a 75% share in Lonely Planet and has announced plans to put the full Lonely Planet guidebook range online in the near future.

The BBC don’t have an especially good reputation among photographers who often complain that the BBC’s contract is a little unfair, demanding, as it does, that contributors grant a “perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive, sub-licensable right” for the BBC to use the pictures where and when they like. The prospect of those contract terms influencing dealings with Lonely Planet Images is quite unappealing.

Having said that, the opportunities offered by the BBC linking up with Lonely Planet could be very inviting. These are two iconic organisations and I’d hope that the BBC would reinforce and support the Lonely Planet brand. If that proves to be the case then the weight of the BBC’s reputation can only enhance the perception of Lonely Planet in the public’s eyes.

The expertise that the BBC has built up in creating one of the world’s best web sites is bound to help the development of the Lonely Planet site too and that online presence will be vital in years to come, especially as competition in the travel market increases.

All in all, I think the take-over is good news for Lonely Planet contributors and for Lonely Planet readers but we’ll have to wait and see if the BBC are going to treat Lonely Planet photographers fairly. Yes, it’s another “fingers crossed” moment. I seem to be running short on fingers!

Links:
BBC Report
Wall Street Journal Report

BBC Worldwide
Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet Images

Tags: bbc, lonely planet