Richard Renaldi - Touching Strangers

"The premise of this work is simple: I meet two or more people on the street who are strangers to each other, and to me. I ask them if they will pose for a photograph together with the stipulation that they must touch each other in some manner. " (taken from PetaPixel)

Richard Renaldi is another photographer that has twisted the traditional forms of portraiture, in his case by bringing strangers from the street together to pose in what seems an intimate portrait. Upon first glance we may try and decode the connection between the subjects, but after realising that the sitters have never actually met each other, i cant help but wonder about how they feel in that situation. To have a strangers arm around them, to be close and personal with them. The images for sure don't look awkward to me, what do you think?

Cheikh, Alloun, Gracy, Terry and Pape, New York, N.Y. 2007

Sonia, Zach, Raekwon, & Antonio Tampa, FL., 2011

Elizabeth and Brandon, Milford, Pa., 2010

The sentiment i love with these images is that Renaldi said "there is unlimited potential for new relationships with almost everybody passing by." So i think about what happened to these individuals after, did they maybe make friends with the people they posed with? will they remember them from the extraordinary moment? It makes me feel like i have a connection with everyone i walk past in the street, we are all the same and all on the same level, and these images by Richard Renaldi act as a humbling reminder!

http://www.renaldi.com/projects/#id=album-11&num=content-188

http://www.petapixel.com/2010/04/16/touching-strangers-by-richard-renaldi/

http://blog.renaldi.com/2012/02/touching-strangers-in-uk.html

http://lightbox.time.com/2011/10/04/strangers-touching-by-richard-renaldi/#1

NO DIVING by David Graham

"In 2003, my son, then aged 23, became paralysed in a diving accident. As a result I became a photographer and a book No Diving has been published. The book looks at how accidents happen and life thereafter."

It's just the way of life.. every body thinks 'well it wont happen to me' but whats different to the people these accidents do happen to, and to those that live scratch free? It really can happen to any one, and its moments like these that flip not only the victims world upside down, but every bodies around them. David Graham photographs the people who these accidents happen to, including his son Nicholas, and also the places where the accidents took place.

Whats striking about these images in the book is the juxtaposition between the sadness of the victim's scenario and the serene place where the incident took place.

Accompanying these images in the book are images of the hospital theatres and the situations these people have to go through and deal with in life now, because of that one moment. It's work like this that makes us stop and appreciate life, and makes us realise that too often we take things for granted. And for making me realise how lucky i am, i have a real respect for this work.

http://www.photograhams.com/Portfolio/Personal/No-Diving/1282509_ZM7g7B/1

Taryn Simon - A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters

I saw this work in the Tate Modern winter last year, and i stumbled across it again the other day when discussing with a friend photographers that we liked. And i have to say that since revisiting the work i feel a different connection with it. Originally in the gallery i feel i was overwhelmed, these large spaces, rooms that lead onto another room, with hundreds of portraits all composed in the same way and lined up in grids that explored heritage and consequence...

 But now when i think about the work, i think about the people more individually. Some portraits in the grids were left blank, and this was where a member of the bloodline was missing - and this depicts the consequence part of Taryn Simons work. Though we cannot control or have any decision on who is in our family by blood, we control the situations in life and have an effect on these things.

But it's not only human bloodlines that Taryn Simon has explored, she also looked at this collection of rabbits. "24 European rabbits introduced to Australia in 1859. Within one hundred years, the rabbit population grew to half a billion. We are looking at 108 rabbits, all destined for a premature death as the subjects of a test to determine the effectiveness of a virus used to control the explosive rabbit population. Some wide-eyed specimens look alert to their impending doom and others, innocently oblivious. Even the pragmatic observer, when faced with man’s control and mis-control of nature may feel their nose twitch. " (taken from Foto8) and this is one piece of the work that has stayed in my mind since seeing the exhibition because of the connection between nature and humans, the roles we play in the handling of lives, as if we are god.

http://www.foto8.com/new/online/reviews/1439-taryn-simon-a-living-man

http://tarynsimon.com/works_livingmanindex.php

Phil Anderson - Competitive Spaces

I first came across this work through Mint Magazine's website, and the first image i saw of the series caught me immediately, with out even knowing the background of it.

Phil Anderson wrote on his website about the set: "This series aims to explore the relationship that spaces have with its occupants. The locations that I have chosen are used solely for one purpose; to train, to compete. I wanted to explore spaces which were being used for something different to the original purpose and design of the space. I aimed to capture the small details, the evidence of how these spaces were being used. For this to be achieved It was best to photograph slowly using large format film, and exploring the spaces immediately after they were vacated by its occupants. The result is a set of images which attempts to reveal the unnoticed."

What i like about this work is the calm and peaceful tone the images seem to have, which contrasts with the intensity of the competition that takes place beforehand. Also the marks and objects that are left in the wake of the activities, the remainders and reminders of what this space is for, and this comes from capturing the space immediately after it has been vacated. I also like the idea of how the spaces were originally created for another purpose, yet society's needs have changed over the years and so this is often what happens to most buildings - it reminds me of David Spero's series of Churches and how those buildings range from things like garages that have been turned into churches!

http://www.mintmagazine.co.uk/art/photography-competitive-spaces-by-phil-anderson/

http://www.phil-anderson.com/index.php?/projects/competitive-spaces/

Show Studio - Selling Sex Exhibition

The exhibition as the title suggests, is all about sex - but the different thing with this show is that all of the pieces are exclusively from a females perspective. Immediately when we think of work on sex by women, ideas of feminism may come to mind, how women shouldn't be treated as objects nor deemed as sexual objects. Society debates over how women are sexualised, young women especially - in magazines they're forever seen in skimpy clothing - but this is not the way in which this exhibition works.. yes it is feminist - but it seems almost a celebration of sex from the female viewpoint. Some of the work feels as if to say 'hey women can do sex too!'

Installation view

UNA BURKE, RETREAT

SARAH LUCAS, PEPSI & COCKY 

Marianne Maric, Lamp Girls

Rebecca Wilson, Blow Me!

It's an empowering exhibition for women, and filled with delightful pieces of work. It challenges the views of gender roles and sex, and for me made me question why maybe it feels more acceptable in society for a male to create erotic work, and why when women create similar work they are seen in a different, tainted light.

I think its very fair to say that Laura Mulveys writings on the 'male gaze' and such are very connected with this work,  as they question the role difference between male and female when it comes to work like this.

http://showstudio.com/shop/exhibition/selling_sex#overview

selling_sex_receives_a_glowing_four_star_review_in_todays_independent

Apogee, Perigee - The supermoon!

An annual opportunity for great photographs of the moon took place on the 5th of May this year, when the moon is at its closest to the earth and is full (perigee - apogee is when it's furthest away). It's said that it is around 14% bigger and 30% brighter in appearance! However being stuck in Britain for this occasion means that our skies were cloudy and about to bring rain (what a surprise!) Although i caught a glimpse of it while i was eating dinner in the kitchen, the next time i looked it was behind the clouds and only the glow was visible! So for those of you who like me unfortunately didn't get to witness the sight, i found some pictures taken of the moon this night from around the world! (Thank god for photography!)

The moon appears behind statues of angels on the St. Isaak's Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia on May 5, 2012. (Dmitry Lovetsky/Associated Press)

The moon rises over Vancouver on May 5, 2012. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press/Associated Press)

The supermoon appears above Phoenix, Arizona. Photograph: Darryl Webb/Reuters