Category Archives: Contextual Research

M2 – Contextual Research

Vanishing History

Posted on by

“Gang of 12-year-olds” smash stained glass windows

A gang of boys aged around 12 are thought to be responsible for a spate of incidents at St Peter’s Church in Hale which has damaged stained glass windows that date back to the 19th century.

The first incident took place on Saturday 21st July (2018), when 12 or 13 small panes of glass in a leaded window were smashed in the vestry.

Hale 02

A more significant incident then followed on the night of Thursday 26th July, when a further six or seven panes were smashed in the vestry and stained glass windows on the North Aisle were damaged.  Damage to the vestry was sufficient to warrant boarding-up all windows.  Fortunately these windows were protected by toughened glass, which sustained most of the damage.

Hale 01

A further incident took place on Friday afternoon, when police were called to the church during a rehearsal for a wedding.

Police confirmed to us they had been called out 4.40pm to reports of youths throwing items at the church’s windows, but the perpetrators had fled.  They did however confirm that the church was now getting “passing attention” by local police officers.

Hale 03Sadly, there is no photographic record of the damaged pre-Raphaelite lights depicting the Angels of Praise and Thanksgiving with musical instruments, which will hinder restoration work.  They were part of a series by the firm of Heaton, Butler & Bayne, that includes the two lights shown to the left.

Conflict over art installation

Posted on by

Felice Varini turns Carcassonne into his latest work

The fortified city of Carcassonne in Occitanie, France gives the impression of the perfect medieval castle.  It became a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1997 and attracts over four million visitors each year.

My summer break took me through Carcassonne (or Cité Médiévale as it is locally known) for a second time, and I was surprised to see it highlighted in bright yellow – clearly visible, even from a great distance.

IMG_7050 (low res)IMG_7053 (low res)

The seemingly random daubing is in fact precisely located strips of aluminium, glued to the walls.  This is the latest work by contemporary Swiss artist Felice Varini, dubbed “Concentric, eccentric”, it all makes sense from one key focal point:

IMG_6710 (low res)

Varini was asked to come up with one of his famous eye-deceiving illusions using the technique known as anamorphosis to celebrate 20 years since the city was granted Unesco World Heritage status.  The installation will remain until September and has caused much debate within the city walls with several thousand people signing a petition against the work.

While the art installation prevented me from taking the photographs I would have liked to capture, it was simply incredible to view and undoubtedly fiendishly complicated to conceive and produce.  This installation puts into perspective any of the quandaries and concerns I may have had regarding the life-size reproduction of any of the stained glass windows I have photographed!

What’s not to like…

Posted on by

The Macallan Masters of Photography: Magnum Edition

My passion for whisky stems from three undergraduate years of geological fieldtrips, together with my thesis research, in Scotland, with Macallan being my preferred tipple.  Not only is Macallan an exquisite whisky, but it is highly valued by collectors.  While I enjoy drinking it, occasionally it becomes too valuable… indeed I recently sold a 18 Year Old 1971 Macallan as well as a presentation boxed 21 Year Old Macallan for funds sufficient to purchase a very pleasant ‘L’ Series Canon lens!

MAC-2018-MOP7-Bottle-front-cut-out-low res.pngMacallan’s appreciation and understanding of the collector’s market has led them to produce a series of limited edition release collaborations with Magnum Photos.  Their seventh such venture has just been announced: The Macallan Masters of Photography: Magnum Edition has been designed to celebrate the construction and opening of the new £140 million Macallan distillery and visitor centre through rare imagery and liquid.

The whisky comprises a vatting of eight casks, including a “spicy gingered cask”; a “cask of age” with great oak influence; a “classic cask” with “intense black cherry notes”; an ex-European red wine cask; a first-fill American barrel; an “intensely sweet yet classic Macallan” cask; and two casks that aim to emulate photography that “captures the familiar, but from an often obscure point of view”.

Each pack comes with a collection of images taken by six photographers (Steve McCurry, Martin Parr, Paolo Pellegrin, Mark Power, Gueorgui Pinkhassov and Alec Soth) who have captured different aspects of the new Macallan distillery and visitor experience on film.MAC--full-pack-special-features (low res)

MAC - book

The Macallan Masters of Photography: Magnum Edition collection comprises…

  • A selection of six 11″x14″ signed prints, one from each photographer.
  • A special limited edition of a completely unique Macallan single malt whisky.
  • The bottle is engraved with The Macallan and Magnum logos and the names of the six photographers.
  • An exclusive book of photography featuring images from the six photographers.
  • This special release comes together as a limited edition objet d’art presented in a stunning archive style gift box, and is one of only 2000 available worldwide.

The Macallan Masters of Photography: Magnum Edition is available now with an RPP of £2750.

Challenging Iran

Posted on by

Photographing top-flight football in Iran

I can be very difficult, almost impossible, for women to gain access to sporting events in Iran.  While the law does not prevent this, it is commonplace for access to be denied.  A huge problem if you are a female up-coming sports photographer.

Parisa Pourtaherian 01To overcome this limiteation, Parisa Pourtaherian had to be creative.  She arrived three hours before the match in Qaemshahr, in order to find an appropriate building overlooking the Vatani Stadium  from which she could take photographs.

It was not until the second half of the match that she succeeded in persuading the owners of a house to allow her onto their roof.  From there she captured some impressive images, aided by one of Canon’s larger white lenses.

Parisa Pourtaherian 02.jpg

Parisa Pourtaherian (2018) Untitled, Qaemshahr

Her actions make her the first female photographer to cover a National League football match in Iraq.  Photographs of her in action, taken by male photographers from within the stadium, spread across social media and public response has been very positive.

Abolfazl Amanollah

Abolfazl Amanollah (2018) Parisa Pourtaherian

In a recent interview, Pourtaherian spoke openly with the BBC’s Victoria Bisset:

I felt very excited to be taking photographs of such a high-level football match in Iran, especially in that particular situation.

The on-site photographers were busy capturing interesting shots of the game but when they saw me on the roof they took my photo.  I think all of them did!  I found the pictures of me on various social networks and some others were sent to me by my friends.  People in Iran reacted very positively and all I have received is positive energy.

I have to confess that all of this reaction and positive feedback was a bit weird for me at first.  I was not thinking about what the reaction would be in the first place, I was just focused on taking photographs.

I love football and it’s how I started in sports photography. I went to Turkey to cover the friendly match there with Iran just before the World Cup in Russia.  I will do my best to make this dream come true, but my biggest dream is to see women have the same opportunities as men when they come to football stadiums in Iran.

Repurposing or Fake News?

Posted on by

Why you shouldn’t swim after a hurricane

This picture was taken in Puerto Rico shortly after Hurricane Irene ravaged the island. Yes, that’s a shark swimming down the street next to a car, and this is exactly why authorities in NYC are warning people not to go swimming in flood waters after a hurricane. Sharks go where fish go, and fish go where water goes, and if that water (and those subsequent fish) happen to be right outside your front door, then guess where that freakin’ shark’s going to be?!

Fake News - Shark

This image, purportedly showing a shark swimming down a street in Puerto Rico, was originally circulated just after Hurricane Irene hit that island in August 2011.  Since then the same image has been recirculated several times over, most recent iterations assigned it to Houston after heavy rains pounded portions of Texas in 2015; Daytona Beach after Hurricane Matthew approached Florida in October 2016, and Houston in August 2017 after Hurricane Harvey caused massive flooding throughout the city.  On each occasion, the photograph is a digital hoax with the image of the shark being lifted from a 2005 photograph of a kayaker being trailed by a great white shark and pasted into a photograph of a flooded street:

white-shark-kayak-peschak03.adapt.1900.1Tom Peschek (2005) White Shark Kayak

Peschek’s photograph was the result of several months of patience and determination with the resulting image launching his career, but shark lives on in isolation recurring in repurposed viral posts and fake news on social media.

white-shark-kayak-peschak02.adapt.1900.1Tom Peschek (2005) White Shark Kayak – A developed roll of slide film shows the moments leading up to the picture photographer Tom Peschak refers to as “the ultimate shark scientist picture.”

30 Types of Photographers

Posted on by

How to Identify 30 Different Species of Photographer

Finnish photo artist Antti Karppinen’s guide to identify 30 different species of photographer you’ll find out in the wild: