Early Gurus, An Artificial Tank Man, and Two Times Capaldi.
Or: Dispatches #08
The Dispatches series, here on Photos, mostly, has become a place where before getting to the news and recommendations, I can blether a bit. I try to keep the introduction related to photography as best I can, and so every now and then, I use the opportunity to talk about the school work I've been doing.
This month, I've been developing and creating album cover art. I had the opportunity to work with an artist and combine my assignment with a job, however, in the interests of time, I opted to be both client and photographer.
For those unaware, I ran a record label called too many fireworks from 2001 until the pandemic. Though it is unlikely to see the light of day, when I chose to end the label, I had an idea for a retrospective album titled too many fireworks: a promising future behind us. It was for this album that I chose to create the cover.
There were many concepts and ideas sloshing around my head, however, the final concept was an environmental still life of my Fender Jaguar guitar discarded under a tree on the forest floor, surrounded by bits and pieces of too many fireworks memorabilia and contemporaneous photos of the artists from across the years.
So, out I set with my camera, lights, reflector, and a bag full of memories and dropped it [read: positioned carefully] all under a tree. The goal, that I hope I achieved, is something that has recently been a recurring theme across the newsletters of Substack writers I enjoy: Nostalgia. The autumnal setting, the discarded roadworn guitar, the photos of bands past and recent present, and other little easter eggs are all thrown in to provoke just enough longing for the late 90s and early 2000s to catch the eye of the label's fans and warm the heart.
Now that I have artwork for the album, maybe I really should sequence a record out of it and, at the very least, get it on digital. Perhaps next year the glimmer of an idea becomes a reality and a fitting end to a big part of my life.
Ok, enough blethering. Let's get on with the news...
What's been happening this month
Magnum has teamed up with podcast-ad-mainstays, Squarespace, to send 1 roll of film around the world, sharing it among 6 iconic photographers.
As it becomes the 1st Google search result for the term tank man, the AI-generated selfie of the unidentified protester from Tiananmen Square in '89 is causing real concerns about the future of photography as reliable secondary sourcing.
As Meryl Meisler has her first retrospective at CLAMP Gallery in Chelsea, Manhattan, Petapixel collects some of her frenetic photos of '70s New York nightlife.
Also on Petapixel, a selection of pictures from a treasure trove of centuries-old photographs discovered by a lucky photographer, bought for only a few quid at auction.
In an interview on Late Night with Seth Myers, Darren Aronofsky discusses the process of shooting Postcard From Earth for the Las Vegas Sphere, in mindboggling 18K resolution.
Dispatches from Substack
VII Insider don't post to their newsletter often, but when they do, it is compelling, captivating stuff. In this issue, Arturo Soto considers how and why explicit violence on the Mexico-American border should be seen through a review of Alejandro Morales’ El retrato de tu ausencia.
Patrick Witty continues to make vital essays on his Field of View Substack. This month, after the heinous attack by Hamas, and the devastating, genocidal response by Israel, Patrick wrote about the photography of Palestinian photographer Mohammed Salem. If you’re not subscribed to Field of View, you really should.
Neil Scott of the Total Integration newsletter interviewed Glaswegian photographer Simon Murphy about his exhibition and book, Govanhill. The 1st edition of the book has sold out though a 2nd is coming soon. The exhibition is now showing at Glasgow’s Street Level Photoworks.
Adding to his already impressive work on Substack, Marcel Borgstijn has founded Darkrooms magazine, a quarterly publication collecting projects from a wide array of photographers. Issue 1 is out now.
And on the Shades of Blue Substack, Michael Cirigliano II writes beautifully about Górecki's 3rd symphony, the so-called Symphony of Sorrowful Songs.
Recommendations
Photographer
I'm going to forgo my recommendation of a street photographer this month and pay tribute to all of the excellent journalists risking their lives working and reporting in Gaza. Since the beginning of this war, I have been following a number of excellent Palestinian photojournalists: Mohammed Zaanoun, Motaz Azaiza, Majdi Fathi, Abed Zagout, and a number of others - some as young as 17 years old! Figures from November 6th report over 10,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli bombardment in Gaza - over 4,000 of them children. As of this morning, 34 Palestinian, 4 Israeli, and 1 Lebanese journalists have been killed. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is investigating all reports of journalists killed, injured, detained, or missing.
Music
Longtime readers will know that Radiohead has long been one of the most important bands in my life both in influencing the music I made, and my political sensibilities, and in introducing me to many other composers, artists, authors, and thinkers. My borderline obsession with guitarist and composer Jonny Greenwood inspired me to pull my Fender Telecaster apart and have it modded with the wiring, pick-ups and momentary kill-switch that Greenwood uses in his. That, and my Kurt Cobain signature Jaguar (in the photos above), became my live guitars in the bands I played in, and the only two I couldn't bear to part with. Many years ago, I read an interview with Jonny where he mentioned an EMI compilation called OHM: The Early Gurus of Electronic Music. With music from John Cage, Alvin Curran, Clara Rockmore, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Steve Reich, Alvin Lucier, and many others, this 3 CD set became an aural bible for me as I began to explore music away from my late '90s indie roots. OHM+ was a DVD film that was packaged with it in some editions. It featured many clips, performances, snatches of interviews, and avant-garde videos to accompany the music. Some rather saintly soul has shared it on YouTube.
TV
Sometimes, living away from Britain and especially since I left the main thoroughfares of social media, I can miss the buzz that some TV shows generate and then miss the show itself. A year after its debut on Amazon, I discovered the Sue Vertue and Stephen Moffat-produced thriller, The Devil's Hour. The inscrutable, haunting drama pits Jessica Raine and Nikesh Patel against Peter Capaldi's enigmatic, delphic Gideon Shepherd. The denouement is an exhilarating release from the suspense that builds from the moment Raine's Lucy Chambers wakes at 3:33 at the beginning of the 1st episode. To say more, though, would give away far too much and the development of mystery through the series would not be so enjoyable. There are 6 episodes only, though 2nd and 3rd seasons have been commissioned.
Interesting
Returning to Mr Capaldi for a second, here is something breathtaking from the annual Letters Live event. Here, the Scottish actor reads a letter from WW1 Captain Reginald John Armes to his wife. After watching this, I sat very quietly, for quite some time.
Photostack
Since making it to 500 subscribers last week, I’ve had a swift additional 34 of you join me, which is tremendous. Thank you! Most of you new folks are photographers or photography writers on Substack, so I want to let you know about the Photostack initiative.
This is an index and growing community of Substack photography writers. For now, the index is a tagged Note and an annotated Google Sheet. In the future, I am collecting ideas to build the members of Photostack into a thriving, collaborating community. I have many thoughts and I’ll write about them as we move into the new year.
For now, if you are a photographer or photography writer on Substack, leave a comment on the original Note and I’ll add you to the index. If you’re already on there and you have some good ideas for collaboration or cooperation, shout out in the comments. Remember, as I’ve taken to saying, Photostack isn’t mine, I’m just the janitor.
And Finally…
Keep an eye out for Issue 13 of Photos, mostly on the 29th of November, and the inaugural State of the Union of Street Photography coming in early December.
I’d be very grateful if you would subscribe to or share Photos, mostly. Sharing with 1 or 2 friends who enjoy street photography really will help more than you may think.
If you’re a Substack writer and enjoy this publication, I’d be more than humbled if you would consider recommending Photos, mostly to your subscribers.
This newsletter is free to read, however, this year I left corporate life and returned to school, so if you like what I do, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription or buying me a roll of film. You can do so by clicking here, or by aiming your smartphone camera at the QR code below.
I'm partial to some of that Tri-X 400 if you're asking. Thank you!
Thanks for the round-up! Nicely done on the album art - you know, I thought of it as a bit of a shrine, too! I like having the side-by-side of the black and white and color image. I expected to find the black and white more nostalgic, but it's actually the color for me. I think you lose a lot of depth of feeling in black and white - and also that the lighting you chose for the color keep a lot of the nostalgia. Best wishes!
I just watched the letter reading. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. It moved me very much.
And I love your photo. The first thing that to mind was, that it looks like a place where people come to worship. There is so much narrative in this photo. Well done!