McCartney, the Tooch, and Photographic DNA
Or: Dispatches #04
June and July so far in Warsaw have been hot, muggy, heavy, and suffocating months and with the inaction of most world governments, it doesn't seem like it will get better anytime soon. Apple News headlines tell a stark story. UK Reverse Climate Pledge. Then. Meteorologists Measure Hottest June on Record. Then. South Africans marvel at snow and sleet in Johannesburg. Nah, we're good, fella. Nothing to see here.
For a wee, fair-skinned, arguably ginger Scotsman, street photography in 30+ degrees Celsius isn't ideal. Nevertheless, mid-June saw Warsaw's annual Pride celebrations, so I picked up my camera, stuffed some Tri-X in my pockets, and off I bounced into the height of the summer sun. Much like the gradual boiling water takes the unwitting frog by surprise, political tensions before Poland's late autumn general elections are beginning to simmer and there was muted concern that trouble and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric might not be far away, however, the day passed with nothing but joyful celebration, ebullient togetherness, and a lot of dancing. Magic.
Evoking residual echoes of some of that energy then, while I sit melting on my couch, let's get started...
What's been happening this month
The slow decline of a renowned outlet for photojournalism, National Geographic, takes another step as they lay off the last of their staff writers.
In more pleasant news, At their Annual General Meeting in London, Magnum welcomes 4 new members into its fold, though there were no new nominees.
In promotion of his excellent photo book, 1964: The Eyes of the Storm, Paul McCartney spoke at length to the ever-charming Stanley Tucci.
Captured through McCartney's lens is Harry Benson, someone more often on the other side of the camera. The 93-year-old Scottish photographer is getting his due recognition in a major retrospective.
In experiments with the use of biological matter to store digital data, researchers have created a method to store photographs on DNA. And you thought you could barely see detail in Instagram photos!
Dispatches from Substack
The schadenfreude of Twitter's demise, while delicious, has opened space for an abundance of young, and not-so-young, pretenders. Substack launched its Notes product, which I'm not sure even they know what they want it to be yet, however, for the first time since launching Photos, mostly, late last year, I began investigating the wider Substack universe. Each month, in Dispatches, I'll share some of the Newsletters or Notes that shook me by the collar.
Leaving Instagram behind has been most difficult as I don't see Emily Keegin's exceptional stories every day. The photographer and creative director was recently interviewed on Blackbird Spyplane's bi-weekly vertical, Concorde.
Since the end of last week, it seems that all Substack has been talking about is the launch of the Threads app. Some love it, others hate it. I'm in the EU so don't have to worry about it. Kate Lindsay over at Embedded penned an excoriating article on the content to be found over there.
In his excellent Field of View newsletter, and in a timely post preceding the release of Christopher Nolan's biopic Oppenheimer, Patrick Witty wrote about the only colour photo of the first nuclear explosion.
My friend Dan's newsletter, Desire Paths, gets better and better. In the upstate art shopkeeper, he features David McGillivray and his decision to up sticks and open an art and design store in the Catskills.
And finally, Michael Estrin of the Situation Normal newsletter recently passed a milestone of 3000 subscribers and posted a Note with tremendous advice on growing a newsletter on Substack for those of us with less than 500 subscribers.
Recommendations
Photographer
For this month's photographer, we're heading east to Tokyo to find street photographer, Daidō Moriyama. The work of the Japanese photographer is often high contrast and rarely formally composed, Moriyama choosing, as he does, to make the images without looking through the viewfinder. He is known for photographing the labyrinthine Shinjuku district of Tokyo and has often spoken about its shadowy streets and alleys as putting him under a spell. Since 1968, Moriyama has been a prolific publisher of photo books, producing more than 150. A decade ago, he shared the accolade of a major Tate Modern exhibition with the previously recommended photographer, William Klein.
Television
This morning, as I pedalled frantically on my stationary exercise bike, I cued up the final episode of the first season of Apple TV's Foundation - a rewatch in excited anticipation of season 2 coming this Friday. Having not previously read Asimov's sprawling science-fiction saga, I have no idea what is to come or what to expect and I'm bubbling with suspense at what will become of Empire, the Foundation, Salvor Hardin, and Gaal Dornick. If yet to enjoy the first season, I can't recommend it any more highly.
Music
Not long after the turn of the millennium, the brother of a girl I had met on Belle and Sebastian's online mailing list, Sinister, made me a mix-tape for my birthday. On it was a song almost 6 minutes in length, driven by a post-punk-infused, pedal-noted guitar riff and the oddest vocal delivery. This was New Town by Glasgow’s Life Without Buildings and it was to knock my proverbial socks off. The very next day I bought the 7" from Avalanche Records in Glasgow. I didn't own a record player. Life Without Buildings is sadly no more being a short-lived, remarkably un-self-indulgent art-rock band for only 3 years. They left behind the faultless LP, Any Other City, and if that is all we get, my goodness it’ll do.
Podcast
Sitting downloaded on my phone for what seemed like an eternity, was Things Fell Apart, a series written and presented by Jon Ronson. For many years, the British writer had been following the development of what we now call the Culture Wars and he was curious to learn how it had transpired. Rather than an analysis of the present, Ronson has gone back to history to find the origin stories. As he says, the pebbles thrown in the pond creating the ripples. This is a fascinating series both illuminating and infuriating in equal measure and led by a trustworthy and curious guide.
Interesting
Aimlessly browsing around recently I found this absorbing simulation of the effects of Gravity, coded by Akimitsu Hamamuro. On load, the user can click anywhere on the screen to create a gravity point. Afterwards, the point will exert the force of gravity on the surrounding particles flying around. The more gravity points added, the more the forces compete. I won't lie. I lost 30 minutes the other day playing around with it.
And finally…
Look out for Issue 9 of Photos, mostly coming on 26th July.
If you’ve enjoyed reading Dispatches, I’d be very grateful if you could subscribe, share, and recommend it to any street photography-loving friends. It really does help more than you would think.
This newsletter is free to read, however, I've recently left corporate life and returned to school, so if you like what I do, you could always toss me a roll of film. You can do so by clicking here, or by aiming your camera at the QR code below.
I'm partial to some of that Tri-X 400 if you're asking. Thank you!
Wow, glad I found your letter! Great stuff. Thanks for the Life Without Buildings video, I love that record and I don't think I've ever seen live footage.
Love it. And thanks for the shoutout, Neil!