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NOVEMBER 3rd | PLYMOUTH ARTS CENTRE | P A B D M O U T H

Word smiths, book lovers and zine enthusiasts, join us for P A B D M O U T H on Sunday 3 November, an independent publishing fair hosted by Nom de Strip in collaboration with Publish and Be Damned.

P A B D M O U T H is a fun, relaxed...

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Stephen Vaughan - Artist Interview

We have been very quiet as of late and for that we apologise, but rest assured we have been working hard to source interesting content for you to indulge in. We have also been discussing the possibility of an exhibition at the end of the summer, showcasing the submissions as well as some of the featured artist here at PUSH. So keep those coming!

Next to be featured on our series of Artist interviews is Stephen Vaughan    whose work investigates the connections between geology, archeology and memory across the globe, from Iceland to Japan with his series Ultima Thule and A Catfish Sleeps ( Which You can find on issuu that includes an essay by David Chandler) In this interview he also shares with us new images from a project he is currently working on, we are very lucky. Enjoy.

Could you describe your earliest experiences with photography, both as a viewer and an artist?

I first started making photographs as a very young boy, using a Kodak 'Disc' Camera. It had a self timer and a mirror on the front and I used to make playful narrative self portraits and comedy portraits of my family. I remember one picture of my Dad pretending to electrocute himself while he was changing a plug (with his hair stood up on end) and another of my Mum playing my saxophone with rollers in her hair. Wonderful stuff, looking back.

Later on, I became serious about photography while I was studying for a Degree in Music and Performing Arts at Leicester Polytechnic. There wasn't a photography course, but I used to hang around in the university darkrooms when the inimitable Greg Lucas was leading workshops. Greg and the technician Andrezej Jablonski taught me everything I needed to know! During my time there, I made photographs of student productions and exhibited them in my final year at the local theatre – this led to my first paid work as a theatre photographer and my first images published in the national press. At the time, I was looking at theatre photographs by people like John Haynes and Maurizio Buscarino (his book 'il popolo del teatro' was incredible). The artistic director of the Haymarket Theatre in Leicester where I was working was also (and continues to be) a really inspiring figure. David Gothard introduced me to so many things in the contemporary cultural landscape of the time – in theatre, music, literature, art, cinema and photography. He would introduce me to actors, directors, writers; send me to London to attend exhibition openings (it was 1989 and the 150th anniversary of the birth of photography); arrange for me to photograph and work with playwrights like Howard Barker, as well as with the company that was rehearsing Samuel Beckett's last production before his death in 1989. This introduction to Beckett was perhaps the most important thing that happened and the experience still resonates today. It was a particularly fertile and formative creative period for me as a young photographer.

What or who influence you?

Over the longer term, I have been most influenced by things outside photography. The work of Samuel Beckett has always been there for me as the finest example of restrained complexity, shared humanity, poetry and stark beauty. There isn't anything like it. For similar reasons, the music of Arvo Part (pieces such as Tabula Rasa, Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten, Fratres, Passio) is something I always return to and try to relate to in my own approach to creative practice. I became aware of Beckett and Part during that post-university period in the late 80s early 90s (the Hilliard Ensemble gave an unforgettable performance of Arvo Part's music in the St Mary da Castro cathedral in Leicester around that time). The writer Italo Calvino is a big influence too – 'Mr Palomar' is a really wonderful book and his 'Six Memos for the Next Millennium' (essays on Lightness, Quickness, Exactitude, Visibility and Multiplicity) is an inspiring manifesto for literature (and all creative endeavour). Photographically, my formative influences have been a broad mix – Thomas Joshua Cooper, Paul Hill, Jem Southam (who I now work alongside at Plymouth University), Thomas Struth, Paul Graham, Robert Frank, Josef Sudek, Eugene Atget, Cuny Janssen, Stephen Shore, Joel Sternfeld, Robert Adams, Emmet Gowin, Takashi Homma, Naoya Hatakeyama etc etc. More recently, I am influenced and inspired by things relating to earth science and geology – geological maps and seismic maps in particular.

What format do you work in and why?

I mostly, but not exclusively, use large-format cameras – 5x4 and 10x8. I work with large format cameras because they help me to approach the landscape with a sense of duration and stillness rather than moving through the space. It feels like more of an extended experience of standing and looking over a period of time. Hopefully, this sense of duration is translated through the photographs to the experience of looking at them in the gallery or on the page. Partly, this is also to do with the fact that they contain an enormous amount of information that will sustain detailed and extended reading. I also occasionally use a Fuji 6x9 camera which still gives a reasonably large negative, but allows more spontaneity and speed when appropriate for the subject.

What do you hope your audience will come away with after seeing your work?

I read an interview with Raymond Moore when I first started making pictures. He said he felt that if he was genuinely interested in something, then there would be others who would find it equally interesting, that the work would succeed because it emerges from genuine fascination. This exchange of fascination – about the world that surrounds us and about photography's ability to describe it in compelling ways is what I hope to participate in. However, I also remember those occasions when I have encountered particular photographs in a gallery that have affected me in an immediate, instinctive and non-intellectual way – pictures that you are drawn to as physical objects and which demand your attention. It would be wonderful if my photographs were sometimes able to achieve that sense of wonder and enjoyment.

What's your current project about?

I'm working on an over-arching long term project that contains a number of different series – all of which relate in some way to the tectonic map and the movements of the Earth's crust. This includes the work I've made in Iceland (Ultima Thule) and Japan (A Catfish Sleeps and Tohoku). I'm currently looking at sites in Greece and Turkey where ancient cult centres, sanctuaries and oracles were positioned (perhaps deliberately) on seismic faults. I've become very interested in a place on the southern shores of the Corinthian Gulf where the lost city of Helike lies buried beneath the contemporary landscape surface. Helike was overwhelmed by an earthquake in 373 BC and was submerged by the resulting tsunami. It was the cult centre for the worship of Poseidon (the God of Earthquakes and the Ocean). Having made photographs in Japan at the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, I am trying to find ways of placing that work in the context of deeper geological and cultural contexts. I'm also hoping to return to Japan in the near future to photograph the deep ocean drilling research in the seismogenic zone of the Nankai Trough.

New Work - 'Oracular Cave of Herakles Vouraikos'  

New Work - 'Helike, Gulf of Corinth'

What's your plans for the near future?

The end of the academic year is approaching once again. These are always exciting and busy times for us as the 3rd Year students produce their most accomplished and ambitious work at the climax of their studies. I'll also be working on the Oracles project over the coming months in Greece and Turkey.

New Work - 'Kerynites River, Gulf of Corinth'

New Work - Nikolaiika (site of the lost city of Helike)

Any advice for students currently studying?

Enjoy all the things involved in making, thinking about and writing about photographs. Squeeze as much out of the course as you can. Commitment and dedication, hard work, experimentation and play. Absorb yourself in the cultural community of the course, the wider university and the city. Read books, journals, articles, essays. Use the library. Go to all the talks and exhibitions you can. Ask questions.  Become well-informed and able to write critically about the work you see. Become an expert in what you do. Use the facilities. Do more than the course itself demands. Be inventive. Form groups. Share work. Make books. Organise exhibitions. Make things happen. You'll have a brilliant time if you do these things.

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Interview - Richard Higginbottom

Our next artist interview is with Richard Higginbottom. His work speaks better words than I can, so here we go

Could you describe your earliest experiences with photography, both as a viewer and an artist?

I guess that one of my earliest experiences viewing photography was as a child. One experience that I recall is excitedly accompanying my family to pick up the prints after holidays and being the first to thumb through the photographs. I think my excitement was down to the fact that I always assigned myself the role of family photographer, even though I was very young and probably not the best person for the job. These photographs and their ability to trigger memories captivated me.  I remember the feeling that these images were transporting me back to that place. I still love that photography does this. 

  As an artist, I think that the earliest works of any significance were the projects that I made in the closing years of my photography degree. All of a sudden something clicked and I began to make images with a visual language that felt right. This was also the time when I started making books. Working with books really allowed me to explore narrative, work voluminously and begin to feed textual elements into my work.

  Who or what influences you? I’m influenced by a lot of different things. Recently, the writing of Rebecca Solnit, Robert Adams and Alain de Botton are noteworthy. More generally, cinema, photo books and family & friends spring to mind. However, a large influence on how I photograph is my surroundings. I seek environments that are new to me, as the unknown stimulates the desire for me to take photographs and offers the opportunity for exploration. I have always enjoyed working like this and that link to adventure and discovery.   

What is your current project about?

I’m working on a collaborative project with friend Chris Ecclestone where we travel along the River Calder in West Yorkshire and plan to photograph our findings. It should be interesting to see how our different approaches to photography and image formats work together. The early plan is to make a book of the work, which is exciting.  

What format do you work in and why?

I shoot with a medium format (6x7) camera and, very rarely now, large format (5x4). I always use the same speed and brand of film for the aesthetic and the fact that, over time, I have developed an awareness of its intricacies. I like the quality and detail that can be achieved with a large negative and that I can print large when I need to. 

What do you hope your audience will come away with after seeing your work?

I’d hope that they would be encouraged to think about what is going on underneath the surface. By engaging in a process of interpretation, I hope that the viewer will formulate feelings fuelled by my work and their own imagination. If these feelings or thoughts are similar to my intentions then that’s fine, if they are different then that’s fine too. I’d just like to hope that they take away something positive from seeing the work.   

What’s your plans for the near future?

I plan to work on the River Calder project and get some edits together for that. I also have a rough idea for a series of portraits. This is something different for me so it’s exciting.     

Any advice for students currently studying?

Try to keep hold of that creative network once your studies are over. You’ll miss being surrounded by others who are passionate about the subject on a daily basis. Meet up with friends over a beer and talk photography. It will do you the world of good. As far as projects go, I’d say shoot the hell out of them and shoot as much and as often as you can.  Don’t put it off until the weather gets better or you’ve bought that new lens that you’ve always needed. The more images you make, the greater chance of success you’ll have.  

See the rest of his projects here

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Callum Sampson

[oliverudy]

This goes to the printers on Monday…. the beginning of an exciting new venture..

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Keep and eye out for these! soon to be launched over at antler press www.antlerpress.co.uk

Hopefully we will get a review up once they launch!

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Interview - Rhodri Brooks

Rhodri Brooks I was lucky enough to meet Rhodri when we studied together back at Plymouth University, though I came in contact with his work before... I would walk down the corridor and see these intriguing portraits with elaborate playfulness and a performative guises that seemed to mask a more underlying context which leads you wanting more. The creativity in this guy is so original, from his Portraits of people balancing things on their heads to his Colouring In project...check out this great interview and fall in love! 

Could you describe your earliest experiences with photography, both as a viewer and an artist?

I'm not quite sure how old I was when I got it, but I remember my first camera being a little polaroid camera. I remember having it around on a holiday in Center Parks. I loved Center Parks. We went to every one in the country. Thats a bit lame isn't it? Well I thought it was amazing anyway. 

My earliest memory of actually taking a picture must have been either the same year, or the year after. It was in a big white tent that was on the grass in front of my Primary School in Creigiau. There was a party going on to welcome in the year 2000! I remember thinking it was a important. I thought the best way to remember the event, and this most historic of occasions was to take a photograph of a net of balloons falling from the ceiling of the tent on to the dance floor. Maybe I thought the millennium bug lived amongst balloons, and this was it's time to reveal itself to the world. Which is a very 12 year old thing to do. I think I still have some pictures of that night somewhere at home. I'll try and find that picture and show you some time. 

I guess my earliest experiences as a viewer of photography would be at home. We have lots and lots and lots of family photographs on the walls, and boxes full around the house. Two images stick in my mind. One is a photograph my Dad took while he was on a medical elective in Kenya, of a man fishing into the sea with a big stick, while the sun set. I remember thinking it looked like a painting, and that it was ace that it had a story to go with it. 

The other is a photograph of my uncle that appeared on the wall some years after he passed away, so when i was about 15/16. Its a black and white photograph of him in his 20's lying on a rock in a valley with a girlfriend, passing a cigarette to her. I didn't really know my uncle that well, and so this picture always makes my mind wander, to think more about what he was like. To me he looks like Nick Drake in it. I think it's one of the coolest photographs ever, and definatly influenced the style of photography I shot early on. 

  Who or what influences you?

  Boredom is a big influence. I think I make some of my favorite work when I don't think of it as work. Just something fun to do because I want to mess about or do something other than sit around being bored. Also if all of a sudden there's some really nice light coming through the windows, that makes me run around to try and do something with it quickly before it goes away. Those times are interesting, because you're rushing around, not thinking too much about what your doing, just using what's to hand, and see what happens. Sometimes when looking at the photographs afterwards, I don't remember actually taking some of them. It's just play really. Essentially a grown man playing with things bigger than Duplo. 

What is your current project about?

I'm not currently working on a photography project. Since graduating and moving back to Cardiff, I've decided to take a bit of a brake and concentrate on writing, recording and performing music. Which is great fun. But it's been long enough now that I really have an urge to start shooting again, and getting involved with the scene in Cardiff. Also, the weather has been so awful, it's not been very inspiring at all. But now the weather seems to be picking up, and longer days means there more time for nice light. I have a bag full of films waiting to be developed, from the last 4 or 5 months, so we'll see what comes of those.

What format do you work in and why?

For general shots about the place, I shoot on 35mm, and for portraits I use 6x6 medium format. 

I like to shoot on film, it's what I've always used, and understand how to use. I get the images to look how I want on film. I also enjoy the whole process of shooting on film. You can just get on with it on a shoot, without being preoccupied with checking and editing as you go along. That really kills momentum and spoils the flow of the whole thing i think.

I've shot 6x6 for the last few years, but am thinking of moving up to 6x7 now. I think in the last couple of years, with the increasing use of phones to take photographs and things like 'instegram', people are so used to seeing square images. It's kind of killed the format a bit for me haha!

What do you hope your audience will come away with after seeing your work?

Hopefully a smile, or a giggle. Maybe a little confusion, that leads to wondering.

What’s your plans for the near future?

I've been working on a kind of live album recently. Recorded under a railway track. Then a couple of bits to add on top of the live session. So hopefully get that finished in the next couple of weeks. I'm thinking of calling it 

'Byw Dan y Tracs' which is Welsh for 'under the tracks', but could also imply that I'm 'living under the tracks' haha.

Photography wise, I'm looking forward to the upcoming Diffusion photography festival taking place in Cardiff next month! So hopefully I'll be volunteering with the festival, and trying to get to as many exhibitions and events as I can. This will hopefully get me back on track and fill me with inspiration to shoot!

Any advice for students currently studying?

Listen to what your tutors have to say, and take it all on board, but don't necessarily do what they want you to do. It's sad seeing students who have no mind of their own, completing projects based on what their tutors suggest constantly. You are creative people, with creative minds, use them to make something original that excites YOU,  don't make work just to get good grades and impress you tutors. You can tell if someone is passionate about their work, and they believe in it. Look at what everyone els is doing, and do something different. Enjoy your work. Make the most of the facilities!!! Help your fellow students. Put on exhibitions and events. Ummmmmm and sometimes a hangover is the best time to work. And laugh, laugh a lot. 

Be sure to check out Rhod's site here and his 'Colouring In' project

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CONTINUUM

Some of the artists that we have recently featured here at PUSH, Sam A Harris and Alex Catt have an upcoming exhibition this Friday the 26th April, at Atoi & Cull gallery, London. This is going to be a fantastic show from two great artist, if you are near London next Friday or anytime within the next month make sure you put this on your to-do-list........

Help spread the word!

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Interview - Jem Southam

We are very lucky to have photographer Jem Southam join us for an interview, no need for introductions, Just enjoy!

Could you describe your earliest experiences with photography, both as a viewer and an artist?

I became interested in photography aged 15, I wasn't particularly good at academic subjects/or just not that motivated, early influences were the fashion photographers of the mid 1960's.David Bailey and Donovan, the film BLOW UP had a huge impact!

Who or what influences you?

Once studying in London I changed from the influences of fashion photographers when I saw 2 exhibitions by Paul Strand and Bill Brandt. That got me going on the ART side of things. I had always been interested in functional uses of photography - recording etc. I wanted to be a archaeological photographer at one stage.

The Bechers - when i first came in touch with their work I knew that it would always be very important. When my generation grew up we had few places to see work, so Creative Camera was one site where interesting work was available. Much of it was American, partly because of the quality of the work but also because of the affluence in teh USA which meant that many photography books were produced. Then as we grew up we all influenced one another and the culture grew.

What is your current project about?

My current work is complex. I usually am working on 8/10/12 pieces at the same time - though one or two will always be uppermost. So I continue to take pictures along The Red River, maybe only one visit or two a year but there is POSSIBLY a new work there. I have also been taking pictures of inconsequential plants in varying locations for 15 years, with a 6x7 analogue camera, I have never even printed them! In the near future I am planning to review ALL this, 100's of films worth and begin to scan, print and archive. I continue to look at Rockfalls at about 4 sites in the UK and Normandy and though I have not been active with a camera there recently I know it will come back into focus soon. They are created with a 10x8 analogue camera.

Last year I published a book called the river Winter with Mack books, where I made a body of work along sections of the River Exe near where I live. This winter I have made another work following the cycle of a single season.

Recently I have just taken possession of my first digital camera and I am beginning to think about completely new ways of working and new themes etc. Excited by that, though it is daunting......

What do you hope your audience will come away with after seeing your work?

Audiences reactions are best not to judge. I make work because I am driven to pursue ideas and interests of my own and have no idea at all how others will react to the pictures.

So I spent 8 years photographing rockfalls before I showed any to curators etc. had no idea whether they would want to show them but they did! Having had several shows, goodness knows what people make of them. If they have been reviewed the reviewers have all drawn different thoughts out about the work - some of which were surprises to me.

If I had a wish, it is that I make pictures which are engrossing to look at.  I like to make pictures that are complex to look at, So they provoke someone looking at them to spend time with them, to let the pictures infiltrate their imaginations.

Each body work has different ambitions. These are never there at the beginning, as the work progresses what it is about for me this becomes apparent slowly. Bizarrely it often is the case that it will be years after something is finished that I come to realise what was going on in my mind, my psyche, when I was making the work.

What’s your plans for the near future?

I have many things in progress at the moment, I want to push them all forward as hard as possible, hoping to make more books with the works. I have about 500 sheets of 10x8 film left in my fridge, not sure if I will ever buy any more.....Thats about 5 years of photographing.

Still working away on 6x7, took some new pictures at Gurnards Head yesterday, not planning to stop that. So apart from that I want to see if there is anything for me within the spectrum offered by digital working. Today I take delivery of a digital printer, it will take me a year or so to begin to learn how to use it. In need for a scanner so I can begin to scan and work on all my 6x7 negs......I have so much to do. The other thing I am working on is getting all my life's work into an archival order.

Any advice for students currently studying?

I recommend young photographers to start that process of archiving NOW rather than hope they have time later on. Otherwise follow your own passions, but always keep an ever alert and critical eye out for what is happening around you in the areas you are pursuing. You can purchase Jems new book over on the MACK site 

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Interview - Alex Catt

Alex Catt

“Getting lost was not a matter of geography so much as identity, a passionate desire, even an urgent need, to become no one and anyone, to shake off the shackles that remind you who you are, who others think you are.”  ― Rebecca Solnit, A Field Guide to Getting Lost Alex Catt is the next artist to join us on this collaborative voyage, for me his work echoes that spoken in the words above, rather than descriptive geographic notions, his images presents an evoking desire, full of identity and grandeur on a scale that deals with our existence in a world that at times, feels quite solitary. 

Could you describe your earliest experiences with photography, both as a viewer and an artist?

I guess I first really picked up a camera to document my friends and I BMX'ing when we were teenagers, that was my way into the medium I suppose. Needless to say I moved relatively quickly away from BMX and on to what I found around me, which was mainly the countryside of the New Forest. It wasn't until doing a foundation year at Bournemouth Art's that photography really felt like something more than just a bunch of photos. Learning about photographers, and thinking of photographs in book or project form, really helped shift my thinking and opened up a lot of possibilities.

Who or what influences you?

I tend to be influenced by my surroundings and journeys predominantly, a lot of my work is made as the result of various wanderings or journeys. I tend to walk or drive around with no real place to go, just meandering my way through the landscape, which ever way seems right at the time. The serendipity that surrounds this is something that never grows old, finding opportunities to make interesting photographs for me is what it's all about. The below quote is something I always try to remember too, which fits in well with what i've been talking about. 

“When someone is seeking... It happens quite easily that he only sees the thing that he is seeking; that he is unable to find anything, unable to absorb anything... because he is obsessed with his goal. Seeking means: to have a goal; but finding means: to be free, to be receptive, to have no goal.” Herman Hesse, Siddhartha

As far as photographers and other artists go the list is relatively endless as with many people, obviously photographers such as Alec Soth, Stephen Shore, Robert Adams, Jem Southam I hold in high regard. There are many, many more of course, but nobody wants to read a list. My tutors during my time at Brighton University deserve a mention however, Jim Cooke, Mark Power, Fergus Heron and Xavier Ribas are all incredible people and helped me develop as a photographer during my time there.

What is your current project about?

I am just starting to make some new work at the moment, so it is all pretty up in the air right now. I have plenty of research to get done, but I will (at some point, hopefully) be making some work on The New Forest, which is the area I grew up in and currently live (sometimes). Its an incredible areas with a really mixed history, so theres a lot to think about and a little daunting to start when there is no pressure of university deadlines!

What format do you work in and why?

I work a 6x7 format camera (Mamiya RZ67) at the moment. I had to sell my 5x4 recently (after uni) as I just couldn't afford to shoot it anymore, hopefully one day when I am in a more financially stable position the 5x4 will return, but for the time being I am happy with 6x7. Its nice to use again after shooting 5x4, it gives me a lot more freedom too - I feel like I can shoot more than one frames of the same place, as theres not such a large cost involved and its also slightly more convenient to carry, which makes a difference when walking a lot.

What do you hope your audience will come away with after seeing your work?

I don't really know, this really is a tough question. I hope they come away with a glimpse into how I see things, the majority of my photographs are taken on solitary trips, so they are landscapes or 'things' that have for whatever reason stopped me in my tracks and urged me to photograph. So maybe one could gain a sense of what its like to be alone on the road, who knows? I hope people come away with something from spending time with my photographs.

What’s your plans for the near future?

To try and actually make this work on the New Forest, and hopefully to exhibit in group shows a couple more times during the year. I have a couple of collaborative projects on the horizon too, which I am excited about as I have never really worked alongside other artists before. As well as thinking about making a very limited run of books from my 'As water returns to the sea' series, but I try not to plan too far into the future incase something exciting presents itself.

Any advice for students currently studying?

Use the facilities as much as you can, I really regret not spending every minute in the darkroom printing. Don't be afraid to ask tutors questions, they really are fountains of knowledge (or were, in my case). Think of things in project form, read books. Also, your fellow students are some of the most important people to be around - talk over ideas with them, take trips with them & have fun.. but you knew that already. Please do go and check Alex's work here and follow him here

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Interview - Bryan Schutmaat

Bryan Schutmaat

Could you describe your earliest experiences with photography, both as a viewer and an artist?

I think recalling my earliest experience with photography as a viewer would be impossible because there are so many photos in the world and we're exposed to them so early on. So that's tough, though I do remember coming across a book about Mexican photography on my mom's book shelf when I was really young, maybe six years old or so. It had pictures in it by Manuel Álvarez Bravo, which showed both naked women and dead men – probably my first time to see either subjects. That was powerful and unforgettable. Even at that young, I really felt the power of image. My earliest experience as an artist is again hard to say. When does a kid goofing off with a camera become  an artist? When I was around 11, I used to buy those little disposable box cameras – Kodak Fun Savers. I took pictures of my friends on their bmx bikes and random stuff around my neighborhood, and I remember liking the results.

Who or what influences you?

The list is endless and has varied a lot over the years, but I think cinema has consistently influenced me. I got into watching art movies before I got into photography, so looking at how the images are constructed is, what's included in the mise-en-scène, what it says emotionally, etc has continued to inspire me and alter my way of seeing.

What is your current project about?

Grays the Mountain Sends is my recent project, and it's about the lives of people in small mountain towns and mining communities in the American West. 

What format do you work in and why?

Most recently, I've been shooting with a large format camera (4x5). I use it mainly for it's descriptive ability, so it's an aesthetic choice, but it certain has social benefits for shooting  portraits, because when I approach strangers I'm equipped with this old fashioned-looking gadget that breaks the ice. I like film because it looks better than digital.

What do you hope your audience will come away with after seeing your work?

My friend Richard Rothman says good photography should help to teach us how to live. That's a lofty hope, but I suppose that's what I want people to gain in some small way.

What’s your plans for the near future?

Multiple solos shows, a book to publish, and new project to get underway. 

Any advice for students currently studying?

Photography is hard and by entering this field you're either naive or courageous. If you're studying photography in college, if you own a nice camera, if you have the luxury of talking about pictures all day, you are very privileged by most standards – but not entitled to anything. Take advantage of this privilege and work insanely hard. Keep in mind the world owes you nothing and you owe yourself everything. Bryans Tumblr                    Bryans Website

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Hans Nøstdahl - Submission

Mystery, ambiguity, fleeting elements of narrative and tiny details of our existence, this is what landed in my inbox a few days ago....

Hans has a Tumblr for more visual treats

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Cyrille Weiner - Interview

Cyrille Weiner

Our next artist interview is with French photographer Cyrille Weiner, He has just been selected as British Journal of Photography’s ‘20 photographers to watch in 2013’  and he describes his work as 'A focus on the use and ownership of premises' 

Could you describe your earliest experiences with photography, both as a viewer and an artist?

My first experience with images was when I was very very young. Each time I visited my grandmother, I would rush to look at her family albums. I was fascinated by the images and would spend hours looking at them. I have also always been fascinated by the theatricality of life, and how people glide into spaces. I think my interest in photography inspired me to look around and, in particular, pay closer attention to the architecture and landscape. I think I’ve always looked at reality as being like a movie set or a theatre stage, with actors moving about.

Who or what influences you?

My influences come from movies and paintings. I also conceptualize my works by engaging a lot with architects and urban shapers. In regards to photography, I first looked at Magnum photographers. It was in the early 90s.

My best friend’s father showed me Bruce Davidson’s book East 100th Street. I spent a lot of time watching this book… Street photographers like Winogrand and Friedlander influenced me as my interested in photography was growing. Later, when I studied photography, I discovered the Becher’s students at the Düsseldorf school and other artists who were using the photographic medium. My strongest photographic emotion happened when I first looked at a W. Eggleston photograph. American photographers -Evans, Eggleston, Shore – are the ones I appreciate most. I can look at their works again and again and still have the feeling to discover. I appreciate the straight, direct relation to the world.

What is your current project about?

One of my current is a reference to Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown “Learning from Las Vegas” project. My project is an exploration of urban imaginary through the filters of fairs. I am also working on several book projects of works made between 2004 and 2012.

What format do you work in and why?

I mostly work with 6x7 cm and 4x5 inches. And more and more with medium format digital. I appreciate formats that enable a large angle of vertical view, that gives height to the pictures, that offer details and smooth tonal rendition.

What do you hope your audience will come away with after seeing your work?

I hope my audience does not only see what is in the pictures. I am trying to initiate ideas, different thinking, especially regards to norms and margins.

What's your plans for the near future?

My work is at a frontier with architecture. I would like to play more with spaces, play an active role in the shaping of spaces and atmospheres. Not just look at them. I experimented this already with some of of my exhibition but would like to push in that direction.

Any advice for students currently studying?

Experiment. Try to understand their own intimate relationship with the world and with 

photography. Follow Cyrille on Tumblr 

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Sam A Harris

Had a massive response to the interview with Sophie Davidson, maybe we could get her to do some guest blogging in the future?  Next up is the real talented Sam A Harris..... Enjoy!

Could you describe your earliest experiences with photography, both as a viewer and an artist? I guess as a viewer it would be the many family photos that were up around my home when I was growing up. As an artist it was probably in school, when I first saw photography as an art form. To start with this came from the learning of the darkroom process; seeing photography as craftsmanship and thus art.

Who or What influences you? I rarely actively seek out inspiration, and I find influence quite hard to pinpoint, I believe for me most of it is subconscious. I would love to say my experiences and surroundings influence me, but the reality is its probably anything that grabs my attention visually, but more likely just other artists...

What’s your current project about?

I'm currently working on some sort of a collaboration, based loosely around the ideas of a failed utopia. I generally prefer to work with a loose idea while making images and let the ideas develop during the process, so unfortunately I myself don't know much more about it.

  What format do you work in and why? I shoot anything really, film and digital, but steer clear of 35mm nowadays. Film is generally 6x7, because it's a perfect ratio and it's large. Digital is really handy as there have been some images in the past where there has been a lot of trial and error, and film wouldn't have been viable.

What do you hope your audience will come away with after seeing your work?

Everyones different so the specifics don't bother me so much, but a general sense of enjoyment is always good!

  What’s your plans for the near future?

Save some money and get out of the UK.

  Any advice for students currently studying?

Definitely take full advantage of facilities... you will miss them. If you want to pursue a career in photography start early, there's always going to be someone one/ten step/s ahead of you.

You can follow Sam on Tumblr here and his website here

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SUBMISSIONS - HELP SPREAD THE WORD

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Sophie Davidson - Artist Interview

Could you describe your earliest experiences with photography, both as a viewer and an artist? 

My Nan had a massive suitcase filled with photos from basically her whole life, you'd be looking at photos of her as a child and then the next photo you picked up would be a photograph from a holiday to Germany from that Summer, it was archival chaos, but I remember looking through those and asking who they were and her knowing exactly who everyone was and what they had done that day and thinking that photos were a great way to remember things. I started taking pictures with disposable cameras given to me by family members and I'd just take them on holiday and to the stables (I was one of those girls who was really into horses) and I guess that the holiday and memory parts of my photography haven't really changed too much. 

What or who influence you?

I think everything? I hope no one judges me for saying that but I think it's true. Everything I look at or hear or see, although of course mostly imagery and film. At the minute I'm really into Osma Harvilahti's photographs and I alway like photographers like Lina Scheynius and Jody Rogac whose work is very quiet and considered and always very beautiful. I also really like Elizabeth Peyton, especially her book Prince Eagle which I reference in almost all of my sketchbooks. I'm also very lucky to have a group of very creative, beautiful and interesting friends who are always very inspiring! 

What's your current project about?

I don't really know, it started out as a Boy version of my Girls project, which was focusing on why each sex enjoyed their gender and how it's quite nice being either, but now it's sort of changed into a psychoanalysis of why I take photos of boys all the time. I'm hoping to work it out in the next 6 weeks so fingers crossed. 

What format do you work in and why?

I only shoot in film (other than phone pictures of course) and mainly on a Contax G2. I've had predominantly autofocus cameras for a while now firstly because I can't see very well and secondly because I am quite lazy and I like to be able to take photos quickly when I have to. I also shoot on medium format and I like Hasselblads and Mamiya 7s but own neither. 

What do you hope your audience will come away with after seeing your work?

If it's laid out (in a gallery or publication) I hope they think "Oh, that looks nice together," and if they are looking at a single image on a screen or in print I hope they just think "Oh, that looks nice." 

What's your plans for the near future?

I am going back home for 2 weeks tomorrow and I am going to assist Jamie Stoker for a bit and try and take some of my own photos and then I will come back to Falmouth for 4 weeks and try and get a good grade for my degree. I have a few ideas for when I graduate but nothing concrete as of yet, if all else fails I'm just going to go on holiday and worry about it later.

Any advice for students currently studying? 

Since I am still studying I will give the advice I am constantly trying to give myself. Firstly, the more you do for yourself the more others will ask you to do for them, I always find if I've been doing things I'm more likely to get more interesting e-mails. Secondly, if you don't ask you don't get, which is something I've been saying a lot lately when I see others doing interesting things and I'm wondering why I am not doing any interesting things. You can follow Sophie here and check out her website here

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Thanks!

A big thank you to Oliver Udy for taking over the blog last week! you can follow him on tumblr here and on twitter here. We have some very interesting stuff coming up soon...with some great artist interviews as well some more guest bloggers. KEEP THE SUBMISSIONS COMING IN!  Thanks again Oli you were awesome! 

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Some images from Mariya Ustymenko, from the series Kievbound. I will be publishing this as a zine over the coming weeks.