• STAY ROUTED •

Route is a London based collective, formed of eleven practicing photographers who have collaborated to create a platform to discuss, produce and disseminate photographic work, curate events, exhibitions and produce publications.

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Featured Artist #4 - Luke Brown

This thursday on Stay Routed we are featuring Luke Brown’s project, Time and Tide wait for no man.

The tidal pools represent some of the last standing man made structures that did not come under scrutiny from current health and safety rules. These very rules now affect the existence of the remaining pools. They are under threat from a lack of maintenance, scattered along Britain’s margins whilst being exposed to the harshest of elements.

Britain’s sense of hierarchy over the landscape is evident up to the very edges of our coastline, where the tidal swimming pools are located. Built originally for the enjoyment of newfound leisure time and as a safe haven for swimming away from the dangers of the sea, the structures embody the Victorian and Edwardian periods, acting as a reflection of Great Britain’s strength and power during the reign of the British Empire.

The pools are now spaces where freedom of expression can be celebrated, where people can make choices to act on instinct and common sense, rather than the behavioural constraints dictated upon society. Even these spaces have restrictions, the most prevalent limit being nature. The tide dictates the space, concealing the architecture in a dark mass of water, however the ocean answers to the gravitational pull of the Moon.

This natural occurrence still holds a very dominant sense of control over humans and the landscape, dictating the conditions of use, enjoyment and documentation.

‘Time and tide wait for no man’ (Geoffrey Chaucer)

To see more of Luke Brown’s project head over to his site here! 

Be sure to stay routed for more features and news from the collective. If you would like your work featured on Stay Routed, send us a link or a pdf portfolio to [email protected]. Get sending and stay routed!

Yiannis Pelekanis.

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Featured Artist #3 - Stijn Van der Linden

This week on Stay Routed, we are feature Belgium based photographer Stijn Van der Linden and four of his projects!  

The Future Lies With The City

My focus on the cityscape fits with my personal belief that living in the city is a more sustainable way of life. The future lies with the city.

Lines and Planes

Lines and Planes takes the minimalistic ideas of concave city corners to a next level, by capturing purely geometric features - lines and planes- in the city landscape. It is an attempt to show how beauty can be found anywhere in a city, even in the simplest elements. By playing with different shapes, I try to make images where distinct city components are cohesive or blend into each other, making it hard to perceive where one shape ends and another starts, or forcing the perspective to be completely lost. It results in a further simplification of visual elements.

Concave City Corners

Concave City Corners builds on the challenge of city trippers to try and find unknown, overlooked and hidden but hip spots in a city. They are looking for a more original and individual experience, trying to find new secrets and then being ‘the first’ to expose them. I’ve taken this concept of finding and photographing places in touristic cities that nobody has seen before and I’ve translated it more literally. It results in images of seemingly uninteresting city corners that everybody passes by without noticing; and yet they still capture the lines and colors of a city landscape.

Private Public Duality

These two portfolios are part of a larger series where I explore the private-public duality. The privacy issue is apparent to street photographers, who experience the atmosphere in the streets as more and more toxic for them. People are protesting, verbally or even physically, against themselves or their property being photographed on the street. These protests are strangely in contrast with the fact that people are throwing images of themselves in private settings online with little regard for privacy settings or privacy laws. Perhaps they don’t mind the aspect of their privacy being made public so much after all, as long as they have control over what and how? Either way, there is a clear duality in the way people perceive their privacy that is not only a new, interesting aspect of the world in the streets today but even something that can no longer be ignored.

人

Google has assembled a ‘photographic map’ of the world with Google Street View. It enables us to look at peoples’ homes and environments, and thus is perceived as an invasion of privacy. People are protesting against this invasion, prompting google to ‘blur’ recognisable features and even allow the public to have their houses removed upon request. Inspired by the blurring of people in Google Street View, in 人 (the Japanese symbol that describes the word ‘people’), I have taken street photographs of random people and blurred their image in post-processing. Blurring people does not make the photograph loose meaning; the people keep being recognisable as people. I transcend the purely functional way of blurring used in street view images for privacy reasons and change it into something more interesting and appealing.

Not There

Through my photographic work, I have become fascinated by the unexpected beauty that can emerge from urban landscapes. This inevitably means that I am photographing not only the fixed features (buildings, streets, walls...) but also the random people that are momentarily interacting with the city scenery.

No matter how subtle and unnoticeable you try to be, photographing unknown people, even in a public space, always feels a bit like you are invading their private moments and thoughts, capturing a part of who they are on film. When my activity is noticed, I automatically feel 'caught in the act'. I often feel uncomfortable while street photographing as if at any moment I will have to defend myself and my photos to my accidental subjects.

During 人, a previous project about people and private-public duality, I used an unobtrusive analog camera to overcome this natural restriction. not there started out as a next step I am taking towards finding a way to feel more at ease in these exchanges. Rather than focusing on the image of the real person, I try to capture only the imprint that they leave on the cityscape, even if only for a moment, by playing with shadows, light, reflections, …. You can tell from the image that people are there, but they are at the same time absent, not fully there or even there at all.

Head over to see more of Stijn Van der Linden’s work here! 

Be sure to stay routed for more features and news from the collective. If you would like your work featured on Stay Routed, send us a link or a pdf portfolio to [email protected]. Get sending and stay routed!

Yiannis Pelekanis.

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Featured Artist #2 - Adam Scott

This week on Stay Routed we are featuring Melbourne based photographer, Adam Scott and his on going project - Only Wise Men Fish Here. 

Adam Scott seeks out to explore the landscape and people of modern day Australia, focusing on themes surrounding national identity, urban and rural space and the general Australian 'quirkiness'.

Identity is at the core of what refines us individually. Adam seeks out to explore the land which shaped his identity as well as the individuals which currently occupy the space. We are invited to view his wanderings though Australia, to try and etch out an understanding of what it means to be an Australian in the 21st Century.

To see more of Adam Scotts work, head over to his Site and Tumblr! 

Be sure to stay routed for more features and news from the collective. If you would like your work featured on Stay Routed, send us a link or a pdf portfolio to [email protected]. Get sending and stay routed!

Yiannis Pelekanis. 

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Alan Eglinton - Poems

This week on Stay Routed, we talk to photographer Alan Eglinton about his project - Poems.

"I appreciate observing without a camera. You learn to look with a new set of rules and you have less shoulder ache. I just wish Japanese poets had  added fourth line to their haiku. Sometimes it would make things much easier".

I’m no poet, nor have I had a sustainable interest in poetry, but I am a photographer if I can call it that. What Alan describes in his opening text is something I have always had some sort of relationship or experience with whilst I’ve been without my camera,

 “I appreciate observing without a camera. You learn to look with a new set of rules”

This statement will have different results for everyone, everyone has their own practices and applications of photography, so the rules learnt are ultimately different. When I’m out, everything moves a lot faster, but when I lift my camera, there is silence and a sense of connection. For years I’ve been told to carry my camera everywhere I go and I mostly have. The silence is only temporary, but without any interference it is prolonged and through that the static is lifted.

At the heart of the abstract, cinematic and poetic verse’s Alan writes, is ‘haiku’, a 19th century traditional Japanese poetry style. Haiku is a 17-syllable verse form consisting of three metrical units of 5, 7 and 5 syllables. Most Haiku poems describe daily or mundane situations, giving the spectator a 3rd person observationally focal point to witness the activity of the Author. Each verse offers a level of curiosity, sparseness and perspective, something that is heavily reflected in Alan Eglinton’s body of work.  

Poems is the result of pure observation and un-subjective interaction’s. His words allow us to glimpse into a world only known by him, the individuals he met and the observations he has made.

These small abstract verses on their own seem like instantaneous reactions to an event spoken only in the mind of the observer, stringing them together allows us to build up a fuller and cinematic conversation which feels incredibly personal, almost diary like. This put myself as the reader in a strangely distant observation, much like a fly on the wall. ­

We catch up with Alan Eglinton to talk about his project Poems.

YP - How did this project begin, what was involved in it’s development and was haiku something you had experimented with before?

AE - I started writing short verse poems in my project "Steps Of A Go-Between", a photo and text journal I made in 2005-2006. During that period, I discovered the work of Japanese haiku poet Taneda Santoka who I admire for his wry sense of humor. 

During "Steps Of A Go-Between", the haiku were amongst other diary notes. I don't think I'd fully realized how photographic these short poems were, and that they could be a commentary on the act of taking photos. I like to rediscover some of my work a few years later. Things become more obvious and I see how one project can lead to another.

About a year or two after "Steps", I continued writing short poems. However, I didn't combine them with any photos I'd shot. I liked working without a camera. It became a bit like a game, taking pictures mentally and on paper rather than on film. There's a story I like about the French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant, who apparently takes pictures with a camera with no film in it. I don't know if this is true or not.

YP - Working with a camera is a primary source of production for most photographic artist, do you see it as your primary tool or does camera follow text in your practice? 

AE - Generally I think both go hand in hand in my practice. Sometimes photos call for text and sometimes they don't and vice-versa. However, at the moment, I'm not writing as much as before. I've just about finished editing "Poems" as a book and I've come back to shooting black and white photos with an analog 24x36 camera. For the moment, these black and white pictures are a work in progress called "Building Site". As you say, the camera is important in a photographer's practice but then again, history has shown us that there are other means of making photos apart from pressing the trigger. With "Poems", I was interested in working at the boundaries of photography. It gave me the space to humor photography. I probably also needed a break from the rush of photos. 

YP - Supporting each verse of the conversation with an image allowed you to build up a second layer of visual references, where these images something you found at the location or something you made conscious decision to edit and include later?

AE - A bit of both. Sometimes the poems are written on the spot on a piece of paper I find on the pavement. Sometimes I write the poems on my mobile phone and they meet a piece of paper once I get home. All in all, I try to keep a sense of spontaneity in all of the text-picture associations, even if they're made at home. Spending too much time on making a piece would probably just weaken it. Plus, it's a good exercise to get things done quickly. People often wonder if there's a link between the texts and images in "Poems". For example, is there a link between "three-legged cat / trying to bury a turd" and Walker Evans' portrait? There's a gap between both. They come together instinctively. For me, they seem to fit together according to a logic that probably doesn't need explaining. 

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It's the first reaction to try and find a connection between the text and the image, decoding the image is engraved within photography. But from our conversation, it's clear that the text is the personal observation and reaction, the physical plane the text occupies is either linked to the location of the observation, or a document that ensues a reflection of the self or the location itself. The body of work as a whole is very reflective. 

Earlier in our conversation, you spoke of the French actor - Jean-Louis Trintignant, who supposedly took images without any film in the camera - regardless of its truth; it’s a very poignant notion. Photography at its core is a very personal expression of its creator, and Jean Louise Trintigant practice is the ultimate express of that.

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YP - The narrative as well as the process in which you created each piece, holds the same principle. Each individual piece comes across as an artefact your of own memory, influenced by the scene you witnessed. When you created each piece did you intend them to work together as part of a narrative?

AE - The poems were written on the spur of the moment, just like when I snap my black and white photos. I didn't have a clear narrative in mind. Each poem may exist separately and act as a narrative by itself.

YP - Before our conversation we spoke about the possibility of producing a book, how do you intend of capturing the cinematic and personal nature of the project with the confines of a book and what can we expect to see in the end result?

AE – The final book will be close to an A4 format. On each page, I wish to have quite a lot of negative space around each document. I like the contrast between the stark white background and the roughed up documents. I think a small intimate book would be too redundant regarding the personal character of the poems.

 YP – After the completion of the book, would it be the conclusion to this narrative or is the project going to be continued?

AE - There isn't a real end to the book of "Poems". There will be a second volume in which the form of writing and the use of documents will evolve. I recently exhibited the poems of the first volume in the region of Brittany in France. It's important that the work exists both in its exhibited form and as a book. The next step is to show the work to a wider audience in England. Indeed, I'm still very attached to my native country. My series "England" is inspired by my origins, for example. I'm equally working on a photo and writing project on Afghanistan at the moment. This work engages with missing pictures and an alternative practice of photography, like in "Poems". I wish to move away from the personal content of my poems towards a more socially and historically involved subject.

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Alan Eglinton is planning to release this on going project as a book, so Stay Routed for more information. Alan’s black and white series has also been published in the first volume of "Still Cursing", a publication by Show Me Pictures and 1623 Theatre Company - click here for more information. 

Head over to Alan Eglinton’s website to see more work - www.alaneglinton.com

Stay Routed for more features as well as new work from the collective! 

We will be launching our open call submission on May 7th!, so Stay Routed for more information and be ready to send your work! 

Yiannis Pelekanis

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PHOTO ESSAY COMPETITION Submissions may be over but we’ve got one more treat in store for you! We’ve teamed up with exclave2015 to bring you a competition with the chance to win some lovely signed prints and a feature in our next issue!

DEADLINE 15TH MAY

Please reblog

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Head over to hashtagphotomag to see their latest competition for a chance to win one of five signed prints! 

We will soon be launching our open call submission! So Stay Routed for more information.   

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Theo Stroomer - Prison Boot Camp

This week on Stay Routed we are featuring Colorado based editorial photographer Theo Stroomer, and his project Prison Boot Camp.  

"At first the inmates were too busy getting their asses kicked to notice me. They were experiencing the first day of the Colorado Corrections Alternative Program boot camp, a program aimed at reducing recidivism using military-style structure and discipline. Some of them quit on the first day. The rest struggled and adapted. I drove to Buena Vista once or twice a week when I had time, photographing their progress through the three-month program in late 2008.

It was one of the only programs of its kind. First-time offenders with nonviolent crimes were eligible.  The rewards were substantial if you finished. You had a chance see your wife or your baby sooner. You could get on with your life. Along the way you could earn a G.E.D.

The thing was, it didn’t work. The program closed in June 2010 as the state cut prison funding. A troubling statistic was the nail in the coffin: nearly the same percentage of inmates from the program were returning to prison as those who had not completed it. Graduates weren’t any more likely to stay out.

I think it still mattered. Alternative corrections programs are attempts to create a better prison system. Beyond housing its prisoners, CCAP invested time and money in their future. The inmates were offered education and purpose and a way to better themselves. 

Everyone deserves this. A penitentiary must be just that: an opportunity for penitence and redemption. With many states cutting prison funding and the highest incarceration rate in the world, the United States must reexamine the way it treats its prisoners. It is critical that we continue to fund, and experiment with, alternative prison programs" 

Theo takes us on a journey exploring the identity of inmates within the space they occupied before the closure of the program. We catch up with Theo to get to know more about his time during the production of his project.

YP - How did you hear about the program?  

TS - I drove by the prison one day while I was taking a weekend trip. I was with my parents, actually, and we saw a sign. I started digging around and realized that this was a story I hadn't seen before.

 YP -  How did this project idea take shape before you actually started developing the project?

TS - I called up the man who was listed on the web as the head of the program. I remember being really nervous - I'm not great when I'm talking on the phone - but at the time I realized that he was actually pretty receptive to the idea. I was praying that I didn't screw this up. Once we got a little further in the planning, I drove down to introduce myself and see the facility before getting the final OK.

 YP - The environment must have been a tough place to work in, how did you prepare yourself for what was to be expected?

TS - It was difficult to watch the people in the program struggle physically. Staff worked them hard. I want to make it clear that there was limited physical contact allowed, and for the most part staff were not allowed to touch the inmates. Just work them really, really, really hard. 

The toughest part of a program like this is mental. Having people deliberately antagonize you. It gets called “breaking you down to build you back up.” 

In an environment like this, there’s a line between abusive treatment and making you stronger through struggle; I think my own concerns with the ethics of the program came from where this boundary fell. Was it ok to make someone stand with a bucket on his head for hours? What purpose does it serve having someone scream at you for missing a corner when you tuck in your sheets? Does such rigid discipline and the behavior you learn from it actually apply to life in the world outside of prison?

YP - What was your first day shooting like, and did you have expectations before you went in?

TS - The first day was the most intense day of the program. The inmates were physically and mentally unprepared for what they would face, and the staff was especially hard on them. Other than a long day, I didn’t have many expectations. I remember it being a profound experience though, because I realized that this story was an important and visceral one for me to tell. It’s one thing to hear what goes on, and another to witness and actually document it.

 YP - What was your intent from shooting Prison Boot Camp and what were you hoping to find?

TS - I had never heard of a prison boot camp program. I didn’t know much about alternative corrections. I wanted to illustrate one approach, explore it, and see how I felt about it. In the end I had mixed feelings. Incarceration in the US is broken, and I believe that most of the time our prison system fails at doing anything besides housing inmates. We’re not good with helping them recover and move on. This program felt flawed sometimes, and needlessly cruel at others. But at least it represented a belief that the inmates could make themselves better and work to get out of jail.

 YP - You mentioned that the exploration of identity, relationships and community, especially within your home state of Colorado is the catalyst of your photographs. During the production of the body of work, did you gain a certain level of acceptance within their community or build any relationships with certain individuals?

TS - I was strongly encouraged not to develop relationships or keep up contact after the program ended. Some of the guys and I did chat, fleetingly for the most part. Most of them were in for drugs or theft. There weren't that many opportunities to chat anyway, because life in the program was rigidly structured. Every minute of every day was scheduled. 

YP - Are you planning on taking the project further, especially with the individuals you photographed during your time at the CCAP?

TS - No, this has been completed. The program was shut down a few years ago. As they requested, I have not been in touch with any of the inmates I photographed since then. I brought copies for the inmates when the photographs were published, and I heard from a few family members after that.

Head over to Theo Stroomer’s site to see more of his work! 

Theo Stroomer | Photographer | Denver Editorial: www.theostroomer.com

Stay Routed for more features and new work from the collective. 

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Brendan George Ko - And Cheese!

Today we are featuring photographer Brendan George Ko and his project 'And Cheese!'. His project plays with the tangibility of photography, pulling the wool over the viewer's eyes, forcing us to question what is real and what is staged. Today, almost everything has been arranged, predetermined and calculated to control the final result. On the other hand, ordinary life is random, but having control over a subject or 'performer' within a scene, recording that moment and then presenting it, can result in a mirage of truth. 

Brendan has developed a body of work in which he encompasses this idea of constructing a scene, resulting in work which contains the moments between moments, the mundane and the everyday, in a way which depicts the humour and randomness of everyday life. 

Supporting Text 

Something between the staged and the real where you look at a series of images and you see something that looks staged but then there's something that looks real as well. I have always liked the rhetorical question, 'if you can't tell the difference then what does it matter?' as well as the saying, 'seeing is believing.' Take "reality" TV with reality bunny-eared because it isn't really real but it could be, parts of it, maybe. There is something absolutely fascinating about not knowing if it was chance to come across these people and these unique and often strange gestures or if they were staged. What I'm really trying to articulate is, finding things out of the ordinary in the everyday and YET having them seem just normal BUT absurd at same time. And Cheese is a series of images that started in China, where it is also common practice to smile, wave at the camera, and appear to be happy during a photographic opportunity. There I saw a variety of things that were extraordinary and absurd to my North American perspective, and realised how I can be charmed by the notion that this spectacle, this beautiful, funny moment is just part of the everyday there. And after that I started seeing these moments everywhere. 

So smile and say cheese in whichever way you please.

Head over to Brendan George Ko's site here to view more work. Stay Routed for more artist features, Route Collective News and updates on upcoming exhibitions, publications and our ever nearing SUBMISSION date! 

STAY ROUTED 

YP

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Erin O'Keefe - The Flatness

Today we are featuring 'The Flatness', a body of work by photographer Erin O'Keefe. 

Supporting text by Erin O'Keefe;

The title of this series of photographs refers to both the material flatness of the photograph itself, as well as the perceptual flattening of the still life space. The images in this series explore the tendency of the camera to flatten pictorial space, and as a result, foster ambiguous spatial readings.

The still life arrangements are comprised of painted plywood boards, physical prints of Photoshop gradient patterns, and photographs. I am interested in the tension between the compressed space of the image and the visual clues that allude to the dimensionality of the still life. The camera is the agent of uncertainty that invites seeing as both an intimate and critical exercise.

Erin O'Keefe

Erin O'Keefe - Tumblr 

All images are under copyright by the photographer.   

Stay Routed! 

Yiannis Pelekanis 

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Christopher Bethell - 'Four Hours East'

Manchester based photographer Christopher Bethell is a good friend of ours here at Route, and we are big fans of his his recent body of work Four Hours East, which documents his short stay in Nerekhta, Russia during a teaching opportunity back in March. We caught up with him to gain an insight into the making of the work, and his experience as an outsider observing an entirely new city and culture.

Firstly, congratulations on the success of your body of work Four Hours East. Can you tell us a little about how you got to teach in Russia back in March?

Thank you very much! I was invited by my friend & fellow photographer Tina Remiz to accompany her on the workshop. We originally met on Redeye's Lightbox 2 workshop where we worked together in a group to produce an exhibition for Look13 festival. The theme of the show was Fictional Narratives within which we both tested photography's ability to both tell truths and lies. The workshop that she pitched was in teaching Documentary Storytelling – a genre of photography that we are both invested in. 

Did you plan for the kind of project you wanted to shoot before you arrived? 

I didn't prepare at all. In the months leading up to it I spent a lot of time writing up plans of what I should be researching – time that I should have spent reading instead of making up lists. However, this lack of preparation turned out to be the main crux of the work and actually worked in my advantage. In between workshop and tutorial times I would leave the complex that we were staying at and head into Nerekhta – seeing and experiencing everything for the first time. I started photographing with the intention of creating a fairly objective document of the village, but quickly began to realise that the work was about my naïve experience as a Westerner in an Eastern country that I had very little knowledge of. 

The project is a combination of portraiture, documentary and landscape. What were your intentions in choosing these different photographic approaches?

Since the whole experience of an Eastern village was new to me, I wanted to explore all facets of it. The people, their activities and their environments is largely alien to me. The differing approaches help me to compare and contrast each of these to the experience of my home. On the first day I started out with much of the same style that I had been shooting in Trick or Treat, wandering the streets and photographing people at a distance. This didn't seem enough though, I started to feel too comfortable, which didn't feel right. I therefore started to approach people that I met on the street and ask to take their portrait. My broken Russian was pretty entertaining for the locals to hear, which more often than not loosened them up.

You were in Russia for 2 weeks, which is a fairly short time to execute such a well rounded body of work. Did the 2 weeks feel adequate enough for you to achieve everything you wanted?

 Thank you for the compliments! I personally don't think that it's anywhere near completed. I think it's a good start, but needs investigating much further. I don't know at this point whether I should continue by visiting other areas of Russia, or whether I should keep it focused on Nerekhta. If/when I go back, I want to push myself even further by trying to befriend some of the locals, hopefully being invited into their homes.

Did you at all feel daunted being in a completely different place, or did the culture shock and the uncertainty push you photographically?

Travelling to Nerekhta from Manchester was incredibly daunting as I went alone, meeting Tina there. I arrived in Moscow not being able to read a single thing due to their different alphabet, although luckily it was arranged that I met a lovely guy called Sasha there whom would guide me around for the day. After this, I hopped on a five hour sleeper train that took me through the night to Nerekhta. When we arrived, I fell into four foot of snow and was greeted by two people who couldn't speak English and jumped into a taxi that was lit up like a disco with neon lights. By this point, I had become slightly overwhelmed by it all.

However, I went to bed, woke up the next morning and Tina was there to translate for me. The rest of the time was incredibly relaxed and I found it pretty easy to fit in and pick up a small amount of Russian. 

Is there any image that holds a particular significance to you?

The image taken outside of the grocery shop of the two ladies stood very close together is one that I can look at over and over. In Russia, old ladies are known as Babooshkas and are also known for having interesting personalities. I saw this scene, took a few photographs and wandered off down the road for a while. About half an hour later I came back and they were still in exactly the same position. I think the lady closest to the wall must have severely annoyed the other lady in some way.

Lastly, what can we expect from you in the upcoming months and New Year?

In January I am going to be leaving Manchester to study a masters at LCC in Photojournalism & Documentary Photography in London. At this point, i'm unsure what my masters project is going to be based on as I want to keep an open mind for when I start the course. Currently though I am working on a few projects.

 Firstly, I am soon to be publishing a small-run zine called Use Me or Live in Filth. All of the photographs in this were commissioned by VICE for different events and articles, and I have edited the collection down into a set with a very different style to the original images – taking influence from Daido Moriyama & William Klein.

Secondly, I am continuing research for a long-form project based around chasing my family's history in America. I have dual nationality, being both British and American, although I have never been over to the states. This is at very early stages though, so I won't go into much detail.

And finally, i've just started working on a project based around English archetypes. I became inspired by August Sander's attempts to document the whole of contemporary Germany in 1910 and onwards – although I have no intention of producing a scientific, representation of the whole of Britain's population. Instead I am using different archetypes as a tool to help me find the people I am going to photograph. Today, I received a call from a UFO Hunter that I emailed. He told me about how he has had M.E. ever since he was abducted by aliens. I'm pretty excited about the variation of people I am going to meet in this work.

View full project here

View more of Chris's work on his website 

Georgie Mason

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Brighton Photo Biennial: Stories seen through a glass plate

October marks the beginning of the Annual Photo Biennial in Brighton, with lots of exciting shows and brilliant work being shown. However, not all of the exhibitions take place in the seaside town itself. Stories seen through a glass plate is a stunning exhibition held in the town of Lewes just a short train ride outside Brighton. Running from the 4th of October until the 2nd of November. 

The exhibition itself revolves around the photography studio of Edward Reeves, rumoured to be one of the oldest continuously run family photo studios in the world! In 1855 Edward Reeves set up his studio in the sleepy town of Lewes, and ever since it has been passed down the generations and is now run by his great grandson Tom Reeves.

The studio boasts an incredible archive of approximately 100,000 glass plates taken by the first 3 generations, as well as 150,000 film and digital images taken by Tom in the last few decades. 

Stories seen through a glass plate incorporates these glass plates, which have been digitally copied. They have then been placed onto light boxes. There are 55 shops in the town taking part in the exhibition, each showing one or two images of what their shops looked like up to 150 years ago. An absolutely stunning nostalgic trail looking at the past of a historically rich sussex town. 

Jenkins and Stripp Newsagents, Station Street, Lewes 1953

Unveiling Lewes War Memorial, 1922

As well as the glass plates, Reeves studio will be holding an exhibition about the history of the shop.

4 Oct - 2 Nov. Thursday - Saturday 14:00 - 17:00

sunday 27th October 11:00 - 17:00

There is also an exhibition in the castle barbican Captured light: contemporary artists using early photographic practices Featuring Yaz Norris who we featured not too long ago. 

We'll be heading to Brighton shortly to bring you news of all the Biennial shows, but for now, if you're heading that way don't forget to make a short detour to Lewes! More info can be found on the Reeves exhibition site HERE 

All images © The Reeves archive/Reeves Family 

Hannah Rowsell 

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3rd preview from my new project, 3000 Miles & 10’000ft.  

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A new preview from Yiannis's new project! 

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A new preview from Route Member Yiannis Pelekanis, and his new body of work 3000 Miles & 10'000ft. We are really looking forward to seeing the final body of work in the near future as well as the book! Stay Routed for more info here and via his blog here

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We're loving this image of past featured photographer, and friend of Route, Wouter Van de Voorde, taken by the talented William Broadhurst. 

We suggest you all give William a follow! 

[routecollective]

New Work: 3000 miles & 10'000ft

Route member Yiannis Pelekanis has finally returned to London, and is now beginning to work through the images he shot throughout his trip away. We catch up with him to find out a bit more about his new project and what we can expect to see!

Here’s a sneak peek of what’s to come!

- Where were you traveling when you shot this project, and what is the project about?

Myself and my family set off from London at around 7am with the Land Rover fully packed ready for Dover. From Dover, we made our way to the South of France eventually reaching Turin, where our base camp was situated. I cant recall the town where we were based, as we only returned to shower, refuel and relax for a day in between each trip. 

The trip itself was a week long expedition through the Alps with ‘Alpine Rovers’, a company who specialise in overlanding convoy trips throughout the Alps, The Pyrenees and Turkey.   

I carry my camera most places, so when we booked the trip I knew straight away that my camera would come with me, I just had to work out how much film to take! I didn’t have any idea of what kind of project I wanted to create or what I wanted to explore, I guess the thought of the trip itself over excited me with the prospects of what I was going to see, I was blindsided in a way. 

From the development of the project during the trip, I noticed I was focusing more on the exploration and documentation of the temporary space that we as a group occupied. With such a broad topic to cover, I held no set goal with what I wanted to create. I didn’t want to constrain my observation - I wanted to just enjoy my freedom whilst travelling.

- Have you been on a trip like this before? 

I travelled to the South of France, to join an off-roading expedition convoy. This trip was a much more grounded and gentle affair, staying in chalets and not travelling all that far - it was a great experience, but miles away from what we were going to face during the latest trip.   

- What should we be expecting to see when you release the full project?

I honestly don’t know, this all depends on my final edit. I was spurred on by the excitement, the struggle and the unpredictable nature of the trip itself, which is what fundamentally drove my exploration during the trip, and I hope to communicate that through the body of work.     

- How long were you travelling for? Do you think it was long enough for what you wanted to get out of it?

We were traveling for about two weeks in total and as first timers, I couldn’t have physically and mentally handled anymore. Looking at the trip as a project, I would have loved to have another two or three weeks. But I will be travelling back to continue the project in the summer of 2016 - but hopefully a little bit more organised than this time!

- Did you have many preconceptions to what it would be like for you?

I knew it would be hard! Reading the equipment list and speaking to the organisers was a good heads up, but you can only prepare to an extent. I can’t drive, so my father drove the whole 3000 miles. We were driving on narrow roads that had been damaged by rock slides and avalanches. There were strong winds, and we were having to do reverse three point turns up hills, around hairpin bends and over sheer drops. Other than observing the often nerve-wracking manoeuvres, it was an amazing experience!

Although I knew it’d be hard, nothing could prepare us before going through it for the first time. Next time I’ll be much more organised and orchestrated with our preparation!

- For you, what was the hardest part of the experience? Is this evident within your images?

There wasn’t anything in particular that I found the hardest… it was a struggle at times as we had overpacked the Land Rover, and it was a pain building the tent every evening and taking it down again the next morning, but we will know what we need to pack and what wont be necessary next time we go! Looking back, although these elements may have affected my journey, I don’t think it affected the way I worked on the project at all.

- What made you choose the aesthetics of the project (i.e choice of black and white, film type etc)?

Before my most recent projects, all of my work was black and white. With this project, I took the bold move of only taking black and white with me, mainly because I didn’t want to be distracted by colour. I wanted the simplicity of working in black and white back - I’ve always preferred it.

- Do you think you explored the project fully, or are you planning a return trip?

I did as much as I feel I could have done within time I had, and with the amount of film that I had brought, but I will definitely be returning in the summer of 2016 so will be continuing then!

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Yiannis is in the process of ploughing through negatives to release this project, so hopefully soon we can see it for ourselves! He I also going through every bit of work he has. Stay Routed here and via his blog to see more! 

Georgia Perkin

StayRouted! 

[routecollective]

Royal Photographic Society 2014 Awards

Established in 1853, the Royal Photographic Society has grown into a prestigious platform for photographers and image-making artists to showcase their work on an international scale - helping them reach and surpass their potential. Here at Route Collective we stand by this very same principle. We may be a collective at heart, but the Stay Routed blog allows for a channel of communication to collaborate with, share and promote artists. 

The prestigious crest of each member symbolises the unity within the society and passion to create and showcase photographic work, and with all this hard work the photographers may reap the rewards. We are honoured to share the recipients of the 2014 Royal Photographic Society Awards. 

• Progress Medal and Honorary Fellowship:  Tim Webber

Tim has been described as the driving force behind the Framestore push into Digital Film and Television from 1988. Developing Framestore's virtual camera and motion rig systems, Webber has been guiding the company in new directions while supervising some of the most technically and artistically challenging projects.

These include the CG baby in Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men, Two-Face Harvey Dent in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, Spike Jonze’s highly original CG characters in Where the Wild Things Are, James Cameron’s incredible Avatar, and the Medusa in Louis Leterrier’s Clash of the Titans.

He was Warner Brothers’ VFX Supervisor on Alfonso Cuarón’s space thriller, Gravity, for which he won a VFX Bafta and Oscar. The groundbreaking techniques involved in the film were wholly realized by Tim and the Framestore team. You can find Tim's many interviews about the film here. In 2014 he was also named in the Sunday Times' 100 Makers of the 21st Century list.

(Awarded in recognition of any invention, research, publication or other contribution which has resulted in an important advance in the scientific or technological development of photography or imaging in the widest sense)

   • Centenary Medal:  Steve McCurry Hon FRPS

Steve McCurry needs no introduction - he has been one of the most iconic voices in contemporary photography for more than thirty years, with scores of magazine and book covers, over a dozen books, and countless exhibitions around the world. He is a prolific photographer and a wonderful speaker. His travels across the world led to some of the most iconic images, capturing and sharing stories of individuals, cultures and societies in imagery dense with emotion, place and identity. Photographer Sebastiao Salgado speaks of the space and place as a circle - Steve McCurry is always at the centre of that circle, capturing life from the inside and without prejudice.  

(Awarded in recognition of a sustained, significant contribution to the art of photography)

AFGHANISTAN. Pul i Khumri. 2002. Coal Miner smoking a cigarette.

• Hood Medal: James Balog

Founded in 2007 by James Balog, the Extreme Ice Survey (EIS) is an innovative, long-term photography project that merges art and science to give a “visual voice” to the planet’s changing ecosystems. EIS imagery preserves a visual legacy, providing a unique baseline—useful in years, decades and even centuries to come—for revealing how climate change and other human activity impacts the planet.

(Instituted in 1933 and awarded for a body of photographic work produced to promote or raise awareness of an aspect of public benefit or service.)

This phenomenal body work illustrates Earth's ever changing ecosystems and its effect on our landscape, allowing for the preservation of scientific data and ultimately providing a platform of information to grow, continuously answering and revealing how climate change and other human activity impacts the planet. Please head over to James Balog's site here to see more.  

• J Dudley Johnston Award: Dr David Campany

Dr David Campany has opened the minds of many, a renowned writer, curator and artist - he has had a massive impact on Photography, Cinema and Art.

Most of his work is centred around his incredible texts - his books include Art and Photography (2003), Photography and Cinema (2008), Jeff Wall: Picture for Women (2010), Gasoline (2013), Walker Evans: the magazine work (2014) and The Open Road: photographic road trips across America (2014). He also writes for Frieze, Aperture, Art Review, FOAM, Source and Tate magazine.

Recent curatorial projects include Lewis Baltz: Common Objects (Le Bal, Paris 2014), Walker Evans: magazine work (Foto Museum Antwerp 2014), Victor Burgin: A Sense of Place (Ambika P3 London, 2013), Mark Neville, Deeds Not Words (The Photographers’ Gallery London, 2013) and Anonymes: Unnamed America in Photography and Film (Le Bal Paris, 2010).

Campany has a Phd and is a reader in Photography at the University of Westminster (London) where he teaches at all levels in both photographic practice and theory.

(For sustained excellence or a single outstanding publication, in the field of photographic criticism or the history of photography.) 

• Vic Odden Award: Jon Tonks

His first book Empire was nominated by Martin Parr as one of the best books of 2013. For a notable achievement in the art of photography by a British photographer aged 35 or under.

Supporting text; 

Empire’ is a journey across the South Atlantic exploring life on four remote islands, British Overseas Territories, intertwined through history as relics of the once formidable British Empire.

Since 2007 I have voyaged to Ascension Island, Tristan da Cunha, the Falkland Islands and St Helena to photograph the people, landscapes and pockets of history embedded within each place. I spent up to a month at a time in each territory, travelling 60,000 miles around the Atlantic via military outposts, low-lit airstrips and long voyages aboard cargo ships, fishing vessels and the last working Royal Mail Ship.

Some 400 rolls of film, 24 flights and 32 days at sea later, the resulting work has been compiled to create an insight into places that remain part of modern British history.

This is a quarter bound hardback book with 188 pages, 80 colour images, plus additional illustrations and text. The print run is limited to 1000 copies, published by Dewi Lewis Publishing.

“This tour of remaining British territories, many of which are godforsaken outposts in the Atlantic, is a wonderful study of island life. A mixture of portraits and landscapes, together with the stories associated with the scenes, provide both an entertaining and rather melancholy take.”

- Martin Parr

To see the complete list of the 2014 Royal Photographic Society awards, visit their website here. 

Stay Routed for more news from the collective - our submission entry debut is swiftly approaching! Keep an eye on the blog as well as our Facebook and Twitter pages to keep up to date with all Route info!

© All images used are under copyright of the Photographer.

Stay Routed! 

Yiannis Pelekanis

[routecollective]

The FotoFilmic 14 Online Exhibition Preview

FotoFilmic have recently announced this year’s results for the FotoFilmic 2014 online exhibition. There is so much outstanding work here, so without delay here are the results of the top 5! 

Matthew Cronin | United States 1st PLACE BEAU PHOTO PRIZE & LOMOGRAPHY WINNER

Pascal Amoyel | France 2nd PLACE FOTOFILMIC PRIZE & LOMOGRAPHY WINNER

Barbara Diener | United States 3rd PLACE FOTOFILMIC PRIZE & LOMOGRAPHY WINNER

Ethan Jones | United States 4th PLACE LOMOGRAPHY & ADOX HONORABLE MENTION

Stijn Van Der Linden | Belgium 5th PLACE LOMOGRAPHY & ADOX HONORABLE MENTION

To see the complete list head over to the FotoFilmic site here

There is such an extraordinary amount of great work from these photographers - we found it so hard to pin point a favourite out of the 30 selected, but today my first choice is going to have to go to Ethan Jones and his amazing portrait from his project ‘Last Summer’. 

An extraordinary amount of great work from these photographers, its hard to pin point a favourite out of the 30 photographers that where selected, but my first choice today is going to have to go to Ethan Jones and his amazing portrait from his project 'Last Summer'.  

Supporting text; 

These are photographs of summer. In particular, I’m exploring how summer is a cultural creation based on dreams and idyllic memories that often have underlying imperfections. The pleasures of summer are now reconciled with sun over-exposure, erosion, bygone eras, and the impending winter. As time goes by and seasons change, anticipated celebration becomes melancholy, for summer is never as good as it used to be. The American Summer is still the reward earned for living the American Dream, but it is also an elaborate fiction. May, 2014

What drew me to this portrait initially was the fascinating mixture of emotion of the subjects, the young male standing tall protecting his sibling. Her eyes glisten with nervous tension whilst she clings on to her brother. The mixture of nervous discomfort and the warmth of the protective and loving male, creates a beautiful focal point within the image. His young age, together with the masculinity of his hat symbolises this strength within the image. 

I personally tend to gravitate towards the American style of documentary photography. Most of my book collection and personal inspirations are American - the likes William Eggleston, Stephen shore, Gary Winogrand, Joel Sternfeld and Joel Meyerowitz spring to mind. This image encompasses an element of this American style. 

Congratulations to all the photographers involved! We will be keeping an eye on you all, and thank you to fotofilmic for sharing some outstanding work. 

Stay Routed for more! 

Yiannis Pelekanis