Journeys

I'm thinking a lot about journeys and movement from, to and through at the moment. This is in part because I'm off to Iceland in September to take part in a group residency and I am reading lots about it, considering my role as an outsider coming in, why we travel, the idea of a place versus the reality, and all sorts of related things. It's also always a part of my week in this city where any journey takes an hour, where my studio is six miles from my home, where my friends are far flung (although drawing closer), where I have three roles and no permanent spot for any of them. 

Last week I made some of these lovely glitchey panoramas that are helping me look at time. It's a technique I've tried before, whether shared here or elsewhere. They are a quick offshoot of something still else that's bubbling in the back of my hard drive. Who knows whether it'll ever come to fruition? It's not about the destination after all...

Oh, and it's also about manipulating the side of a bus into something I think terribly pretty.

fauxlaroids

I love apps. I mean, I really really love them. I use them daily in my own work and I encourage photography workshop participants to explore them. Yes, I do know (in principle) how to work SLRs both D and otherwise (I used to shoot using the sunny-16 rule on a Russian rangefinder with a wonky winding mechanism and long-dead light meter batteries) and I even put in my time in a colour darkroom while at college (*shudder* *so much darkness, it was a long winter*). My Lightroom workflow suits me just fine and if you really demanded it I could take out all your wrinkles in Photoshop (but I won't, on principle). 

Apps are just another tool and I can't bear to read another article about the death of photography due to the iPhone. I love that they are limiting and limited and remove a few of the myriad of choices we are faced with as people and as creatives. Here's a current favourite - NOMO. It's free, and pops out a digital Instax, just like the ones that papered my teenage bedroom. It even 'develops' faster if you shake your phone (though we all know the real test would be if you stuck it under your armpit). Try it! It's fun! It's silly! It doesn't mean anything really!