Untitled

Untitled is the title (heh, heh) of our upcoming exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art.

Very nice to finally have an exhibition, although I must admit I am feeling exhausted after the collective evaluations. I did not sleep properly in a long while; am now definitely in need of a vacation… But first the exhibition + helping the fourth year students with their examination exhibition!

Richard Avedon’s Light

Year ago I got pretty attached to Richard Avedon’s wonderful portraits. For some reason I got the impression that they were made in the studio and you got this beautiful light by careful arrangement of soft boxes:

Then I went to Arles and read there that he only used available light on location. Now, a classmate of mine, Niels, has been working on imitating this light. He tells me that you basically need the shadow of a tall building with the light coming from behind that building. And that’s it. You arrange your model there in the shadow, there will be plenty of light available, and you take the picture.

I must try this when I find the time.

I liked the exhibition at FOAM this spring but perhaps liked even more the one which was in Arles last summer – the colourful fashion photos with the skeletons in them.

Sini

I had a chance to visit an exhibition in the Finnish Museum of Photography. There were video installations by Sini Pelkki, a Finnish London-educated artist who mostly works with photography and video. She also happens to be my very first friend – we’ve known each other from practically babyhood.

I’m really not good at visiting exhibitions. If the mood is not right, I cannot concentrate and especially miss out on all the video / interactive thingies. Anyhow, I loved the mood of Sini’s work, but I had the feeling that I did not quite understand it.

Trent Parke Podcast

A Magnum podcast about one of my favourite photographers, Trent Parke.

In London there was a small Trent Parke exhibition recently; I loved seeing his work as large prints (they are so much more impressive that way). They also had his first book Dream/Life which I then tried to find to buy but it was impossible, it’s all sold out.