War - Tim Hetherington

Tim Hetherington's work as a war photographer has recently come to the fore again partly as a result of the hard hitting BBC TV Series Once Upon a Time in Iraq (you can find it on iplayer although the series is still running at the time of writing).

Hetherington was one of a brave band of photojournalists who cover global conflict. Born in Birkenhead on Merseyside in 1970 he later read English at Oxford before inheriting £5K on his grandmother's death and spending it on travel in the far east. This time convinced him that he wanted to make images and he went on to study photography at night school. Later he studied photojournalism with Daniel Meadows and Colin Jaconbson before becoming the only staff photographer on The Big Issue.

He then spent nearly a decade documenting strife in West Africa and the impact it had on daily life. Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone were all in states of conflict during those years. After a spell with the UN he started to make trips with writer Sebastian Junger to Afghanistan for Vanity Fair. He won the award for the World Press Photograph of the Year in 2007 with the photograph reproduced below.

Hetherington and Junger were embedded with a single U.S. Army platoon (Second Platoon, B Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team) serving at a remote outpost in the Korengal Valley. They filmed the 2010 documentary film Restrepo there a film which clearly shows the ferocity of the fighting. At the time is was said to be the most dangerous posting with 25% casualties.

The film is online on various channels and I watched it recently on Chili for £2.49. 

Sadly Hethington was killed in Libya in 2011 covering the civil war amid indiscriminate shelling by Gadiffi's forces. He survived the initial wounds but died from a loss of blood later. He is buried in Brompton Cemetery.

If you are enjoying my Blogs then remember I will be publishing them less frequently from today (usually aiming for twice weekly). If you don't wish to miss any then you can fill in your email at the top right of this page and receive a notification whenever one is published. You can also unsubscribe at any time. I aim to cover a range of topics from revoiews and news to specific events in my own life as a photographer and I am always happy to hear the thoughts of others or suggestions for blogs from yourselves.

Reading the Landscape - Peter Heaton Review

Peter Heaton – Reading the Landscape

When Beverley Art Gallery re-opened in early July it did so with two new exhibitions, one a photography exhibition which I was asked to review by the Friends of Beverley Art Gallery for their newsletter.  This is what I wrote. The exhibition is open for some weeks yet. Let me know what

Peter Heaton is a professional photographer who studied at Nottingham Trent and Leeds Metropolitan Universities. His well established Vale of York Darkrooms in Stillington provide a base for his digital and traditional development courses.

This new exhibition at Beverley Art Gallery exhibits some of Heaton’s black and white landscapes taken whilst walking the Yorkshire Wolds. A lover of nature, inspired by writers such as Robert Macfarlane it is unsurprising that Heaton wishes to express his concerns, impressions and emotions beyond the photographs he takes. As Heaton identifies in his introductory notes to the photographs there are obvious limitations to their use as records. As John Berger rightly says in his essay

In order to overcome this perceived deficit Heaton experiments with overlaying words on the pictures themselves in an attempt to add a wider experience for the viewer. They appear in different scripts, sizes and transparencies. “

The photographs are lovely. Well crafted and composed. The words sometimes meaningful but sometimes more challenging to set against their backdrops. The idea is not new but uncommon and whether it works open to question. I found the words sometimes detracted from the images but that is the fun and fact of any artistic endeavour. It is up to you to visit and see for yourselves. It is certainly provoking and reminds us of the increasing fragility of our natural surroundings in these fragile times.

The exhibition is now open and good one way social distancing measures and tracking are in place.

Nigel Walker

* The John Berger quotation in my reveiw comes from Understanding the Photograph, a series of essays edited by Geoffrey Berger and originally published ( but now as a Penguin Cassic) in 2012.

The wood carver

In a small and anonymous town in Italy where I and three other photographers stopped for a coffee we found a curious little shop on the main road. It was small but stuffed with beautiful wood carvings.

The wood carver was welcoming and luckily spoke some English as our Italian had little in it that would have got us far in wood carving terms. He told us much that I won't repeat here but it included his preference to work with tools made in Sheffield where it appears his brother made (or maybe it was had made) steel and the array behind him was evidence of this attachment. He was garrulous and, while I do not want to use any stereotypes, as expressive with his hands and head movements as any Italian I have met.

As our visit drew to a close and we bought our examples and gifts to take home I asked if I may photograph him. He was happy with that and continued to talk while I snapped away for a couple of minutes. The light was great arriving as it did from the sunny street outside his workshop window lighting both him and the tools in the background. He didn't slow down and his movement, for me, adds to the portrait and my memory of him. My one regret is that I never asked his name. 

When we returned to our lodgings the owner knew the workshop. On my return to the UK I had a print made and sent it, via her, to him. Whether he ever received it or liked it I don't know...but if you ever go into a small town in Italy and see this photo on the wall of the local woodcarver you'll know where it came from :-)

Yes, but is it Art ?

It is almost two hundred years since the first photograph was made. Since then much has changed, both in process, technology and thinking about what a photograph is. Susan Sontag has considered the philosophy of the photograph ( "On Photography" 1971); John Berger has written extensively on the challenges of photography as an art critic ("Understanding a Photograph" -1978 and beyond) and many others have added thoughts, arguments and observations since on what photographs may achieve or be.

And of course they are many things to many people. They are holiday snaps and records of families. They are exaggerations to advertise and grow desire for objects. They are flattering portraits or memories of weddings. Pictures of pets and warnings about wars and other dangers. Still lives. Pornography. Illustrations for newsprint. What they are not, of course, is art. At least not uniformly. 

And yet some undoubtedly are. Some carry distinct messages and can communicate feelings and emotions in the same way that paintings can. They may use their technology to confuse or prompt some thought we may not otherwise have had. I have never advocated that all photographs are art but any medium that can be used to explore humanity and our psyche is always going to make the outcomes of these an artistic possibility. For me an important word to set alongside those words that are often used to describe art such as beauty, skill, imagination and feelings goes the word intention. Some photgraphers set out to use their skill and imagination to intentionally challenge us - and to me that makes those photographs art.

As photography has matured and become so many things it is worth stopping and thinking about the changes that have taken place and how cobjectivity has developed since the 1830's. Society and societal mores have altered considerably and it could be argued that photography has driven at least some of that - just consider the role of selfies...

Charlotte Cotton's book does this extremely competently and is well illustrated as a way of giving examples to the arguments. You probably won't agree with everything in here but that is not the point. The point is to think - and if you want to argue with her and cite some alternative views then please do. It is critical thinking and discussion that carries us forward. So - is it art ? You tell me ...

The Red Dress on tour

People who know my work will already have heard of The Red Dress and may have even seen the initial exhibition last year. In case you haven't it is a series of photographs which place a red dress in situations which range from the mundane to the threatening. In the exhibition and accompanying book I challenge people to find a picture that is striking to them and tell themselves the story behind it as they imagine it. I then ask them to consider why they thought that. The reason is that I would like people to think more about the position women occupy in the world today and consider whether they themselves consider equality and respect issues they consider sufficiently. Having two daughters and growing up during the second wave of feminism in the fifties and sixties this has become very important to me as a man.

The series continues to be photographed and probably will during the rest of my life. The Red Dress often accompanies me on trips out both in this country and abroad. I continue to read about and see ways in which women are severely disadvantaged and discriminated against and there are many ways in which women are given less respect than they deserve. These things are not always intentional. In some ways this makes it worse as it indicates a lack of thought.

This photograph was taken in Italy in an earthquake damaged house. The chair had been left there and the colours and darkness of the space appealed to me, especially the crumbling plaster and dark, negative space which seeps in from the left. The vines creeping in the window which invite you into the sunlight and the spotlight of sunshine illuminating the dress draped on the chair are all an invitation to make your own story about what has/is/about to happen here.

This picture has not yet appeared within the exhibition but may well do in the future. The company Exhibitours have taken on the show and it will eventually appear in smaller galleries around the UK although this year has, of course, been a challenge for all public exhibition spaces.

The book of the show, including an essay, can be viewed online here :-https://www.blurb.co.uk/b/9402176-the-red-dress 

If you would like to know more do email me :-)

Fan Ho

Ask a photographer to name a Chinese master of the art and Fan Ho is the name they are most likely to come up with. Many Chinese photographers are not well known in the West but Fan Ho was one who broke free and gained over 280 awards between 1956 and his death in 2016.

Born in Shanghai in 1931 he began taking photos on his father's Box Brownie and was largely self taught. By the age of fourteen his father had bought him a twin lense Rollieflex and he had learned to develop his pictures in the family bath tub. He used the same camera throught his career, working largely in mono.

The family moved to Hong Kong in 1949 and he made the city his own, prowling the markets and alleyways taking candid pictures of street vendors and children. As Hong Kong became a powerful metropolitan city he built a significant body of work. He was rewarded with Fellowships of photographic organisations across the world, including the Royal Photographic Society and the Royal Society of Arts in the UK. He was also named one of the top ten photographers in the world by the Photographic Society of America each year between 1958 and 1965. Later in life he also worked in film and served as a juror at a number of film festivals such was his reputation in this field as well.

In an interview two years before his death he said "As an artist I was only looking to express myself....I need to be touched emotionally to come up with meaningful works....My purpose is simple. I try not to waste my audience's time." 

The three photographs below are great examples of his use of light. The best way to quickly see some more of his notable pictures is this short You Tube presentation from Fotografia :-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJbBdu92Ky8 

A lovely thought - how a buyer followed up

A lovely thought

I was recently approached about a framed photograph someone had seen in an exhibition. They wanted to buy one for their newly decorated bedroom. We had a long discussion about the size etc and the purchaser was very clear that they did not want it framed as they had an idea of what they wished it to look like - which is all fine by me as I'm happy soemone likes a picture sufficiently to wish to buy it.

My printer, Visual Expressions -http://www.vefineart.co.uk/ made the print quickly and I delivered it. Often that is the end of the story and I never get to see the finished article or how it fits into the decor and room. 

Today however the picture ended up on the wall and I was delighted to receive a lovely message saying how delighted they were with the final placement. I have to say that the frame and photograph certainly suit the colour of the wall it is on. So thank you for letting me see it in situ.

It is always important when buying a picture that you have a sense of where it is going and how it will fit into those surroundings. Naturally you want to buy a picture that you like but the size and framing matter almost as much.

When I exhibit I often need to frame the pictures and the frames I use are a standard black. Whilst these usually work against the white walls in a gallery and with some space around them they are less likely to look as good in a domestic setting, especially if there is a dominant colour theme. Lately I have had some prints made on di-bond which can be mounted without frames. These have been very successful and can go almost anywhere.

So if you are buying a photograph think about where you want to place it and, if a framed version doesn't fit then buy a print and think about an unframed version. Talking to the photographer usually helps as it can make a difference to the print size and paper. 

Good framers will also be able to make recommendations. A framer that I often works with (and who is cheaper than most framing shops I know) always does a home visit and decides with the client what would work best.

I hope this helps next time you consider introducing a new photograph to your living quarters or office and thanks to this purchaser for following up with me. It was a lovely surprise.