Friday 30 July 2010

Week 59: Tribute.

I've been feeling pretty playful with my photographic inspirations over the past week, and so I wish to post a playful blog entry.



This photograph is an obvious homage to "Milk". I'd like to think that my attention to detail is a product of studying Wall's work.

Song listening to right now: This Town ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us - The Sparks

Friday 23 July 2010

Week 58: Lucid.

Just as I (and the rest of the movie loving world) predicted, Inception was the best thing to come out of modern cinema for a number of years. The only thing that annoyed me about the film was myself. For years I have been thinking about metacognition (ironic). The state of thinking about thinking; realization of chain thoughts. I have been conjuring up ideas to show my thought development through essays and photography. Then late last year I thought to myself "What if I was doing this...whilst dreaming?" However, nothing came of it. So whilst watching Inception I could relate to everything. The film was literally a projection of my ideas on thought, dreaming, imagination and how layers/levels of brain signals build up. So it has become a re-inspiration to rekindle my concepts on cognative activity being connected to images.

Thanks.
Dan.



I took this photograph earlier this year. I have stated many descriptions of this image to people before but never told anyone what it specifically meant. It was actually a reinterpretation of a lucid dream I had. As most of you know, I have an attuned attention to detail within my photographs. Most objects in the photograph will be placed for a reason.

So from what I remember, in this dream I appeared to be in my kitchen, hungover and missing a leg. There was someone doing the washing up, but I couldn't tell who it was and they just wouldn't turn round. I started to shout at him and tried to make him indentify himself but it just wasn't working. I tried to get up but lost my balance due to being "hungover" and only having one leg. So I continued to shout and shout until my head started to hurt. This was the point of realization. I knew I was dreaming except... nothing happened. I thought I would wake up or the dream would drastically change. I knew I was dreaming and I now had complete control over myself, I could do anything. I grabbed the pole of a tall lampshade (may not have actually been a lampshade, a bit hazy on that one) to pull myself up. I then manuevered myself around the kitchen to the figure at the sink and forced him to turn around.

That's all I can remember I think. Straight after I woke up, I jotted it all down because I had never experienced such a control over my mind before. Such a short instant of time within my dream would have been even shorter in real time. Since this was such a short moment, an instant. I thought the best way to express this to people would be in a photograph. However it didn't matter how long I had control for, the main thing was that I actually managed to keep under control.

Realization is to make something real, and this photograph was the moment I realized that I was dreaming. My concious infected my subconcsious and overrided it.

Song listening to right now: Patience - Guns N' Roses

Wednesday 14 July 2010

Week 57: Residence.

This week has been full of changes. Changes that mainly reside in my mind. However, soon I am going to change where I reside myself.

D.



This photograph was part of a narrative involving ideas surrounding the frame. Thinking about it I feel that by residence in Nottingham was a frame in itself, it held me in and pictured me as a photographer.


Song listening to right now: Leper Messiah - Metallica

Wednesday 7 July 2010

Week 56: Advice.

An interesting week, something to think about. I've been looking purely at people's masks. Different masks. Make-up, ego, money, clothes and even phatic communication. It's the norm to wear a mask so don't worry about a thing.

Apart from trivial aspects of life, matters of peace and war have also had me thinking. I recently listened to a show on Radio 2 at around midday, which included an interview with 80 year old ex-Labour MP Tony Benn. Concerning my political views I've never been that public on which way I actually swing. However, this interview concerned his view on the youth and after hearing Benn talk about it, I really felt he had the correct view on my generation. So I'm going to do something that is very unorthadox of me and post an excerpt from the radio show:

"What interests me the most about the younger generation, is that they are the first generation in human history that have the technical power to destory the human race with chemical, nuclear and biological weapons. BUT they are also the first generation in human history that have the technology and the know-how and the money to solve the problems of the human race. And what choice will they take? And I think people of my age have to be very respectful when they talk to the young because I can't say that my generation made a big success of the world through which we lived, you know we had two world wars, 105 million people killed, dropped an atomic bomb and so on, so I think you have to address young people in a way that shows you recognise that they can do a better job than we did."

Also another quote that made me laugh with understandable joy:

"I think of myself as a geriatric juvenile"

You can listen to the show here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/jeremy-vine/

I think the show was probably the wisest advice I have heard in a long time from somebody I don't know. Check out his book as well (which I admit I haven't read yet) "Letters to My Grandchildren" because I'm sure that there is some rationality in it that affects everyone. There's also a lot in the interview about hard work and putting on faces. Also advice with love, friends and family that really hit home. I would seriously recommend listening to it, even if it's just on in the background. The interview starts about 30 minutes in.

Thank you.
D.



This is a photograph I took a few years ago of a girl from my generation, a friend, putting on a mask for nobody else apart from me, the photographer.

Song listening to right now: Lord of this World - Black Sabbath

Thursday 1 July 2010

Week 55: Colonialism II.

This week I noticed the importance of vibrant colours and different seasons of fashion. It made me feel more observant towards people's personalities. People enjoy summer weather and they enjoy the playfulness of fashion and styling.

Daniel.



This photograph was a studio shot from a collection of styling photos. It really shows the playfulness of such vibrant colours that can be fashionably linked to styles of time periods and cultural tradition.

Song listening to right now: Runaway - The Sensational Alex Harvey Band