This is the third (and most important) of a series of posts on the Hargreaves Review into copyright. See also: 1. Hargreaves Review: Fair Use and Fair Dealing 2. Hargreaves Review: Proposals for a Digital Copyright Exchange All non-specific references are to the main report document, Digital Opportunity. A Review of Intellectual Property and Growth [PDF]. References preceded by Econ. Impact are to Supporting Document EE. Economic Impact of Recomm … Read More
Hargreaves Review: Extended Collective Licensing and Orphan Works (via Action on Authors' Rights)
June 9, 2011Hargreaves Review: Proposals for a Digital Copyright Exchange (via Action on Authors' Rights)
June 9, 2011New work made for Paul Smith and Apple
March 15, 2011I have made some new work for a special collaboration between Paul Smith and Apple which can be seen here
Anything with a stripy Mini is one of mine, as are the moody colour groups. Below is one of the images used for a laptop case…
Still Life used for a laptop case for Apple © Nick Dunmur
Association of Photographers Awards 2011
March 1, 2011The Association of Photographers Call for Entries 2011 opens on the 21st March 2011
© Pete Thompson 2011
Manga Dreams by Anderson and Low
February 17, 2011An exhibition and book by Anderson and Low
The latest body of work by Jonathan Anderson and Edwin Low is a collection of what are ostensibly portraits, grouped together under the title ‘Manga Dreams’, but which offer up much more than one might expect from the genre.
At first sight one might be forgiven for perhaps not recognising the hand of Anderson & Low, who have been collaborating as artists since 1990, as the primary visual aesthetic is so different to previous work such as Champions and Athlete/Warrior. A second look, though, confirms that the familiar themes prevail – those of identity and the projection of identity through appearance – but there is more…more I think than in other work they have made and like the visual fabric of the imagery, the threads of the themes and context are tied delicately together, allowing the audience an opportunity to see much more.
We know manga today as embodied by Japanese comic books, drawn in a particular style, the characters presented with large eyes, small mouths, exuberant hairstyles and sometimes fantastical powers and often expressing exaggerated emotion. The roots of manga go back a long way though and it developed out of the ancient Japanese narrative art of story-telling through sequential images as practised by Toba Sojo, a painter and priest working in the 11th century and possessing a well-developed sense of whimsy. Such was his influence on the development of manga – which means ‘humorous pictures’ – that 18th century concertina-style books of humorous pictures were known as ‘Toba-e’ or ‘Toba pictures’.
Katsushika Hokusai, better known for his woodblock prints of Mount Fuji, also made these ‘humorous pictures’ and was the first artist to use the word ‘manga’.
Anderson & Low’s work can be seen to be a fascinating exploration of an ancient visual culture but what makes the work more interesting though, is the very contemporary context in which the characters in the images sit. The last ten years has seen a radical change in global culture and social behaviour due primarily to the digital revolution heralded by the invention of the internet and encompassing the now huge online world and blurring the boundaries between the tangible and the intangible. As Anderson & Low say, this is perhaps the first time for 75 years that a visual art form has influenced such a change in popular culture where previously music has been the catalyst for new trends.
Never before has it been so easy to reinvent oneself, to create a digital version of ourselves, an avatar that can be free from the vulnerabilities and insecurities that make us human, but Manga Dreams takes this further for these characters are not the creation of software but are hard-wired humans living real lives. That is the most unnerving element of the work, reinforced by the physical scale of the pictures on the wall and the clarity of the prints.
Escapism is easy and digital environments and technologies make it so real. Our social interaction is as much, if not more, online and more and more people experience difficulty in distinguishing between the two. Witness recent court cases concerning the destruction of online avatars and love affairs between online personae causing real-world misery and divorce. The boundaries are so blurred in some cases that people cannot tell the difference anymore.
Historically, youth culture in the East has looked westwards for the inspiration and assimilation of ideas, music, clothes and identity but Manga Dreams shows us that this is a very different process – youth cultures in both the East and West are, for the first time, drawing on Eastern culture. This is Asian youth power manifesting itself through manga.
The work itself was first conceived as an idea in 2004 as a result of a trip to East Asia where Anderson & Low witnessed the metamorphosis of shopping malls from retail centres to apparent fantasy worlds populated by huge numbers of people of a range of ages, dressed and coiffured in the manga-style across the spectrum of intensity. This was the unnerving element – everyone appeared to have been touched in some way by manga to some extent and the more one looked the more one saw. Manga was everywhere.
Untitled (Forest Defender) © Anderson & Low. All Rights Reserved
Out of a lengthy process of pre-visualisation, the work gradually took shape and, interestingly, originally included many more visual elements than are present in the final works. The process of making the pictures and photographing caused Anderson & Low to re-evaluate and simplify their initial approach, removing much of what they had initially conceptualised. Anderson & Low became aware that the original concept of setting the manga characters in a tableau was obfuscating something; the notion that perhaps these subjects were no longer humans dressing up as manga characters but manga characters trying to become human. There is evidence in some of the pictures, such as Untitled (Forest Defender), of this more involved approach but this notion of ‘digital’ enabling the gap between real and imagined to be bridged is disturbing, both visually as presented in the work and intellectually in terms of where all this might take us…what is ‘real’ after all? An inevitable consequence of Anderson & Low’s approach and the resulting work is the question of what does and can constitute a photographic portrait for these are real people, not avatars; they are flesh and blood, not computer-generated and the tension between fiction and reality is no more apparent than in some of the more straightforward pictures where this sense of unease is arguably greater.
In the context of Anderson & Low’s substantial body of work, Manga Dreams might appear to sit less comfortably in the aesthetic for which they have become arguably best-known but it is important to observe that Chrysalis, the body of abstract work made prior to this, acts as a bridge between work such as Champions and Circus and Manga Dreams. This latest work could not exist without Chrysalis providing the catalyst for the shift in aesthetic; turn the kaleidoscope and Manga Dreams is realised.
It is testimony to the complexity of the themes that Anderson & Low continue to engage with and the ability with which they navigate these, that they can successfully shift their visual approach, creating work that seems so different yet, ultimately, still bears their hallmark. So much so perhaps, that already the National Gallery of Australia has acquired four pictures from the work and there is a further exhibition scheduled at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris in 2012.
The exhibition of Manga Dreams at Hamiltons Gallery (www.hamiltonsgallery.com) runs until the 5th March 2011 and has been hung and framed sensitively and with style by Tim Jefferies, the gallery’s owner. Anderson & Low decided to relinquish control of these important elements to Tim and their trust and faith have been well-placed and well-rewarded. The scale and quality of the exhibition prints allows one to be in no doubt that these are portraits of real people right down to every eyelash and skin pore.
This is a show you should see.
Manga Dreams, the book, is published by Lucky Panda Press £29.50 ISBN 978-0-9558997-2-0 (www.luckypandapress.com) and is distributed by Turnaround Publisher Services Ltd (www.turnaround-uk.com)
Anderson & Low’s work can also be seen at their website http://www.andersonandlow.com.
© Nick Dunmur – Jan 2011
Christmas 2009
December 28, 2009In case you were wondering, I wired up the tree myself. No retouching here!
Christmas 2009 © Nick Dunmur All Rights Reserved
It felt like autumn was here today…
October 10, 2009
Ambergate, Derbyshire October 10 2009 © Nick Dunmur
Shining Cliff Woods, Ambergate, Derbyshire October 10 2009 © Nick Dunmur
a couple of images from the Shining Cliff Woods, Ambergate, Derbyshire.
Why Royalty Free is a bad thing…
August 2, 2009
First of all, a definition and a little background; Royalty Free (RF) is a business model for the licensing and sale of material such as graphic art, photographic imagery and music which may be used for profit without paying royalties as the name suggests. This article will deal with photographic imagery, but the principles apply across the board. A one-off payment is made in order that the image in question can be used. The price of the image is usually based on file size and once purchased, the image can be used as many times you like in as many ways as you like with the one caveat that you may not resell the image itself. Photodisc were one of the first suppliers of imagery under the RF model, offering CD ‘collections’ of backgrounds and what we might term ‘clip art’.
Royalty Free – You Get What You Pay For
Sounds like a good deal, surely? Well, as in anything, you get what you pay for. The biggest problem with those early Photodisc collections was that every designer had the same set which meant the same images appeared all over the place. Now, though, the sheer volume of RF imagery available has reduced that risk, but it can and does happen and in some particularly noteworthy cases, with extremely embarrassing results;
In the summer of 2004, Dell and Gateway featured the same model and location (although not the identical shot, but from the same shoot) in their Back-To-School campaigns. Two companies in competition with each other using the ‘same’ image does not impress or convey an image of quality.
The same thing happened with Wanadoo and Cegetel, two French ISPs, who both used the same image as part of their campaigns for new business.
in both of these examples, the imagery has been used by competitors, but the situation could equally be products or services at the opposite ends of the spectrum. In the context of the internet as we know it today, it is far easier to be aware of these faux pas, as we all have greater access to information.
RF imagery is supplied for its broad appeal, and because a controlled vocabulary list is used to keyword the images, they turn up on the same searches time after time. RF is high volume and fast turnaround and that leads in turn, to an undermining of the value and worth of creative original photography. Because of the high volume nature of RF, often critical paperwork such as property and model-release is not sought and can leave the client with a far bigger bill afterwards.
The Rights Managed (RM) Model
Obviously, the best solution every time would be to commission original photography, but the realities of budgetary constraints and timescale may rule this out as an option. However, Rights Managed (RM) imagery offers a middle ground whereby the imagery is licensed on the basis of ‘use’ rather than ‘unit’.
Licensing this way offers a much better deal for both buyer and photographer and guarantees a level of integrity for the client which is missing in RF. The usage of the imagery can be defined exactly, and it could be that the cost is lower than that of RF.
In conclusion, RF offers the client no protection or originality and is sold much like any other commodity – that is, on the basis of ‘unit’.
RM on the other hand, protects both the client’s and the photographer’s interests and calculates the fee on the basis of ‘use’. Furthermore – and in complete contrast to RF – the fees for RM licencing are often negotiable. It can be the case that an RM licence fee is the SAME as an RF fee, AND you – the client – get something that is specific for your use with greater exclusivity.
Nick Dunmur June 2007
Polaroid is dead…long live Polaroid
August 1, 2009On August 29th 1946, Edwin Land filed patent no. 2435720 with the United States Patent Office. A little over two years later the first product was sold to the public. It has the distinction of being part of the small clique of products whos brand-name IS the product it describes – Hoover, Biro, Lino, more recently iPod and of course, the one I’m talking about – Polaroid.
Referring to it here in its generic form allows me to include Fuji’s instant-print material which is now, sadly, the only product available after Polaroid announced it would cease instant film production early this year in favour of digital product lines. The company lives on, but perhaps for many of us, the name has died with the product.
The collection of imagery that has been on show in the AoP Gallery represents a cross-section of not only members’ work (in the sense of a finished piece), but also work in progress. Polaroid, occupying the unique position it has, provides us both with an end-product as well as with a blueprint. Those of us who used Polaroid as part of our pre-digital working lives – which I’m guessing is most of us – had become well-versed apologists for its irregularities and idiosyncrasies – “Don’t worry, the colours’ll be brighter than that…” ( and the rest).
The thing is, in amongst the apologies and reassurances that all would be well in the final analysis, there were some amazing and unique pictures being produced…and often binned as we worked towards our nadir – the well-exposed transparency. I have kept a handful of polaroids from over the years when I worked with film – a few, like some in the show perhaps, were the result of a happy accident and had something that appealed to me, so I kept them.
In the September 2008 edition of ‘Image’ (the magazine of the AoP), some of the polaroids in the show were featured along with comments from their creators. Now the show has been up, some of my favourites are reproduced here. I’ve selected these purely on the basis of what’s caught my eye, not just on what’s most polaroid-like; sometimes it was the image itself, other times it was a combination of the ‘feel’ of the Polaroid plus the image. It’s hard to define but worth thinking about what exactly does pull a viewer to a particular piece.
© Rob Brimson
[Heather Brown - brown_Heather.jpg]
Rob Brimson’s image is an example of both those elements working together as is Heather Brown’s. The latter is arguably a mixed-media piece and relies more heavily on the material nature of Polaroid and the process. I think a big part of the appeal of polaroids – by which I mean the things themselves as much as the images on them – is the collectability, the jewel-like nature of them. Most polaroids will be small and this lends them perfectly to being used in notebooks, diaries and journals or just carried around in wallets and pockets. Every one a totally unique photograph.
A Polaroid is arguably the only kind of contemporary photograph that could come close to the unique singularity of a painting or drawing. Its reproducability is limited to it being scanned and reprinted. No two polaroids of the same scene will be exactly the same (as we well know); there are simply too many variables. I don’t think these attributes were necessarily considered a positive when Land conceived his invention, they were just a fact of the process, but at some point the aesthetic and interpretive qualities became a reason to use the material in its own right. Jobs were commissioned specifically on Polaroid material. There was a hey-day when Polaroid ‘lifts’, ‘emulsion transfers’ and manipulations were very popular but I think this period was actually quite short-lived. There wasn’t anything more that could be done with the techniques and they suited certain subjects only.
More interesting to me are the colours in Type 59 and the B/W negs from Type 55. I used these products a lot and have a dwindling stock of Type 55 which I still like shooting on; it really is a lovely emulsion and the beauty of getting an instant proof print of the negative is a quality matched only by the immediacy of digital capture. The ability to disappear into the middle of nowhere, carrying camera, tripod and a batch of Type 55 plus a sandwich box (with lid!) full of sodium sulfite solution meant one could shoot, proof and process all in the field. The only thing left to do was to wash and dry the negatives and produce the prints, although there was always something about the original polaroid print that drew me back to it. I can only imagine the thrill of working with the large 20×24 inch cameras and producing a series of photographs from them.
I think the vagaries in the process (colour and black & white) meant that the final Polaroid image was always outside our control. Granted, we could monitor time and temperature as exactly as possible, but usually, things would change from one to the next.
[Nick David - ND-4.jpg]
Nick David’s portrait is one of a series and one where the unpredictable nature of the medium has worked to his advantage. It’s part of the pleasure of working this way that something can happen to enrich the thought processes already underway or add to the concept. For me, that’s what’s missing in a digital workflow; the ability for influences beyond our control to have a bearing on our work and to shape it somehow.
© Claudia Eschborn
Claudia Eschborn’s two images of trees have a haunting stillness to them yet actually only have a few tones separating shadow and highlight and to my mind, they need one another to work. They are very two-dimensional (something photographers tend to rail against) and are as much printwork as photograph. Maybe this is the crux of the appeal; that is the ability of Polaroid to move our perception and appreciation of the image into other areas outside of photography – is this piece an illustration, a printwork or a photograph? Of course, it doesn’t really matter which, but it makes us think a little more about what we create.
© Lorenzo Nencioni
Similarly, Lorenzo Nencioni’s photograph of bamboo almost looks like it has been made with a calligraphy brush and it is a truly beautiful picture – probably the only one that I would have on my wall (which says more about me than I might wish) – and one of the few where the Polaroid element is more obscure and less important in the appeal of the picture. For me, this image works regardless of whether it’s a Polaroid or not and also whether it’s a photograph or not.
© Paul Debois
© Simon Puschmann
The penultimate two I have picked out are examples of additional manipulation with the medium; a transfer and a manipulated SX70 print. I have seen lots of examples of these techniques and as I touched on earlier, sometimes technique over-rides everything else. These two are different, however, and I think that while I am less of a fan of the more manipulated approach – I do like these. Unlike the ‘happy accidents’ and variations in time and temperature which are unvisualised influences on the end result, the manipulations here are very deliberate and purposeful. Here, photography has made the transition to print-making or etching and because of the increased weight of the technique, the subject needs to be chosen carefully.
© Dan Kenyon
The last photograph I have chosen is the one from this set that looks least like a Polaroid – it could be a black & white image from a number of film types but it is quite simply a lovely portrait – enough said!
Polaroids bring out the collector in us, they are unique and unpredictable – everything that digital capture is not – but perhaps more importantly, the one thing that all Polaroids will have in common is a built-in frame; from the moment the print is ejected or peeled apart, there is a frame around the image and I think this is one of the main reasons why we are attracted to them. Framing confers importance through selection; why that view and not another. By including frames around our pictures from the moment they become visible we are encouraged to view them as finished pieces and while we might be able to replicate the effect of frames on a digital photograph, it will never be the same.
©Nick Dunmur October 2008 (This article first appeared in IMAGE magazine issue 397 October 2008)
