Studio W|W

It has been an extremely busy week starting with a major shoot with a creative agency and another product shoot for Yé Teas, a new tea start up in Singapore, which I have been working with since the beginning of this year. I cannot believe that it is nearly October as this year has gone by rather quickly.

Looking back, it was a slightly slow start to 2016 after university ended and when real life began, full-time employment was inevitable. Circumstances did change and I went into part-time work whilst pushing for more commercial photography work. I launched my commercial website - Studio W|W where you can see my continued collaborations with designers, makers, up and coming creative companies etc. Would love to hear your feedback on the new site! 

On another note, do check out Turning Earth autumn sale today in east London. The poster is from an image I shot for Sayaka Namba ceramics earlier this year. I will be heading down around noon so hoping to catch up with a few makers and topping up my props collection!

Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2015

The winner for this year's Deutsche Borse Photography Prize was announced three days ago and the prize went to Mikhael Subotzky and Patrick Waterhouse for their publication, Ponte City (Steidl, 2014). I managed to view the exhibition a few weeks ago and went to their talk on the Wednesday that's just past. For this year's Deutsche Börse photography prize shortlist, it included the works of Viviane Sassen, Nikolai Bakharev and Zanele Muholi. When I first viewed the exhibition, Subotzky and Waterhouse's project had the most impact on me with their work but I was really moved by Zanele Muholi's series, Faces and Phases about the black LGBTI identity and politics in post-apartheid South Africa. Ponte City really stuck to me perhaps because of my architecture background.

"Ponte City depicts a 54-floor apartment block in Johannesburg which was built in 1976 for the white elite under apartheid rule. During the political transition in the 1980s and 90s, it became a refuge for black newcomers to the city and immigrants from all over Africa." (Guardian website)

This is a building that dominates Johannesburg skyline and is an icon of the city. Subotzky and Waterhouse spent six years from 2008-2014 documenting Ponte City. They started out by photographing people in the lift as that was the central core where people had to use to get in and out of the building. That was also their way of getting to know people living in the building. In their talk, Subotzky and Waterhouse mentioned that there were some suspicion from the people in their first encounter but they would then print the images after they photographed and delivered it to their apartment in person. This was their way into the lives of the people living there.

Ponte City floor plan (from Lindsay Bremner's blog)

One of the most interesting element of the project which I really enjoyed are the light boxes which was a recording of all the doors, windows and television set of every apartment within the building. The installation really works well and the viewer is like a voyeur looking into the lives of the people who lived there. This idea was inspired by a quote from Le Corbusier where he said that "the apertures of a building captures the spirit". Waterhouse had heard this quote somewhere before (but could not find it!) and it got them thinking about creating these light boxes which showed the apertures of the whole building, following the typology of Ponte city.

Windows, Doors, Televisions - three light boxes by Mikhael Subotzky & Patrick Waterhouse

Windows, Doors, Televisions (close up) by Mikhael Subotzky & Patrick Waterhouse

Looking up the Core, Ponte City, Johannesburg, 2008  

All images © Mikhael Subotzky / Patrick Waterhouse

Subotzky and Waterhouse's compilation of the found images, history and documentary photographs reveals the complex layers of Ponte City. This is a great project and one not to miss. The Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2015 exhibition, featuring work by all shortlisted artists is now on show at The Photographers' Gallery until the 7th of June. Do try to catch it!

For more reading: Lindsay Bremner wrote an essay 'Buildings are geological agents' on her blog, which was an accompanying piece for Ponte City's exhibition in Paris and is a great read!

“Stop trying to get it right,” she said. “Just take the picture.”

Just earlier this year, I discovered the work of Sally Mann (I know... I am just a little slower than others!) and really love the images she makes. Sally Mann works with antique view cameras to create her images. Below is one of my favourite photograph by her.

At Warm Springs (1991) from the series, Immediate Family by Sally Mann

Recently, Sally Mann had an article, Sally Mann's Exposure on The New York Times and it was a great piece in terms of content. To digress a little, what I found interesting was the way the article had some accompaniment of moving images done by Leslye Davies. These short video vignettes were a snippet into Sally Mann's life in Virginia. This article, in terms of the layout, is a portrayal of what the future of news and media is going to be like. For me, it is like Harry Potter's moving portraits of people within their picture frame. It makes them seem alive.

Leslye Davies wrote about her assignment to create those vignettes in a 'Story behind the story' article called 'A lesson from Sally Mann: 'Just take the picture'. I found it so incredibly interesting as Leslye recalled her moments whilst trying to capture Mann and how she told her to “Stop trying to get it right,” and “Just take the picture.”

Mann typically shoots with large format. One would think that the analogue way was to ensure that everything was set up as well as it should be in front of the camera before one would take the shot. For Mann, it was all about imperfections and as Leslye wrote, 'Hers is a sensibility that embraces mistakes' as opposed to herself who tries and 'avoid mistakes whilst on assignment for The New York Times'. Leslye shot digitally for this assignment and after Mann's words, she shot this image of Mann below.

Sally Mann by Leslye Davies

It is not often that you get to find out about what happens behind the scenes during a photography sitting. Definitely well worth a read.