Art

Mick's Photo Blog
  • Ray Tracing April 18, 2023
    In the early days of my use of the Internet, I used to dial into bulletin boards (BBS), from Japan to the West Coast. The ...
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  • Co-Evolution of Photography and Technology April 15, 2023
    Call me lazy, but I asked ChatGPT to write an essay on how, from the beginning, photography has been totally intertwined with technology. in fact, ...
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  • Criteria for Diagrammatic Truth April 4, 2023
    For one of my two finals dissertations at the University of Leeds (BA, Mathematics & Philosophy, 1972), I wrote about Nelson Goodman’s book ‘Languages of ...
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  • The Sublime – Melissa Merritt December 8, 2022
    In the world of art and photography, I have long had an interest in the concept of ‘the sublime’. For Burke, the sublime was an ...
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  • No More ‘isms’ April 8, 2021
    I’ve always quite enjoyed Grundberg, not least because of his rather dismissive views on Camera Lucida, and his early championing of Cindy Sherman. Ingrid and ...
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  • On the Sublime March 23, 2021
    The Sublime has long held fascination for me, as it applies to both landscapes and The Holocaust / Genocide. Adorno suggested that after Auschwitz, the ...
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  • Fine Art – Redux January 21, 2021
    A good friend of mine commented on my recent Fine Art post, and raised some excellent questions. Here are some thoughts that I penned as ...
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  • Florence Henri January 14, 2021
    Florence Henri (1893 – 1982) was born in New York, although she left the USA when she was two years old following her mother’s death. ...
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  • Fine Art January 12, 2021
    The Oxford Dictionary defines Fine Art as: 1. creative art, especially visual art whose products are to be appreciated primarily or solely for their imaginative, aesthetic, ...
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  • Emma and the Aristocrats January 5, 2021
    A very interesting conversation transpired in the RPS Distinctions **Official Group** on Facebook, January 4/5 2021, after I posted on G.A. (Emma) Barton (1872–1938) as part of my ...
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  • Intention and the Photographer December 22, 2020
    Intention is a critical factor in all photography – indeed, in all art. Let me illustrate. Historically, I have not considered landscape photography as central to ...
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  • Daido Moriyama – Farewell Photography August 10, 2020
    The Japanese photography of the Provoke era has always held fascination for me, as I love the directness and spontaneity. And Daido Moriyama is  a ...
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  • Adorno and Aesthetics July 26, 2020
    I have been reading Theodor Adorno of late, and in particular Brian O’Connor’s excellent introduction to his work. Here are a few of the many ...
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  • Top Ten Paintings April 23, 2020
    Rising to a Facebook challenge during lockdown, I am posting a ‘top ten’ of paintings which influenced me over the years, each with a few ...
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Final Major Project Posts
  • Photographs with Text August 14, 2019
    In my teens, I started painting and writing. Pop Art, Op Art, and the beginnings of Conceptual Art were everywhere. Psychedelia either added or confused ...
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  • Week Seven Reflections July 23, 2019
    Belated reflection, as we are enjoying a family holiday then a trip to Rencontres d’Arles to meet the Falmouth group. For many reasons, the Netherlands has ...
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  • Jae Emerling – Archives and Time July 1, 2019
    At Gary’s recommendation, I have been reading Jae Emerling, particularly on time and archives, as being highly appropriate for my FMP. Whilst I find Emerling’s style ...
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  • Practical Aesthetics June 24, 2019
    I have been continuing to look at the final processing of the infrared images, prompted by the PhotoBath curation team’s decision to include 4 of ...
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  • Beauty and Utility May 27, 2019
    This follows on my comments on Harmony and ‘Environmental Aesthetics‘, as well as the post on ‘What is Good‘. Perhaps my overriding point in those posts ...
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  • Prumsodun Ok May 25, 2019
    Modern day Cambodia is a complex mix of Buddhist beliefs, the harmony and order of naturism, animism and an increasing influence of Globalism and Western ...
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  • Environmental Aesthetics May 24, 2019
    I posted a short item on Facebook, as follows: Tea Okakura Kakuso, in his 1906 The Book of Tea, builds the case that a better understanding of ...
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  • What is ‘Truth’? May 23, 2019
    When we talk of a picture being ‘accurate’, we are using a variety of the concept of ‘truth’. Its meaning depends on the context that ...
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  • What is ‘Good’? May 18, 2019
    Sir William David Ross (1877 – 1971) was a Scottish philosopher who is known for his translations of Aristotle and his work in ethics. He developed a ...
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  • Leang Seckon – Art and History May 1, 2019
    Leang Seckon was born in Prey Veng Province in the early 1970s, and thus was a child during Khmer Rouge times. He graduated from the Royal ...
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Informing Contexts Posts
Positions & Practice Posts
  • 26 Vinyl Records May 23, 2018
    Ed Ruscha (1937 – ) created Twenty-Six Gasoline Stations in 1963, a small, self published book. Ruscha set in motion a new way to think about photography ...
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  • Theory in Practice – Wassily Kandinsky April 15, 2018
    The first purely abstract painting is generally recognised as Wassily Kandinsky‘s ‘Untitled – First abstraction‘ of 1910. This is in the header above. Kandinsky had been ...
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  • Faux Pas March 11, 2018
    I was at the so-called Leica ‘mothership’ in Wetzlar, a few months back, and was wandering around the campus. I noticed some really interesting plants, ...
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  • Three Images – Contexts & Disciplines February 7, 2018
    For this week’s webinar with Gary, we have been asked to consider the disciplines other than photography, and the critical contexts which are relevant to ...
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  • Joseph Wright of Derby February 7, 2018
    Several of my fellow students have noted painters such as Caravaggio and Rembrandt as inspirations, with their mastery of both light and compositions, delivering works ...
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  • Qs week 2 – 1st presentation – “Multiple media and Interdisciplinary practices” February 5, 2018
    Q: What does the moving image tell you about the still photographic image? The presentation did a great job in illustrating the similarities and differences of ...
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  • A Poet not a Logician February 3, 2018
    I am a rather ‘logical’ person. My BA is in Mathematics and Philosophy. I have an MSc in Consulting and Coaching for Change from HEC. ...
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  • Landscape January 25, 2018
    I have been studying the materials for Positions and Practices, and was quite taken with the chapter on Territorial Photography by Joel Snyder, in the ...
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Surfaces & Strategies Posts
  • Intimacy August 16, 2018
    ‘… all good photographers have a deep commitment to, and involvement with, their subjects, and through photography they are communicating their understanding and passion to ...
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  • Bookshelf July 14, 2018
    Given that books are a major part of our home and our (collective) way of life, this task was pretty easy to do. Go to a ...
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  • Cambodian Photography – Part 2 July 12, 2018
    As noted in the previous post, Cambodian photography is developing, though it’s clear that the hiatus of the Khmer Rouge years and subsequent Vietnamese administration ...
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  • Preciousness July 11, 2018
    Two things happened in the last 24 hours, which I would like to connect. First, I saw Sian Davey‘s guest lecture. Second, I had a conversation ...
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  • Cambodian Photography – Part 1 July 5, 2018
    Arguably, Dith Pran (1942 – 2008) is the most famous of Cambodian photographers. His story, working with foreign journalists, before the Khmer Rouge takeover, and subsequent ...
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  • Windows on the Hidden June 30, 2018
    I have found the last couple of weeks most enjoyable, exploring new kinds of imagery, both to learn new techniques and to consider ways of ...
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  • Documentary & Art June 29, 2018
    Had a very good webinar today with Cemre and Yas. Just want to jot my thoughts down here, not in any particular order. Cemre asked about ...
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  • Glitches – Because You Can June 26, 2018
    Been playing with Glitch Art. That’s when you take a digital image file, mess with the code, and get unexpected results. The header is from a ...
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  • Postcards June 25, 2018
    In Week Three Reflections, I noted some thoughts about how I might bring alive an installation / exhibition of the Cambodia project. That, pause being pushed ...
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  • Artificial Intelligence & Photography June 23, 2018
    It is hard to consider any photograph completely devoid of human intervention. Images taken on Mars are only possible because humans created the recording and ...
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  • Pop June 21, 2018
    I have been experimenting with some of the ‘traces’ work, not least as a couple of the images have been chosen for the PhotoBath exhibition ...
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  • The Morris Minor June 20, 2018
    Having re-visited the Day Before Christmas, I decided to look again at the Flickr archives. Towards the end of 2005, a group entitled ‘Manipulate This!’ was ...
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  • Collaboration & Participation June 19, 2018
    This module is dealing in detail with the issues of collaboration and participation. I am reading Claire Bishop‘s ‘Artificial Hells‘ in combination with the week’s recommend papers. I like the distinctions ...
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  • Appropriation June 10, 2018
    Top: Susan Meiselas (1979) The Molotov Man; Bottom: Joy Garnett (2003) Molotov from the series Riot The brief: Joy Garnett is known for her paintings inspired ...
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  • Ghosts, Traces & Stories June 9, 2018
    I am looking for ways to tell today’s story whilst also bringing yesterday’s in front of the viewer. Anyone who has visited a Genocide Museum, anywhere ...
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  • Vinyl Records and Photography June 7, 2018
    This book reads like a history of photography … Robert Frank, Dorothea Lange, Saul Leiter, Andy Warhol, Berenice Abbott, Herb Ritts, Jeff Wall, William Eggleston, W. Eugene ...
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  • 26 Vinyl Records May 23, 2018
    Ed Ruscha (1937 – ) created Twenty-Six Gasoline Stations in 1963, a small, self published book. Ruscha set in motion a new way to think about photography ...
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Sustainable Prospects Posts