Snaps - a weekend in Bath

New peepers - LASIK

So it's been a bit quiet here on the blog, that's because 7 days ago I went in to have laser surgery done on my eyes in attempt to correct the short sightedness (myopia) I've had since a young age. To say I thought long and hard about the operation would be only half the truth. When the technology started to be used in the mainstream about 10 years ago, I was interested and keen to have it done, however I felt the need to wait it out and too see what improvements would be made in the surgery. Fast forward to early 2010 and I end up having two conversations within a matter of weeks with people that lead very active lives and had recently had the operation themselves. A few weeks later I'd booked myself in.

Going on the logic that the surgery is only as good as the surgeon I booked in with one of the UK's leading eye surgeons, Professor Dan Reinstein at the London Vision Clinic. The surgery went well, and it was a painless if not a completely odd experience, and if I were to sum it up in one banal phrase it would be like entering the twilight zone. It did feel slightly like a alien abduction and was in some ways a quite out of body experience. One week on my vision is perfect. I get tired, irritable and dry eyes if I spend too long in front of the computer, which is to be expected at this stage, but by and large everything's fine.

Some people told me it was too much of gamble what with my profession relying on my vision, and I partly agree with that, but I also felt that the benefits of successful surgery were worth the risks (and cost) - of course only time will tell. I've not had any epiphany moments yet with the vision and this is partly because I've been so busy with work (no sick days for the self employed) and the recovering is still ongoing and at times uncomfortable...but I shall keep you posted.

Thanks to Professor Reinstein for the image below, and Charlie for the image above...and for the post operative care =)

Stop43 - Against the digital economy bill

Things are getting close for the Digital Economy Bill to pass through parliament and into law with the flawed section 43 still unrevised. Check out stop43.org for more info and join the viral campaign.

Documentary: Don McCullin

Don McCullin from Jacqui Morris on Vimeo.

Really interesting piece on Don McCullin. One of the first books I ever saw of photography that really made me stop in my tracks and take note was one by Don McCullin. Although the man himself is very skeptical about the affect (or lack of) that his pictures ever had, I think it's impossible to measure the amount of influence and change in thinking that his work may of caused throughout the years. Pictures will never be the entire catalyst to causing change but instead an important and powerful method of telling a story, once they've done that there's is not a whole lot more the photographer can do as a messenger. In most cases the change has to then come from public opinion and dialogue.

Fashion shoot

Shot this last year for the fairtrade fashion label Miksani. Only just got round to posting it.

Portait: Ben Saunders, polar explorer

Spent today with the polar explorer Ben Saunders and his Expeditions Director, Andy Ward. Ben's about to embark on a very ambitious new polar expedition and flies out next week, I was very lucky to catch him today and take a few snaps as he was manically doing last minute packing for the trip. Fantastic guy who already achieved a lot (youngest and the third person in the world to reach the North Pole solo) but seems destined for even bigger and better things, you can read more about him here. Fantastic guy, incredibly friendly and welcoming, keep an eye out for him in the coming months.

iwantoneiwantoneiwantone...

Fujifilm obviously don't think film's dead (although you could say that a teeney little bit of vested interest in that side of things). This is their new camera which launched last year, it takes 120 or 220 film and shoot 6x6 or 6x7 format, you can see more about here and here

Podcast: Well 'Worth' a listen

Photo: Jonathan Worth

The other day I had one of those classic internet moments which starts with you finding a thread and following it, and all its strands. Next thing you know you're knee deep in open browser tabs and two hours have disappeared into a virtual vortex. Now I'm going to inflict it on you. I was checking in on a photographers website that I noticed about a year ago, a chap called Jonathan Worth, when I noticed a large number of news stories about a new experiment he was conducting, in conjunction with the US author Cory Doctorow. Basically Jonathan was planning to give away his image for free under a creative commons license, whilst also selling limited edition versions of the print. This experiment lead to an interesting series of events including him being made a fellow at Royal Society of Arts. Anyway rather than me tell you about it this piece by foto8 explains it all very well. What I really wanted to bring to your attention is a podcast he did recently on the future of photography and new ways of thinking, it's well worth a listen (see what I did there...). You can find it here

London town - polaroid

Another two shots from my inexplicable ongoing love affair with instant film. This is actually Fuji FP100C and B, so strictly speaking not Polaroid at all. Both shot on the EE100 special (below).

Random shot of the day

Snapped the other day whilst walking through a hospital college basement whilst on a job - don't worry they're not real...

Recent portrait: Zaid Al-Ali

Fascinating chap to meet Zaid Al-Ali, very intelligent guy doing a very important job, trying to rebuild Iraq's constitution. Bit of task to say the least. This was shot for Media in Cooperation and Transition, a German based NGO.

Adam - Rolleicord Portrait

Fellow photographer Mr Adam Patterson - photographed in the flat a a week or so ago with my new Rolleicord. Incidentally Adam's work on gang's and youth culture in south London is in tomorrow's Times Magazine, well worth checking out - you can see the relevant online article here.

Hanging on the telephone

The light was awesome today - can't wait for spring and then the long summer evenings....

PDN 30: The next Generation

America's Photo District News recently released their pick for this years 'PDN 30', their look at 30 emerging photographers. This year I was pleased to see a few familiar faces. To start with a good friend, Danfung Dennis, was finally recognized for some of the awesome work he's been doing. An interesting choice especially this year as Danfung stands poised to release his first feature length documentary - moving image, not stills. He's part of the new generation of photojournalist who uses multiple platforms and embraces new technology in order to tell old stories, that will always need to be told, in a new way. Been having some really interesting chats with him recently on where he thinks things are heading in terms of journalism and industry, he one of the few who's not thoroughly pesamistic but in fact actively shaping the curve itself.
Also amongst the PDN 30 was Ben Roberts who I was lucky enough to meet for the first time last week whilst down in Poole whilst researching a project. Ben's now based in the Bournemouth and splits his time teaching and shooting. Check out his work here

Another faced recognized was that of Thomas Prior. I've been an avid follower of Tom's blog the curving hip, the soothing shade for a while now. His images are unique and consistently stop me in my tracks and make me look closer. Well worth checking out his work.

You can see the rest of this year's PDN 30 here