31
December
2009

2010 On The Bookshelf


The collection of book tokens that I'm always grateful for at this time of year has been splashed out on the above. 'Wolf Hall', because I've seen it pop up on lists all over the place. 'Who Runs Ireland?' (I'll bet it's a bunch of morally corrupt self serving fat fucks) because Cooper is always worth a listen even when you don't agree with him. 'The Humbling' because it's Roth. 'Last Night In Twisted River' and 'A Fraction Of The Whole' were pressies from her good self; she knows me so well. 'Lush Life', because Price's Clockers is a modern masterpiece - he also wrote for the TV series 'The Wire'. 'Varjak Paw', well, I liked the cover.
I've just started 'The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest', the third part of Stieg Larsson's thrillogy. I also have Ethan Canin's 'America America' and 'The Behaviour Of Moths' by Poppy Adams to get through, though I have to admit that I'm struggling with 'Moths'.


30
December
2009

Books | 014 | Noah's Compass | Anne Tyler

Noah's Compass follows the struggles of Liam Pennywell, father to three grown daughters, as he comes to terms with changes in his life. The first major change is the loss of his job as a teacher, at his age he's not convinced he'll be able to find another position and he's also not entirely sure whether he wants to. As a result, the second major change in his circumstance is that he decides retirement might be possible but it will require that he downsizes to a more affordable apartment, which he does to the walk in ground floor of a complex in an area less residential than he's been used to. The third major change in Liam's life is the result of a break-in in the new apartment during which he's knocked unconscious and wakes up with no memory of the event. This loss affects him far more than the loss of his job or his previous home.

As with all of Tyler's most memorable characters things seem to happen to them rather than them making things happen, and it's how they deal with what life throws at them that makes them so interesting. They are as everyday and unexceptional as you would expect people to be, but within each of them she finds universal truths around which she spins tales of hope. Her keen sense of observation, insightful compassion and gently wry humour breathe life into lost souls looking for their place in the world.

Wonderful.


30
December
2009

Books | 013 | Shutter Island | Dennis Lehane

Shutter Island is a fast paced tale of mystery set in a psychiatric asylum for murderers on an island during a storm. I know, it all sounds a bit by-the-numbers, and it is in places, but as page turners go it does it's thing pretty well and can easily be read within a day or two.

The story takes place in the mid 1950s, two Marshalls - teddy and Chuck - are sent to the asylum on Shutter Island to investigate the disappearance of a female inmate just as a storm is closing in. Neither Marshall has worked with the other before and they are very different characters: Teddy is gruff and serious about his work, Chuck is the charming people person - typical buddies in the making stuff. As they go about there business questioning prison staff and inmates it becomes apparent things are not all they seem. Mind games, clues and red herrings litter the island, and when the storm finally arrives knocking out the power the inmates are let loose giving Teddy and Chuck opportunities to explore parts of the island they'd been denied.

Everything happens quickly and there's little let up in the pace which is just as well, because the trouble with stories like this is if you're given the chance to stop and think the twists that are possible from such a scenario become quite obvious. Then it becomes a case of watching how things play out, and rarely do they reach a satisfying conclusion - everything is either too pat, or has so many holes in it that it loses any logic.

Lehane has crafted an enjoyable and clever enough romp, although there are probably a few too many clues, cliches and turns of events that end up simplifying things, narrowing possibilities far too early to be really intriguing.


20
December
2009

2010 Projects | 02 | The Chair


This is the other project I've tentatively lined up for 2010: The Chair.

I've wanted to photograph people now for a long time, most of the photographers I admire primarily photograph people: Horst, Penn, Avedon, Ritts, Newton, amongst others, but also Salgado, Parr, Natchwey, Allard, though that's a different type of people photography.

What I'd like to do with this project is photograph people who turn up here as and when they do. Hopefully they'll have something about them that will add a unique dynamic to the image. I've no idea what will happen with this project to be honest, whether it'll work or fall away. So, this is another one to wait and see what happens.

If anyone wants to sit just drop me a line.


20
December
2009

2010 Projects | 01 | Parkland






I've done bugger all project work in 2009 for a number of reasons, most of them to do with laziness and feeling like I didn't want to take on any more after spending 2008 and a chunk of 2009 on Homeland & Coastland. I still haven't 'booked' them up either, with blurb.com, something I hope to remedy over the next few weeks if I can get my thumb out.

I haven't really taken many photographs since May, other than snaps of family, because I lost interest somewhat - perhaps because those two previous projects took more effort than I realised. I guess in part the fun of it all dies a bit when you devote a lot of time to a project. What started out as fun ideas to get me out of a photographic rut in 2007 became, over time, like a compulsive chore - the weekly grind of traveling the Dublin coastline and walking for hours on end was something I enjoyed but didn't necessarily look forward to. But they're done, well, as far as the taking of photos is concerned and at last I feel like doing something again.

So, Parkland is an idea I've been playing with. Industrial parks, public parks, car parks, business parks all have something different to say about how we use space. I like the idea of exploring that diversity of utilisation that is unified under the title 'park'. It has the variety that I enjoyed about Coastland, the variety of things to photograph - the Dublin coastline changing from urban to industrial to rural was very appealing. I think Parkland will give me the same chance to dip in and out of subject matter depending on what mood I'm in and what I feel like shooting on a given day.

We'll see how this goes.


14
December
2009

Bits & Bobs VI

Photographers
Elliott Wilcox was a finalist in the 2009 International Photo Awards, coming first in the non-pro Fine Art category - plenty there to keep you entertained. Chris Usher spent two years photographing the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and interviewing the residents of the Gulf Coast, powerful stuff. John Loomis does an about face and produces a yummy looking printed portfolio to go along with his adventures into the digital world - I like the bespoke USB stick too. Edward Burtynsky on TED talking about his work on oil, following it from the well to the engine. Tomas Leach is making a documentary on photographer Saul Leiter and is keeping a record of progress over on In No Great Hurry. Gary Fox is a freelance photojournalist from Dublin who's worked on projects in Lebanon and Syria. Jason Florio goes walkabout in some very interesting places - others would call them trouble-spots - with his camera and comes back with memorable images. Joao Pina has photographed Violence in Rio de Janeiro, War in Afghanistan, and Abortion in Portugal.

Youtubeness of Martin Parr, Nan Goldin, Richard Avedon, and some Lomo stuff.

Photography
The Visual Language of Herbert Matter is a documentary due out in the spring of 2010 which looks at the work of this Swiss born photographer, artist, designer and professor. In this article on Design Observer Jessica Helfand looks back on when she fell in love with photograms. Saw these beautiful wooden pinhole cameras from Zero Image a while back, a definite future purchase to be added to the growing list of photography equipment I'd like to play with. Of course the other extreme to luxury pinholeness would be 160 million pixels of beauty from Seitz Phototechnik in nice wide digital 6x17 format.

Flickr
Yeah, I know, you all have a love hate relationship with it. Me too, I'm on my third or fourth attempt to get it to retain my interest - I usually ditch my account after six months to a year and then after a further few months manage to get sucked back in. A long time ago I set up a group called The Citadel which is a home for a lot of imaginative photography, but my tastes moved on and then so did I; it's still worth a visit. Anyways, for anyone interested I've set up two new groups: The Photo Editor, which is where I'll be my usual grumpy self in choosing what I like for no other reason than I like it, and the other group is International Eye Witness which I hope will throw up some interesting documentary photographers - hopefully next year I'll get my thumb out and add a stand alone website to showcase the work of documentary photographers and the stories they want to tell.

Web Design
Google Insights gives you stats on how people are using search terms, tracking and charting them over time. Really like Tori's Eye for the way in which it presents animated recent tweets using javascript. I do like MostInspired's 5 Things To Ignore When Designing Websites, especially the bit about ignoring HTML - it's good to know what's possible, but if you design within your comfort zone you won't stretch yourself. A nice wee flash carousel app with lots of options from Oxylus. Cross browser testing from Adobe Labs, handy but it feels a bit clunky. Crowdsourcing and the real time web is up for discussion at digitalpopuli. WebDesignDev has ten apps for web designers that's worth checking out. Digital Times looks at the webnet from an Irish perspective. If you need a list of social media monitoring resources then there's a useful list of available sources here.

Design
To mark its 175th anniversary the Royal Institute of British Architects takes a look at architecture in film, from Metropolis to Bladerunner. Michael Lebowitz, CEO of Big Spaceship, takes note of those things to remember. Brandtwist present the argument against having a social media strategy (which is bollox) and for having a brand strategy (always a good idea). Which ties in quite neatly with Garrick Schmitt's thought's on brand experiences and advertising and Razorfish's annual study on how technology is changing the way consumers interact with brands. This is interesting: thirty conversations on design, and if you want to know what it takes to develop your creative talent you have to look at this. For a bit of inspiration it's worth popping along to Fuel Your Creativity for lots of articles, resources and tips.

Miscellaneous
Every year there are hundreds of challenges calling for books to be banned in the US, this page documents the challenges using Google maps. Robots, love them. If you thought the web was big, it's actually a lot bigger and deeper. Wikileaks, it's there to reinforce your big brother paranoia or to seek out the truth...or both.


10
December
2009

Books | 012 | The Reluctant Fundamentalist | Mohsin Hamid

The Reluctant Fundamentalist takes the form of a monologue by the main character, a young Pakistani man who gives up being a successful hot shot analyst in America to return home to Lahore. It's an intriguing book - part character study, part polemic, part love story, part confession - but I'm not sure the whole adds up to the sum of it's parts. It's certainly engaging, beautifully written in parts, and it pulls you quickly along with its one sided conversation - suitably littered with small asides and the chit chat meander of office gossip.

But it's also clunky in places, knocking you out of your stride and making you question how well the illusion will hold up. The most unsubtle cracks appear with the characters names - Changez (the main character), Erica (the American woman he falls for), Chris (her dead ex). Changez is a Muslim changed by the events of 9/11, and as a result wants to change the world. Erica, like America, is beautiful and exciting, but flawed. Chris is the Christ-like figure Erica can't abandon, her unyielding devotion to his memory blinding her to love. For me that's all a bit to simplistic, intrusive and mildly condescending. I just don't think this side of the story added anything substantial to the plot, and diluted what was already a simple and effective premise.

Much more satisfying is the change in Changez brought on by his education and work. Changez had been raised within a Pakistani family which holds a respected place in society, although far less wealthy than it had once been it the family is still proud and carries itself with a certain grace. Changez takes the opportunity to go to America, to excel at Princeton and be head-hunted by a firm that specializes in valuing failing companies. He finds the work easy, the benefits and rewards compelling, but ultimately unsatisfying - the love affair with Erica is merely the glitter of an unattainable bauble with which to accessorize his accomplishments. The parallels between Changez working for a corporation, one that systematically picks apart the carcasses of struggling companies for nuggets of profitability, is neatly contrasted with America's foreign policy. Changez's doubts and uncertainties strike a more resonant chord when they question how squeezing profits from the misfortune of others is morally justifiable.

That the novel was first published in 2007, and the world is a very different broken place today, gives credit to the author's ability to see where unchecked corporate avarice could lead. However, pointing out that greed and self-righteousness is wrong doesn't really make for a compelling (or new) argument unless constructive alternatives are put forth. In the end there's no substantial weight to the novel, and it pulls it's punches when it needs to pull the trigger.