tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91354746054841454012024-03-12T22:00:17.124-07:00Portrait of a street photographersince 1986Sean McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09662719942716704893noreply@blogger.comBlogger153125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9135474605484145401.post-27279985497482208492023-10-01T08:48:00.001-07:002023-10-30T09:49:54.990-07:00WE HAVE MOVED!<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Thanks for all your support.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Read all posts, old and new here</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.seanmcdonnell.com/street-photography-blog" target="_blank">https://www.seanmcdonnell.com/street-photography-blog</a></span></p><p><br /></p>Sean McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09662719942716704893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9135474605484145401.post-61212386234434956422022-08-27T10:15:00.041-07:002022-10-16T09:39:59.049-07:00talking pictures<blockquote style="border: medium none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p><span style="font-family: arial;">It was lovely to have the opportunity to talk about my work in front of a live audience as part of <a href="https://www.londonphotography.org.uk/upcoming/2022/06/28/members-day-and-flip-52-launch/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">London Independent Photography's Members Day</a>. It's been <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2011/09/life-class.html?m=0">a few years</a>!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This was the first time the event was held in a local satellite group so it seemed fitting to talk about my <a href="https://www.livinglockdown.co.uk/why" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Living Lockdown</a> project from the streets of Ealing. I wanted to show the impact the pandemic had brought to my work so it was nice to resurrect some of my <a href="https://www.seanmcdonnell.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">black and white photographs</a> from London's West End too.</span></p></blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: medium none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="285" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="////www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/key/zjltnEUONw57z9" style="border-width: 1px; border: 1px solid #ccc; margin-bottom: 5px; max-width: 100%;" width="350"> </iframe></blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: medium none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I brought some of <a href="https://www.stukeegan.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stuart Keegan</a>'s prints along too and it reminded me that there are many I never had scanned for the website. It would be great to find a way to do them justice!</span></p></blockquote><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The event was also the launch of the <a href="https://www.londonphotography.org.uk/magazine/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">latest fLIP magazine</a> where I've written a review of <i><a href="https://www.jonasbendiksen.com/books/the-book-of-veles" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Book of Veles</a></i> by Jonas Bendiksen. Its origins were in <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2022/01/flatter-to-deceive.html">a talk</a> I gave to my local group earlier this year and I enjoyed spending more time on reflecting on its cosequences for documentary photography.</span></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>As Bendiksen reflects, for him<span style="font-family: times;"> </span><i style="font-family: times;">documentary photography is photography which has the intention of being part of the conversation about us, us meaning us humans, and the situations we find ourselves in. The questions we're facing. The solutions that we're aspiring to. Documentary photography is photography that relates directly to those somehow. However you make it.<br /></i><br />It's a candid assessment and, in the light of his experience, a view worth listening to. Is this a natural evolution or heresy? Will the Book of Veles be seen as prophecy or prank? <br /><br />If we care about this form of photography, I suggest we keep paying attention</span>. <br /></span></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p>Sean McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09662719942716704893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9135474605484145401.post-14183100561295253882022-07-23T05:33:00.126-07:002022-08-14T11:11:08.594-07:00shadow of the sun<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">News of a sunny spell would have excited me <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2011/01/reluctant-flaneur.html?m=0">back in the day</a>. It was the essential ingredient and stimulation for my photography. </span></span><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Now it's a <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-day-earth.html?m=0">cause for anxiety</a>. </span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><img alt="Ealing Broadway" height="622" src="https://seanmcdonnell.com/images/work/blog/hottest-day-s.jpg" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial;" width="350" /></blockquote>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/52235143281/in/dateposted/" title="Refrigeration van outside shops"></a><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/52235143281/in/dateposted/" title="Refrigeration van outside shops"></a><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/52235143281/in/dateposted/" title="Refrigeration van outside shops"><img alt="Refrigeration van outside shops" height="197" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52235143281_6eda6b75b0_n.jpg" width="350" /></a></blockquote>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/52234160712/in/datetaken/" title="PXL_20220718_050949697~2"></a><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/52234160712/in/datetaken/" title="PXL_20220718_050949697~2"></a><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/52234160712/in/datetaken/" title="PXL_20220718_050949697~2"><img alt="Chalk sun" height="197" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52234160712_2b4d220b0b_n.jpg" width="350" /></a></blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There's a terrible irony that while this is happening the bigger fear is the cost of living crisis or, more to the point, the <a href="https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/cost-living-energy" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">cost of energy crisis</a> this winter. The short term solutions are <a href="https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy/news/energy-crisis-mess-causes-headache-for-coal-regions-transition/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">diverting attention</a> from addressing the climate crisis itself.</span> </p></blockquote>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/52235203271/in/dateposted/" title="PXL_20220720_044155272"></a><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/52235203271/in/dateposted/" title="Poster on bus stop"></a><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/52235203271/in/dateposted/" title="Poster on bus stop"><img alt="PXL_20220720_044155272" height="311" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52235203271_e83195a59d_n.jpg" width="175" /></a><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/52235215188/in/dateposted/" title="Bottles on waste bin"><img alt="Bottles on waste bin" height="311" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52235215188_4901005c52_n.jpg" width="175" /></a></blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">These pictures, taken back to back, seem to capture the moment.</span></p></blockquote><p><br /></p>
Sean McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09662719942716704893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9135474605484145401.post-31424930585739899202022-06-01T23:55:00.163-07:002022-08-14T09:26:10.008-07:00three become four<div style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Well what started as my <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2020/05/life-during-lockdown.html" rel="" target="">response to the pandemic</a> when it was novel and disruptive has, two years on, become a documentation of a place where it's been absorbed into daily live. It's inevitable, I suppose. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Quartets" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>Humankind cannot bear very much reality</i></a> is a quote I often recall. We're encouraged for political reasons to move on, yet the consequences still surround us and will do for years. Oh yes and <a href="https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/coronavirus--covid-19--cases" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">it still hasn't gone away</a>. </span></div><div style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">
<p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="197" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/718176929?h=8e9da4352e" title="vimeo-player" width="350"></iframe></p></div><div style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Selecting the images for the <a href="https://www.livinglockdown.co.uk/buy" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">fourth book</a> in my own quartet, prompted by the ending of final (?) restrictions in England <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-statement-at-covid-press-conference-21-february-2022" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">in February</a>, was an exercise in seeing the evolution of our experiences and attitudes over the period. Vaccination boosting was now a big theme, with the concomitant anti voices. Signs from the early days of lockdown became worn, leaving traces on walls and streets, laying down p</span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><span data-dobid="hdw">alimpsests</span></span> for the future. The echoes were in our heads too. </span></div><div style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The optimism of the autumn - and of the <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2021/05/season-two-on-catch-up.html?m=0">autumn before</a> - had been deflated by the threat of a new variant. See how we became medicalised, versed in the language of virology. The Greek chorus of newspaper headlines still provided a running commentary of the quotidian ebb and flow of public debate. </span></div><div style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/51725621917/in/album-72177720297048832" title="Newspaper on street"><img alt="Newspaper on street" height="263" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51725621917_99590e73c8_w.jpg" width="350" /></a></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Precipitously our attention has been immediately taken by news from eastern Europe. It adds to a sense of ongoing crisis, another cause to take up arms for. Ukrainian flags now appear in windows. The palette of the rainbows of lockdown reduced to blue and yellow. We know the routine. Fundraising for the frontline. However it isn't a simple binary exercise. The home front still needs attention and we just don't have the bandwidth of compassion for it. People's lives are </span><a href="https://www.livinglockdown.co.uk/why" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">still in crisis</a><span style="font-family: arial;">.</span> </blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"> </blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I'm still driven </span><a href="https://flic.kr/s/aHsmNqZhKD" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">to take photographs</a><span style="font-family: arial;">. It's a </span><a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2009/09/full-frame-uncropped.html" style="font-family: arial;">lifetime habit</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> but I find this particular work rewarding in other ways. There's a </span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/street2sean/" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">first page of history</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> buzz. This is a development of the theme for my pre-pandemic project, </span><a href="https://thephooks.com/products/new-europe-2015-19/" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank"><i>New Europe 2015-19</i></a><span style="font-family: arial;">, thinking about the wider political contexts that my images exist within. It's also still simply a way to engage with the world around. By definition it's superficial, on the surface, but that's the point. The street is a leveller, a common experience, and all the more valuable for that.</span></blockquote><div style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><div style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><br /></div></div>Sean McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09662719942716704893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9135474605484145401.post-60301232376265143662022-05-17T23:22:00.016-07:002022-06-09T22:31:58.629-07:00memory lane<blockquote style="border: medium none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">It felt significant to be in the Photographers Gallery visiting this year's <a href="https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/whats-on/deutsche-borse-photography-foundation-prize-2022" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Deutsche Borse</a> show. I last attended </span><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2020/03/more-distance-between-us.html">t</a><a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2020/03/more-distance-between-us.html">wo long years ago</a>, in the early weeks of the pandemic. It some ways everything was back to what it was, but I sense there is still an awareness of social space. Not quite the <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2020/05/life-skills.html">choerography of lockdown</a>, more a heightened politeness.</span></span> <br /><br /></blockquote><blockquote style="border: medium none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">It was a visit that prompted memories in another way too. I was particular interested to see </span><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><i><a href="https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/dbpfp22-gilles-peress" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Whatever You Say, Say Nothing</a> </i>by </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_Peress" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Gilles Peres</a>.</span></blockquote><blockquote style="border: medium none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Having spent my <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2019/12/a-cruel-beauty.html?m=0">childhood summer holidays</a> in Ireland, split between the north and west of the country, the images had a resonance as both reflections of experience but also representations of a reality that was not that long ago.</span> <br /> <br /></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: medium none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.com/images/work/blog/Gilles-Peres-1-s.jpg" target="_blank" title="Gilles Peres Exhibition"><img alt="Gilles-Peres at Deutsche Borse" height="197" src="https://seanmcdonnell.com/images/work/blog/Gilles-Peres-1-l.jpg" width="350" /></a></span></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />The arrangement of the room, the use of the walls of the space and one across the centre, accentuated the significance of that form in the narrative of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Troubles" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Troubles</a>, serving as a division, a hiding place, a canvas. The images were presented as excerpts from the structure of <a href="https://steidl.de/Books/Whatever-You-Say-Say-Nothing-1216314559.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the book</a>.of 22 fictional days. The text is woven into the display to create a richer, and more disturbing, experience.</span> </div></span></span></blockquote><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://seanmcdonnell.com/images/work/blog/Gilles-Peres-2-s.jpg" target="_blank" title="Gilles Peres Exhibition"><img alt="Gilles-Peres at Deutsche Borse" height="197" src="https://seanmcdonnell.com/images/work/blog/Gilles-Peres-2-l.jpg" width="350" /></a></div><div style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"> </div>
<blockquote style="border: medium none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
I also appreciated the production of the images, in an almost bllboard style. Another acknowledgement of the street roots of the work. Certainly not the preciousness of a <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2022/02/tale-of-two-cities.html">high end gallery</a> and another remider of an <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2019/09/time-bends.html">early show of my work</a>.</span><div style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div></span></blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;"><div style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It was good to be back.</span></div></span><br /><blockquote style="border: medium none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
</span></blockquote>Sean McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09662719942716704893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9135474605484145401.post-83336520317965861162022-04-11T13:13:00.001-07:002022-09-24T10:13:46.157-07:00a kind of homecoming<blockquote style="border: medium none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Honoured to have had the opportunity to review Kyun Ngui's zine <a href="https://www.kyun.photography/its-coming-home-zine" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>It's Coming Home</i></a> for the London Independent Photography group. It's overdue some publicity. </span></p><a href="https://www.kyun.photography/its-coming-home-zine" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank" title="It's Coming Home zine cover"><img alt="It's Coming Home zine cover" height="246" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b7d5e3b7c9327647b2fa9df/1637955603189-9EO2AHR16TDER2IF3T8W/Euro2020-Spreads-4-FInal-1.jpg" width="350" /></a><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I remember how impressed I was when Kyun originally introduced this to the <a href="https://www.ealinglondonphotography.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ealing group</a> as a fully formed project soon after the tournament ended. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The images fizz with atmosphere and...well, you'll have to buy <a href="https://www.londonphotography.org.uk/magazine/flip-51-dream-colour/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">fLIP</a> to read the rest!</span></p></blockquote>
<div><br /></div>Sean McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09662719942716704893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9135474605484145401.post-87810484914491550692022-04-02T22:33:00.195-07:002022-08-14T09:09:19.191-07:00terra firma<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p><span style="font-family: arial;">After so long at home, a short break away in Naples was a throwback to a <a href="https://thephooks.com/products/new-europe-2015-19/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">pre-pandemic time</a> for me. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Looking at the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/albums/72177720298160823" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">photographs now</a>, I can see the style of those days but </span><a href="https://www.livinglockdown.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: arial;">my recent project</span></a><span style="font-family: arial;"> has definitely left its mark too.</span></p></blockquote>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/52008944041/in/album-72177720298160823/" title="PXL_20220326_110348692"></a><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/52008944041/in/album-72177720298160823/" title="PXL_20220326_110348692"></a><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/52008944041/in/album-72177720298160823/" title="Naples street"></a><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/52008944041/in/album-72177720298160823/" title="PXL_20220326_110348692"></a><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/52008944041/in/album-72177720298160823/" title="Naples street"><img alt="Naples street" height="180" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52008944041_469aa05814_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/52007939042/in/album-72177720298160823/" title="Naples street"><img alt="Naples street" height="176" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52007939042_c15881d08a_n.jpg" width="99" /></a>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/52009508330/in/album-72177720298160823/" title="Naples street"><img alt="Naples street" height="176" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52009508330_2e6e4f7b22_n.jpg" width="99" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/52009508325/in/album-72177720298160823/" title="Naples street"><img alt="Naples street" height="176" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52009508325_aecd57bfb2_n.jpg" width="99" /></a> </blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><p>Significantly signs of the pandemic - apart from conscientious mask wearing - are few but responses to the latest crisis in Europe are evident.</p></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/52009216574/in/album-72177720298160823/" title="Naples graffiti"><img alt="Naples graffiti" height="180" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52009216574_0354125d87_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/52009028438/in/album-72177720298160823" title="Naples street"><img alt="Naples street" height="180" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52009028438_3b6a879766_n.jpg" width="320" /></a>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/52008977566/in/album-72177720298160823/" title="Naples street"><img alt="Naples street" height="180" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52008977566_23fb41e5d4_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So where's the black and white ones on film? Well it's another sign of my times. I did bring my camera but found my mobile - <a href="http://www.waysofwalking.net/new-london-street-photography.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">as I had a few years ago after a break</a> - has become my <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2010/01/single-lens-reflex.html?m=0">new extension</a>. The transplant is complete, <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2021/06/remember-this.html?m=0">almost</a>.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span> </p>Sean McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09662719942716704893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9135474605484145401.post-24634272128966974412022-03-06T10:55:00.003-08:002022-03-13T04:26:31.072-07:00rites of spring<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The first days of spring are bringing darker days, not lighter. The stress and struggle of the last two years have been put in context in an unimaginable way. </span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><img alt="West Ealing" height="622" src="https://seanmcdonnell.com/images/work/blog/west-ealing.jpg" width="350" /></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It brings me back abruptly to my </span><a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-past-and-other-foreign-countries.html?m=0" style="font-family: arial;">New Europe project</a><span style="font-family: arial;">. That project was borne of travelling to cities around Europe, freely. Of acknowledging London as a city of refugee and refugees.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"> <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.com/images/work/blog/London-Bridge-l.jpg" target="_blank" title="London Bridge"><img alt="London Bridge" height="197" src="https://seanmcdonnell.com/images/work/blog/London-Bridge.jpg" width="350" /></a></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">That also seems a distant memory right now.</span></p></blockquote><p> </p>Sean McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09662719942716704893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9135474605484145401.post-80748334312044196612022-03-03T07:52:00.050-08:002022-03-13T04:51:31.006-07:00nocturne number 2<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It's been a while since my <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2018/11/nocturne.html?m=0">last nocturnal walk</a> around the city. What was a first though, was joining a group of other photographers on the adventure. I've always felt a little superior to the pack approach, playing on the lone wolf stereotype, but this taught me not to be so precious. It was really interesting to look through other people's eyes on the same scenes when we shared our work with the wider LIP group. </span></p></blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"> <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.com/images/work/blog/Watling-Street-l.jpg" target="_blank" title="Watling Street"><img alt="Watling Street" height="263" src="https://seanmcdonnell.com/images/work/blog/Watling-Street.jpg" width="350" /></a></p></blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://seanmcdonnell.com/images/work/blog/Gough-Square-l.jpg" target="_blank" title="Gough Square"><img alt="Gough Square" height="263" src="https://seanmcdonnell.com/images/work/blog/Gough-Square.jpg" width="350" /></a></p></blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"> <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.com/images/work/blog/Ludgate-Circus-l.jpg" target="_blank" title="Ludgate Circus"><img alt="Ludgate Circus" height="263" src="https://seanmcdonnell.com/images/work/blog/Ludgate-Circus.jpg" width="350" /></a></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In addition the walk was well structured by <a href="https://www.ealinglondonphotography.co.uk/dan-dodman.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Dan Dodman</a> to reference points of historical note en route, so it brought together <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2018/04/dear-damned-deceptive-city.html?m=0">two of my passions</a>. The only downside to the evening was my failed attempt to pirouette some street furniture in the dark.</span> <span style="font-family: arial;">Ouch.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">My <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2020/01/snooker-not-slalom.html?m=0">slalom metaphor</a> suddenly seemed very apt.</span> </p></blockquote><p> </p>Sean McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09662719942716704893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9135474605484145401.post-45644096823767292602022-02-17T02:40:00.007-08:002022-03-13T04:24:49.261-07:00tale of two cities<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As restrictions in London ease it's wonderful to have the opportunity to see some photography in real life. Two shows caught my eye to mark my return. They were, guess what, a throwback to black and white work from the fifties and sixties, an era that first stimulated my passion for photography.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The location of the shows were in many ways the antithesis of their roots. Swish, exclusive art dealers in London's Mayfair district are a long way from<a href="Roy DeCarava" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> </a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_DeCarava">Roy DeCarava's</a> roots in Harlem and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ellen_Mark">Mary Ellen Mark's</a> work in Seattle. </span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I remember seeing Mary Ellen Mark's photography as part of a wonderful show in 2018 at the Barbican, <i><a href="https://www.barbican.org.uk/read-watch-listen/online-exhibition-tour-another-kind-of-life" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Another Kind of Life</a>. </i>There the context and stories of the participants were very much part of the experience. The way her work was displayed in <i><a href="https://huxleyparlour.com/exhibitions/alike-my-friends/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Alike, My Friends</a></i>, was strangely disconcerting. Stripped of any title alongside the image in such a body of humanist work felt wrong. Commoditised. Oh yes the titles could be found. In the price list.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><img alt="Burlington Gardens" height="479" src="https://seanmcdonnell.com/images/work/blog/Burlington-Gardens.jpg" width="350" /></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Walking past the Royal Academy and along New Bond Street my emotions were mixed. There was certainly an energy and buzz. Maybe it was the aftertaste. The haves and the have-nots have always been woven to form the fabric of London. However the latest iteration feel more monochrome.</span> </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So I was concerned entering the next show. I've held Roy DeCarava's work close to my heart for a long time. I remember buying a monograph in the old Photographers' Gallery bookshop on Great Newport Street when that was really the only place I knew to educate myself.</span> </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"> <img alt="Grafton Street" height="479" src="https://seanmcdonnell.com/images/work/blog/Grafton-Street.jpg" width="350" /></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It was a relief to enter the space at <a href="https://www.davidzwirner.com/exhibitions/2022/roy-decarava-selected-works" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">David Zwirner</a> and find the work presented so well. It's still a "selling" show but classy. It helped that the late afternoon winter sun gave an ambience and warmth that literally gave life to the work.</span> </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Faith restored.</span></p></blockquote><p> </p>Sean McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09662719942716704893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9135474605484145401.post-53000444092690599222022-02-12T10:04:00.013-08:002022-03-13T04:22:29.955-07:00shifting plates<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Well just adding this image to the page gave me a thrill. It's been a while.... </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"> <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.com/images/work/blog/contacts%2021_l.jpg" target="_blank" title="London Contact Sheet 2021"><img alt="London Contact Sheet 2021" height="413" src="https://seanmcdonnell.com/images/work/blog/contacts%2021_s.jpg" width="350" /></a></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Back last summer I, ironically of course, posted an image of <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2021/06/remember-this.html?m=0">an exposed roll of film</a>, the result of a wander around London's West End for the first time in a long time. Well </span><span style="font-family: arial;">plus ça </span><span style="font-family: arial;">change. True to form it's taken my usual <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2011/02/read-all-about-itman-gives-birth.html?m=0">gestation period</a> for the images to see the light of day again. </span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The style hasn't materially changed either. I've <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2009/09/full-frame-uncropped.html?m=0">written at length</a> about that and also how I'm at a <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2020/06/waking-up.html?m=0">point of reflection</a> now too, but it was good to just reconnect with those familiar streets. Nothing's fixed in time of course.</span> </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">They shift beneath my feet, now more than ever.</span></p></blockquote><p> </p>Sean McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09662719942716704893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9135474605484145401.post-64831865595329804202022-01-12T13:04:00.035-08:002022-02-16T00:40:51.414-08:00flatter to deceive<blockquote style="border: medium none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I first became aware of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonas_Bendiksen" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Jonas Bendiksen</a> in a photography show at the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20111004124851/http://www2.ealing.gov.uk/services/leisure/museums_and_galleries/pm_gallery_and_house/exhibitions/past_exhibitions/satellites.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">PM Gallery</a> when I remember being struck by an image from his <a href="https://www.jonasbendiksen.com/books/satellites" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Satellites project</a>. This was a classic piece of Magnum photojournalism: humanist stories, documented against a backdrop of political and social turmoil. It was fascinating to discover that he had used the reputation of his persona and of Magnum to create a fictional documentary project, <a href="https://www.jonasbendiksen.com/books/the-book-of-veles" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>The Book of Veles</i></a>, raising questions about authenticity, trust and the photography establishment.</span></p>It was a topic of interest for a number of us in my <a href="https://www.ealinglondonphotography.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">local photography group</a> so I put together a short talk. In retrospect it's a companion to one I gave over a year ago on <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2020/10/sacred-cows.html">ethics</a>. <br /></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: medium none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There are lots of <a href="https://www.magnumphotos.com/newsroom/society/book-veles-jonas-bendiksen-hoodwinked-photography-industry/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">sources</a> that describe <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/true-story-bogus-photos-people-fake-news/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the story</a> but I found Ben Smith's <a href="https://bensmithphoto.com/asmallvoice/jonas-bendiksen" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">interview</a> very interesting and well worth a listen.</span></p><blockquote style="border: medium none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="308" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/key/pF7wBV6XlY2t44" style="border-width: 1px; border: 1px solid #CCC; margin-bottom: 5px; max-width: 100%;" width="350"> </iframe></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p> </p><div style="margin-bottom: 5px;"> <b> <a href="//wwww.slideshare.net/streetsean/ealing-london-independent-photography-meeting-january-2021" target="_blank" title="Ealing London Independent Photography meeting - October 2020"></a> </b><b><a href="https://www.slideshare.net/streetsean" target="_blank"></a></b> </div>Sean McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09662719942716704893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9135474605484145401.post-80314401282148172052021-12-31T10:50:00.072-08:002022-01-03T14:59:48.961-08:00the pandemic, a photographic history<blockquote style="border: medium none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I've been fascinated by the creative output the pandemic has produced, in particular - and unsurprisingly - through photography zines, books and exhibitions. I've referenced <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2020/12/book-of-year.html">examples already</a> but wanted to draw some themes from the ones I've picked up along the way.<br /></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: medium none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It's also an opportunity to reflect on my <a href="https://www.livinglockdown.co.uk/" target="_blank">own response,</a> of course. We're at a significant point now in England. The national unity of the first wave of the pandemic feels a long time ago. We're approaching a new year better protected but with less confidence of getting back to normal<span style="font-size: small;"> t</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;">han last December. There's a creeping realisation that how we collectively learn to live with the pandemic comes next.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The images and texts in these zines and books are already historic. However for me it's as much about the motivation behind creating them as the actual content itself. They represent ways of using the act of making images and of distributing them to help deal with the situations thrust upon people, in a highly engaged way. Perhaps it's the act of turning documentary practices onto individuals and communities more cross-sectional than stereotyped. The consequences are not only a record of our times but place image making, of and by ourselves, at the centre of that record.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: medium none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The early days of lockdown initiated a number of <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=doorstep+lockdown+photography" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">"doorstep" projects</a> and one I really like is <i><a href="https://www.ciaraleeming.co.uk/personal-work/levy-lockdown-portraits/" target="_blank">Levy Lockdown Portraits</a></i> by <a href="https://www.ciaraleeming.co.uk/" target="_blank">Ciara Leeming</a> that she's now developed into a <a href="https://levylockdownproject.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">full participatory project</a> with her local community sharing experiences through stories and diairies as well as photography.</span><br /></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: medium none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.ciaraleeming.co.uk/outputs/books/" target="_blank" title="Levy Lockdown Portraits zine cover"><img alt="Levy Lockdown Portraits zine cover" height="259" src="http://waysofwalking.net/images/work/blog/Levy-Lockdown-Portraits-Ciara-Leeming-small.jpg" width="350" /></a></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Using photographs to stimulate personal narratives is also a feature of </span><i><a href="https://www.jaskirtboora.com/7960248-birmingham-lockdown-stories-book" rel="" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: arial;">Birmingham Lockdown Stories</span></a></i><span style="font-family: arial;"> by <a href="https://www.jaskirtboora.com/" target="_blank">Jaskirt Boora</a>. Here we move from the doorstep into locations of peoples' choice, which is a wonderful way of creating trust and representations of worth.</span></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.jaskirtboora.com/7960248-birmingham-lockdown-stories-book" target="_blank" title="Birmingham Lockdown Stories zine cover"><img alt="Birmingham Lockdown Stories zine cover" height="350" src="http://waysofwalking.net/images/work/blog/Birmingham-Lockdown-Stories-Jaskirt-Boora-small.jpg" width="288" /></a></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Another zine with the mission to "move beyond the doorstep" was published this year. </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://workhorsecollective.co.uk/werkhaus-zine/issue-2-still-life-2/" target="_blank">Still Life</a> by <a href="https://workhorsecollective.co.uk/" target="_blank">WorkHorse Collective</a> presents some innovative interprations of lockdown life with a mission to give a platform to people otherwise underpresented.</span></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://workhorsecollective.co.uk/werkhaus-zine/issue-2-still-life-2/" target="_blank" title="Werkhaus Still Lives zine cover"><img alt="Werkhaus Still Lives zine cover" height="259" src="http://waysofwalking.net/images/work/blog/Still-Life-Werkhaus-small.jpg" width="350" /></a></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Taking control of representation is also a feature of </span><i style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://mycameramytherapy.bigcartel.com/" target="_blank">My Camera My Therapy</a></i><span style="font-family: arial;"> by </span><a href="https://twitter.com/natalieball1984" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">Natalie Ball</a><span style="font-family: arial;">. Giving equal weight to the testimonials of photographers opposite their images in the zine is symbolic of their relationship with photography and the role it plays in their lives in lockdown.</span></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://mycameramytherapy.bigcartel.com/" target="_blank" title="My Camera My Therapy zine cover"><img alt="My Camera My Therapy zine coverr" height="350" src="http://waysofwalking.net/images/work/blog/My-Camera-My-Therapy-Natalie-Ball-small.jpg" width="256" /></a></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://paultreacy.com/" target="_blank">Paul Treacy</a> produced another of his wonderful handmade books and it was great to see it picked up by the BBC. </span><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-57819761" target="_blank">Pandemic Constitutional</a> </span></i><span style="font-family: arial;">is a soulmate of Natalie Ball's work</span><i> </i><span style="font-family: arial;">as a portrait of someone coming to terms with life with COVID</span><i>. </i><span style="font-family: arial;">I can certainly relate to the structure of the work, found pictures taken on walks around a local neighbourhood</span><i>, </i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;">but Paul's phrase 'sustaining creativity' is particularly striking.</span></span></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://paultreacy.com/paul_treacy_books.htm" target="_blank" title="Pandemic Constitutional book cover"><img alt="Pandemic Constitutional book cover" height="350" src="http://waysofwalking.net/images/work/blog/Pandemic-Constitutional-Paul-Treacy-small.jpg" width="282" /></a></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Two other personal collections of local life in the early months of the pandemic are </span><a href="http://www.wtgphoto.com/village-lockdown" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">Village Lockdown</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> by </span><a href="http://www.wtgphoto.com/" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">Robert Law</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> and </span><a href="https://keithosbornphotography.co.uk/lockdown-fakenham/" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">Lockdown Fakenham</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> by </span><a href="https://keithosbornphotography.co.uk/" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">Keith Osborn</a><span style="font-family: arial;">. It's fascinating to cross-reference the images that could be interchangeable in places.<br /></span><a href="http://www.wtgphoto.com/village-lockdown" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank" title="Village Lockdown zine cover"><img alt="Village Lockdown zine cover" height="266" src="http://waysofwalking.net/images/work/blog/Robert-Law-Village-Lockdown-small.jpg" width="275" /></a></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://keithosbornphotography.co.uk/product/lockdown-fakenham/" target="_blank" title="Lockdown Fakenham zine cover"><img alt="Lockdown Fakenham zine cover" height="284" src="http://waysofwalking.net/images/work/blog/Lockdown-Fakenham-Keith-Osborn-small.jpg" width="275" /></a></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">At this point I have to mention two collections of London lockdown photography. The </span><a href="https://www.londonphotography.org.uk/exhibitions/LIP32Annual/lockdown.php" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">LIP Chronicles</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> from the </span><a href="https://www.londonphotography.org.uk/" style="font-family: arial;">London Independent Photography</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> group I'm a member of. Produced on newsprint, images from group members are arranged across a weekly timeline from the announcement of the what became the first lockdown in England, reflecting a range of creative responses. Even looking back at it now sparks memories.</span></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.londonphotography.org.uk/exhibitions/LIP32Annual/lockdown.php" target="_blank" title="LIP Chronicles cover"><img alt="LIP Chronicles cover" height="244" src="http://waysofwalking.net/images/work/blog/LIP-Chronicles-small.jpg" width="350" /></a></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I must say the <a href="https://www.hoxtonminipress.com/products/london-in-lockdown" target="_blank">London in Lockdown</a> collection, published by <a href="https://www.hoxtonminipress.com/" target="_blank">Hoxton Mini Press</a> and introduced by </span></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jilke Goldbach presents a tremendous range of work. Chris Dorley-Brown's </span><a href="https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/chris-dorley-brown-london-during-lockdown-photography-170620" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">early morning cityscapes</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> I was familiar with and </span><a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2021/03/augmenting-realities.html" style="font-family: arial;">Jemima Yong's Field</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> too. However for me the variety of images in Spencer Murphy's </span><a href="https://spencermurphy.co.uk/project/strangedays/#0" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">Our Bullet Lives Blossom As They Race Towards The Wall</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> conveys the strangeness of those days perfectly.</span></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.hoxtonminipress.com/products/london-in-lockdown" target="_blank" title="London in Lockdown book cover"><img alt="London in Lockdown book cover" height="350" src="http://waysofwalking.net/images/work/blog/London-in-Lockdown-Hoxton-small.jpg" width="269" /></a></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Continuing the theme of compilation, perhaps what will become the official record of events <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/hold-still/" rel="" target="_blank">Hold Still </a>published by the <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/" target="_blank">National Portrait Gallery</a> is a survey of the nation taken from an open submission of portraits by people across the country. Raising money for Mind, it also generated a digital and an outdoor exhibition of the work across the country at the end of 2020. Looking at it now a year on it perhaps best captures what was characterised as the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8669361/Covid-19-brought-Britains-Blitz-spirit-scientists-say.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">blitz spirit of that period</a>.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/hold-still/" target="_blank" title="Hold Still book cover"><img alt="Hold Still book cover" height="350" src="http://waysofwalking.net/images/work/blog/Hold-Still-NPG-small.jpg" width="270" /></a></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A 180 degree view of that are posed by three very personal works. <span>A project I greatly admire and <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2020/12/book-of-year.html">wrote about last year</a> is good to reference here too. </span><span><a href="https://www.herepress.org/books-prints/amuleto/">Amuleto</a> by </span></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Francheska Melendez and Ben Roberts is a powerful synthesis of the pandemic in Spain and the Black Lives Matter movement. Eighteen months year on, the value of documenting that summer is so valuable as memories fade.<br /></span><a href="https://www.panos.co.uk/news/amuleto-by-ben-roberts-published-by-here-press/" target="_blank" title="Amuleto book cover"><img alt="Amuleto book cover" height="209" src="https://www.panos.co.uk/app/uploads/2020/10/BRB-Amuleto-1536x917.jpg" width="350" /></a></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Europe is also the setting of <a href="https://www.johnperivolaris.net/#/" target="_blank">John Perivolaris</a>'s </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.johnperivolaris.net/store/p4/Pandemicon_2020-2021.html#/" target="_blank">Pandemicon 2020-2021</a>, an odyssey from Scotland to Italy and Greece, made all the more poignant by its dedication to the death of his mother from COVID.</span><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.johnperivolaris.net/store/p4/Pandemicon_2020-2021.html#/" target="_blank" title="Pandemicon 2020-2021 book cover"><img alt="Pandemicon 2020-2021 book cover" height="266" src="http://waysofwalking.net/images/work/blog/Pandemicon-John-Perivolaris-small.jpg" width="350" /></a></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I've been intrigued by the idea of a box of prints and as an alternative to zines and books it was so good to see that approcah taken by <a href="https://www.tristanpoyser.com/index" target="_blank">Tristan Poyer</a> and his work <a href="https://tristanpoyser.photoshelter.com/gallery-collection/Masked-a-Portrait-of-Amazon/C0000Oe65HP3qWNQ" target="_blank">Masked: A Portrait of Amazon</a>. His rationale is best read directly. I couldn't do it justice by paraphrasing it. For me it's the best testimony of this period I've seen</span>.<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://tristanpoyser.photoshelter.com/gallery-collection/Masked-a-Portrait-of-Amazon/C0000Oe65HP3qWNQ" target="_blank" title="Masked: A Portrait of Amazon cover"><img alt="Masked: A Portrait of Amazon cover" height="350" src="http://waysofwalking.net/images/work/blog/Masked-Portrait-of-Amazon-Tristan-Poyser-small.jpg" width="263" /></a></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">For completeness I'm going to add two of the first publications I found at the start of the pandemic and mentioned last year, <a href="https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/insiderszine" target="_blank">Insiders</a> and <a href="https://www.limbomagazine.com/" target="_blank">Limbo</a>. Now in retrospect it's fascinating to see the work produced so early in the pandemic and that initial period of extreme isolation when many creative people found ways of expressing and supporting eachother.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/insiderszine" target="_blank" title="Insiders zine cover"><img alt="Insiders zine cover" height="350" src="http://waysofwalking.net/images/work/blog/Insiders-Liam-Basford-small.jpg" width="248" /></a></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.limbomagazine.com/" target="_blank" title="Limbo zine cover"><img alt="Limbo zine cover" height="350" src="http://waysofwalking.net/images/work/blog/Limbo-Francesca-Gavin-small.jpg" width="250" /></a></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I'd also like to mention a non-photographic work for the stimulation of its writing. <a href="https://www.londonsociety.org.uk/post/whenthisisallover-what-do-we-do-then" target="_blank">When This Is All Over</a> by <a href="https://www.londonsociety.org.uk/" target="_blank">The London Society</a> is a range of essays about the possibilities and opportunities of post-pandemic life in London. It actually does have a some fine images and illustrations so I think I can sneak it in to this selection ;)</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.londonsociety.org.uk/post/whenthisisallover-what-do-we-do-then" target="_blank" title="When This Is All Over cover"><img alt="When This Is All Over cover" height="350" src="http://waysofwalking.net/images/work/blog/When-This-Is-All-Over-London-Society-small.jpg" width="258" /></a></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And finally - for now - I'd like to include a work that's just been crowdfunded so I don't have it just yet but with the title <a href="https://emulsive.org/articles/photography-through-the-pandemic" target="_blank">Photography through the Pandemic</a> it's hard to resist. </span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hamishgill/photography-through-the-pandemic" target="_blank" title="Photography through the Pandemic cover"><img alt="When This Is All Over cover" height="197" src="https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/034/228/777/06858ec2f0cb8256cce1f362a8a3565d_original.jpeg?ixlib=rb-4.0.2&crop=faces&w=1552&h=873&fit=crop&v=1626440132&auto=format&frame=1&q=92&s=57fca609cb117ec3f5e12c0062726a57" width="350" /></a></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;">I do sometimes feel I should just "move on" from the fixation with the creative consequences of the pandemic. When I see work like this it gives me faith to stay the course. </span><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/albums/72157714444635211" target="_blank">A little longer.</a></span></p></blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"> </p><blockquote style="border: medium none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: medium none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hamishgill/photography-through-the-pandemic" target="_blank" title="Photography through the Pandemic cover"></a></span></p></blockquote></blockquote><p><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hamishgill/photography-through-the-pandemic" target="_blank"></a></p>
Sean McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09662719942716704893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9135474605484145401.post-66081839442737246122021-12-21T13:31:00.012-08:002021-12-30T08:11:45.012-08:00hour before dawn<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">That <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2020/12/here-comes-sun.html?m=0">time of the year</a> again
</span></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="197" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/659141913" title="vimeo-player" width="350"></iframe></p></blockquote><p> </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0d0600; font-family: arial;">Tomorrow, the days become longer.</span> </p></blockquote><p> </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"></blockquote>
Sean McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09662719942716704893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9135474605484145401.post-71606916600180789322021-11-29T05:14:00.005-08:002021-12-30T09:20:20.061-08:00long lockdown<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Reflecting on a <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/when-will-the-covid-19-pandemic-end" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">second year of COVID</a> it would be strange not to include the <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2021/08/five-storeys-high.html?m=0">five storeys high exhibition</a>. However the real highlights for me have been the impact on local community groups. This outreach work was part of our pitch for fundraising and for me in particular became a way to reconcile my initial unease with the project. Spending time with a group from Southall staring up at the front of Ealing police station felt like a way of squaring the circle.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The resulting workshop back in their space produced some poignant reflections on the impact of the pandemic on their lives.</span> <span style="font-family: arial;">I brought A4 versions of the photographs from the show to pick from and A4 paper so they could draw and write their responses. It was a privilege to hear the emotions and memories evoked by the photographs.</span> <span style="font-family: arial;">Afterwards, sharing their creativity with the photographers whose work was selected alongside the accompanying pieces, gave us all a moment to reflect for ourselves.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It also gave me momentum to develop a pop-up version of the exhibition to create a space in a community centre in another part of Ealing to share their experiences of the pandemic. </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://waysofwalking.net/images/work/blog/Ealing-Unlocked-Popup_large.jpg" target="_blank" title="Ealing Unlocked Popup"><img alt="Ealing Unlocked Popup" height="178" src="http://waysofwalking.net/images/work/blog/Ealing-Unlocked-Popup_small.jpg" width="350" /></a></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I spent time with people in a couple of drop-in sessions just listening and then talking about the idea of the show and encouraging them to bring their own photographs from the last eighteen months. The result was a unique display of photographs made by the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/thegrove.community/posts/3103271363224261" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Gurnell Grove community</a> during the pansemic on screen, presented alongside a mini version of Ealing Unlocked on foam board, ranged around the community centre. </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font face="arial">Collaborating in this way, to recognise the value and give a platform for people's images, was another fascinating way to leverage the original project to create something new and significant.</font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font face="arial">Can't wait to see what we can do next.</font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font face="arial"><br /></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font face="arial"><br /></font></p></blockquote>Sean McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09662719942716704893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9135474605484145401.post-63142088023140264822021-10-10T12:47:00.032-07:002021-12-30T08:13:10.492-08:00the other side of lockdown<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I'm writing this having just published my <a href="https://www.livinglockdown.co.uk/buy/p/living-lockdown-february-july-2021-book" rel="" target="_blank">third book of photographs</a> from the streets of Ealing over the last eighteen months. I'm anticipating - hoping? - it will be the last, having reached the end of the official restrictions, in England at least, back in July. However I think there's little belief that this is the end of the <a href="https://www.health.org.uk/what-we-do/a-healthier-uk-population/mobilising-action-for-healthy-lives/covid-19-impact-inquiry" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">impact on the mental and physical health</a> of a large part of the population and will be felt by generations to come.</span></span></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="197" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/634320038?h=6e24bf6b67" title="vimeo-player" width="350"></iframe></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">My motivation for documenting the symbols of these times as they unfolded was to find a way for me to comprehend the changes in our ways of living, working, even being. In a world where so much influence is attributed to social media, I've been struck by the intimacy of handwritten notes and signs. Shops have become time machines, fast-forwarding us into the future. Hairdressers going out of business, re-opening as COVID testing centres. Want to buy some shoes? How about an electric bike instead? Simultaneously we've been pulled back in time. Posters for cinema and theatre openings replaced by public information instructions. Take a Jab for Britain. Countered by Cold War cartoons on lamp posts, representing the resistance. The mask has become a touchpaper of division we'll live with for a long time.</span></span></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/50965632667/in/album-72157719711994033/" title="IMG_20210221_082534"><img alt="IMG_20210221_082534" height="263" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50965632667_a555f9c519_w.jpg" width="350" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">It's been positive to turn these sideways observations into something of tangible benefit for people directly impacted by the pandemic, through making a contribution to <a href="https://ealing.foodbank.org.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ealing Foodbank</a> from the book sales. It's now set me on a path of working with other members of <a href="https://www.ealinglondonphotography.co.uk/" target="_blank">Ealing LIP</a> to find ways to use photography to enable local community groups to express their own feelings about their experiences.<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial;">.</span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial;">I've also been taken by my pivot from a lifetime of pursuing <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.com/" target="_blank">a </a></span><a href="https://seanmcdonnell.com/" target="_blank">passion for black and white photography</a> on film<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial;"> of people on the streets of London's West End and other cities around the world, to a daily routine of using my mobile phone to record what I literally stumbled across on my morning runs around my local neighbourhood. So where does that leave me now, when I have the freedom to return to those streets? It's important to recognise the ideas and movements that have come to the fore in these febrile times. Rights of representation and the power of privilege are now impossible to ignore in everyday life and certainly in the practice of street photography. It's made me re-think carefully about my own </span><a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2020/06/waking-up.html?m=0" style="font-family: arial;">ways of working</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial;">.</span></p><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial;">On that note the range and brilliance of creative response to these time has been inspirational. I confess to having found it hard to resist buying <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2020/12/book-of-year.html?m=0">books</a> and zines, often for good causes, as well as attending fascinating <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2021/03/augmenting-realities.html?m=0">virtual exhibitions</a> and talks about peoples' ways of dealing with lockdown and loss. I'm proud to have been part of Ealing LIP's own contribution through the </span><a href="http://ealingphotogallery.co.uk/albums/FEFukc/unlocked-2021" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ealing Unlocked exhibition</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial;">. Platforms have been taken by marginalised voices and opportunities seized to innovate and share ideas with new audiences. I hope to see that the channels of production - as well as the work - will not be forgotten too.</span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"> <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/51011803947/in/album-72157719711994033/" style="font-family: arial;" title="IMG_20210307_082656"><img alt="IMG_20210307_082656" height="263" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51011803947_16407b5b0e_w.jpg" width="350" /></a></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial;">The pandemic has been a portent of the pace and impact of disruption that will become more common as we face the realities of social and climate disruption. Photography's response will inevitably draw upon its history of documenting, but I feel its tradition of activism will become more vital and t</span>hose shifts in the balances of power can be amongst the positive changes we can take through the other side of lockdown.</p></span></span></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div><p><br /></p><p> </p></div><p></p></div></blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p></p></blockquote></span></span></blockquote>Sean McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09662719942716704893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9135474605484145401.post-23997510121088896452021-09-04T02:21:00.001-07:002021-09-05T03:19:50.810-07:00five storeys high<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This year's group show of my <a href="https://www.ealinglondonphotography.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">local photography group</a> is literally a step up from <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2018/06/always-first-steps.html">my last one</a>. Taking over the front of a five storey police station sounds a pretty subversive exercise but this is being done with their cooperation and the support of a <a href="https://www.spacehive.com/ealingunlocked" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">great crowdfunding campaign</a>.</span></p></blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="197" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/598192504?h=b2e99b81e2" width="350"></iframe></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I confess to ambivalent feelings about the project. Initially I was intrigued if this would ever get off the ground (OK, the puns stop here) so getting involved in the fundraising has been a real education. It's understandably seen as a community relations exercise so for me the project has become an opportunity to engage local community groups in their experiences of lockdown and unlock (last one) some of their thoughts using the photographs as a starting point. Photography has become for me more and more a means to an end, the images themselves just <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2019/08/street-reverb.html?m=0">one point in the process</a>.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I'm really looking forward to working with people on these and continuing to try and make some sense of our times</span> <span style="font-family: arial;">using photographs. No pressure then.</span></p></blockquote><p><br /></p>
Sean McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09662719942716704893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9135474605484145401.post-15310095463013832102021-08-09T00:38:00.003-07:002022-01-01T07:03:27.905-08:00staycation fever<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A break in Scotland presented me with a opportunity to take some different kind of photographs. no it's not the landscape of glens and waterfalls. You can take the boy of the street but the streets are still...well you get the picture. Here's a series of snaps from a bedroom window. There's a lockdowny (word?) feel but it was the composition of the view and a sense of time passing that struck me.</span></p></blockquote>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/51425765221/in/album-72157719779669001/" title="Bus-stop-1"></a><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/51425765221/in/album-72157719779669001/" title="Bus-stop-1"></a><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/51425765221/in/album-72157719779669001/" title="Bus-stop-1"><img alt="Bus-stop-1" height="127" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51425765221_bb6a14992a_n.jpg" width="95" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/51426526689/in/album-72157719779669001/" title="Bus-stop-2"><img alt="Bus-stop-2" height="127" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51426526689_17148a7497_n.jpg" width="95" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/51426014583/in/album-72157719779669001/" title="Bus-stop-4"><img alt="Bus-stop-4" height="127" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51426014583_6fd4d55f78_n.jpg" width="95" /><br /></a><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/51425020242/in/album-72157719779669001/" title="Bus-stop-3"><img alt="Bus-stop-3" height="127" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51425020242_28979b6969_n.jpg" width="95" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/51426746700/in/album-72157719779669001/" title="Bus-stop-5"><img alt="Bus-stop-5" height="127" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51426746700_be1b88e77f_n.jpg" width="95" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/51426746660/in/album-72157719779669001/" title="Bus-stop-6"><img alt="Bus-stop-6" height="127" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51426746660_6d5977b251_n.jpg" width="95" /></a></blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the back of my mind I'm sure was the wonderful <a href="http://www.tomiyasuhayahisa.com/ttp/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>TTP</i> project</a> by Hayahisa Tomiyasu.</span></p></blockquote><p><br /></p>Sean McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09662719942716704893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9135474605484145401.post-50352395020747693592021-07-04T03:15:00.000-07:002021-09-05T06:06:29.136-07:00countdown to freedom<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Approaching the last weeks of the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-56594933" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">easing of lockdown</a> in England I have to be honest I have mixed emotions. The restrictions and fear people have had to contend with for so long are now coming to an end which is great news. It also means - be definition - the end of my project which I have so enjoyed. It's been both a journey around my neighbourhood but also one where I've had to think hard about the photographs I make, <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2009/08/?m=0">the why and the how</a>.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It's an opportunity make a final visit to the areas of Ealing I've been a regular visitor to over the last seventeen months, From Southall to Acton, Greenford to Pitshanger and all points in between. The motivation to publish <a href="https://www.livinglockdown.co.uk/buy" target="_blank">the books</a> is still to raise money for Ealing Foodbank but they've also become a great way for me to reflect on these strange times with a humble <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Graham#:~:text=%22First%20rough%20draft%20of%20history%22,-In%20April%201963&text=It%20had%20been%20used%20repeatedly,decade%20of%20the%2020th%20century." rel="nofollow" target="_blank">first rough draft of history</a> </span> </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/51227045420/in/datetaken/" title="IMG_20210603_061130"><img alt="IMG_20210603_061130" height="127" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51227045420_7ca83f5bd6_n.jpg" width="95" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/51227047215/in/datetaken/" title="IMG_20210603_062535"><img alt="IMG_20210603_062535" height="127" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51227047215_fb4bb5e931_n.jpg" width="95" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/51035178596/in/album-72157719596542664/" title="IMG_20210313_074339"><img alt="IMG_20210313_074339" height="127" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51035178596_03bbabd81b_n.jpg" width="95" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Documenting evidence of the effects of lockdown on our daily visual experience has inevitably brought my attention to a range of social trends of city living. The rise of diversity in advertising, in parallel to the use of wartime imagery in lockdown resistance campaigns. How paper and print are still a viable way to communicate messages even with the ubiquity and power of online influence. The evidence of people's front windows and walls to reveal the personalities of their occupiers in very public ways.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Enough. There's work to be done. </span></p></blockquote><p><br /></p>
Sean McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09662719942716704893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9135474605484145401.post-21772679690140714802021-06-06T09:23:00.002-07:002021-06-06T09:23:32.511-07:00remember this?<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I've celebrated my own return to normal this week. Back in the West End with a camera - not a phone - using film - not digital - in black & white - not..well you get the picture.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><img alt="Iford film canister" height="467" src="http://waysofwalking.net/images/work/blog/Ilford-film.jpg" width="350" /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">It was a poignant moment. Lockdown has really made me consider my practice of street photography. I'm more conscious of the <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2020/06/waking-up.html?m=0">privileges</a> I have to work in the way I do. <a href="https://petapixel.com/2020/11/16/street-photography-is-not-a-crime-lets-keep-it-that-way/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ethics</a> are implicit too.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">However I confess that feeling, giddiness even, of giving yourself to the moment, going with the flow, getting in the zone, is still as <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2009/09/full-frame-uncropped.html?m=0">strong as ever</a>.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Is it too late to change my style now? Is muscle memory too dominant? I have to ask why do I still plough this furrow, like a lounge musician still playing the standards, after all these years. My answer has been simple, a little pompous. It's because I have to. But I don't think that cuts it today. My <a href="https://www.livinglockdown.co.uk/why" target="_blank">Living Lockdown project</a> has been about using that privilege to give back. Maybe that's the way forward, my own <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/a-new-normal-how-people-spent-their-time-after-the-march-2020-coronavirus-lockdown" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">new normal</a>.</span></p></blockquote><p> </p><p></p>Sean McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09662719942716704893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9135474605484145401.post-17013937541848457622021-05-16T02:20:00.051-07:002021-06-23T14:47:30.868-07:00season two on catch-up<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I feel a little guilty. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">It's not quite <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruins_photography" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ruin porn</a> but I do feel I'm benefiting from the ongoing restrictions on everyday life in London. I feel the way to turn that into something more altruistic is to publish a <a href="https://www.livinglockdown.co.uk/" target="_blank">second Living Lockdown book</a> to raise money for <a href="https://ealing.foodbank.org.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ealing Foodbank</a> in what's becoming a version of a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ErlhM1NaZA" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">series of unfortunate events</a>.</span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="197" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/553697628" width="350"></iframe></span><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://vimeo.com/553697628">Living Lockdown August 2020 - January 2021 Book</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/seanmcdonnell">Sean McDonnell</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I've picked up the story from the end of my <a href="https://www.livinglockdown.co.uk/buy/p/living-lockdown-march-july-2020-book" target="_blank">first Living Lockdown book</a> last July and...well I'll let the author speak for himself</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p class="" style="background-color: white; margin: 1rem 0px; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">So on I run around Ealing, through the slow release of the first lockdown into the tiers of autumn. </span><span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span></p></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p class="" style="background-color: white; margin: 1rem 0px; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">My routes are familiar but the streets are changing. </span><span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p class="" style="background-color: white; margin: 1rem 0px; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">Help yourself items on garden walls are rarer now. </span><span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p class="" style="background-color: white; margin: 1rem 0px; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">Chairs have been taken inside and the chalk games washed away in the rain. </span><span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p class="" style="background-color: white; margin: 1rem 0px; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">Gloves are out of fashion. Masks are all the rage. </span><span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p class="" style="background-color: white; margin: 1rem 0px; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">Social distancing is second nature as pavement circles peel and fade. </span><span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shop windows play with time. Advent calendars on sale before Halloween and late-night Christmas openings that never happened.</span></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p class="" style="background-color: white; margin: 1rem 0px; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">But change is coming.</span></p></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I've followed a similar selection and editing process to last time, as you can see in my collection of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/albums" target="_blank">albums on Flickr</a>. I think the sense of <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/lockdown-fatigue-tiredness-covid-uk-b1797529.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">fatigue</a> that we speak about comes through with moments of despair and humour. <a href="https://www.nesta.org.uk/blog/innovation-and-crisis-comparing-wartime-strategy-our-covid-19-response/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Very wartime</a>.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.livinglockdown.co.uk/buy/p/living-lockdown-august-2020-january-2021" target="_blank">Buy now and donate</a>.</span></p></blockquote><p> </p>
Sean McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09662719942716704893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9135474605484145401.post-5684045144342181162021-04-25T11:50:00.333-07:002021-06-22T23:59:44.853-07:00portraits in their place<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span>"How does one inject oneself momentarily into someone's life and come away with something that resonates with some real aspect of the individual?" </span>Dawoud Bey </span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I've recently had the privilege of experiencing a new work by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawoud_Bey" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Dawoud Bey</a> called <i><a href="https://mackbooks.co.uk/products/street-portraits-br-dawoud-bey" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Street Portraits</a>. </i>It's a collection of powerful photographs of African American individuals and couples largely from the streets of Brooklyn and Rochester made between 1989 and 1991. I use the word powerful carefully as he also describes his work as about '</span><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>not only the picture making part but there was very clearly the social par</i>t'. His portraits give a sense of agency, respect and yes power to the people photographed. I have a real sense of a collaboration, understanding and empathy between them and the photographer through their eyes, gestures and poses.</span> </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<img alt="Dawoud Bey Street Portraits book cover" height="426" src="https://www.seanmcdonnell.com/images/work/blog/dawoud-bey-street-portraits-cover.jpg" width="350" />
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">For me this makes the images incredibly uplifting. It's more than the composition of the photographs and their reproduction, which are both magnificent, but they really speak to me if I can use such a contrived phrase. The titles of the images are at the back of the book so all the viewer has to work with on initial viewing is the pure photograph. Granted I still acknowledge the social and political context in a very simplistic way and having spent a short but significant part of my life in New York at this time there's a further, tenuous chord they strike.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Coincidentally I've been enjoying a series of <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/photoland-talks-32666595633" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">online talks and discussions</a> courtesy of <a href="https://personalwork.online/paul-halliday-course-leader-goldsmiths-ma-photogrpahy-urban-cultures-on-why-hes-spending-20-years-photographing-london/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Paul Halliday</a> from a range of photographers including <a href="https://www.instagram.com/baslosekoot/?hl=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Bas Losekoot</a> discussing his recent book <a href="https://www.kehrerverlag.com/en/bas-losekoot-out-of-place-978-3-86828-994-7" rel="nofollow" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Out of Place</a><i>.</i></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">I love the way the images have been brought literally off the page using different size pages to overlap each other and simulate the chaos and serendipity of the street. The insertion of improvised film scripts as a commentary on the photographs as stills is another neat angle.<i> </i> </span><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">.
<img alt="Bas Losekoot Out of Place book cover" height="419" src="https://www.seanmcdonnell.com/images/work/blog/bas-losekoot-out-of-place-cover.jpg" width="350" /></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">However </span><span style="font-family: arial;">f</span><span style="font-family: arial;">or me the making of the images was a throwback to a way of working which I admire but find it harder to reconcile. Dropping into a society for a short period of time and finding ways to depict it, to give it meaning, can lend itself to decisions on subject and composition that make for interesting images but are open to question on representation of those cultures. It made me think of work by</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.deutscheboersephotographyfoundation.org/en/collect/artists/philip-lorca-dicorcia.php" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Philip-Lorca diCorcia </a>and </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.le-bal.fr/en/2019/05/alex-majoli" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Alex Majoli</a> which I enjoy but now find wanting...</span><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I'm certainly not one to throw stones as it's a style of working I've been privileged to follow for a number of years The motivation behind my last book </span><a href="https://thephooks.com/products/new-europe-2015-19/" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank"><i>New Europe 2015-1</i>9</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> was to find a way of giving more social context to my photographs beyond the pure aesthetic of street life from different cities. I still have lots to do and I accept the limitations of this kind of photography. Street portraits used to be an oxymoron for me but Dawoud Bey's work is inspirational.</span></p></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p>
Sean McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09662719942716704893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9135474605484145401.post-82108980702446481722021-03-30T13:14:00.251-07:002021-06-23T00:37:37.557-07:00augmenting realities<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>Little did I know my last gallery experience pre-Lockdown was a portent of things to come. The Deutsche Börse show in 2020 featured the work of <a href="https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/content/db2020-mohamed-bourouissa" rel="nofollow" style="color: #cc6600;" target="_blank">Mohamed Bourouissa</a> and my review included a <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2020/03/more-distance-between-us.html?m=0">piece of augmented reality</a> that transposed itself into the space. Now 12 months on that at-a-distance experience is all we have by way of a gallery going event. This year's <a href="https://formatfestival.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Format Festival</a> was virtual and the gallery <a href="https://format.newart.city/catalog/room-10" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">dedicated to the to the pandemi</a>c was is a particularly poignant s</span>ite-specific setting for the work. </span></p></blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><img alt="Format Festival gallery screenshot" height="200" src="http://waysofwalking.net/images/work/blog/Format-Festival-COVID-19-Year-Lived.png" width="350" /></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I joined a tour where some of the photographers spoke about their work as we were guided by a hidden, dextrous hand around the space. The selection was really interesting. I had an immediate response to <a href="https://photomonitor.co.uk/interview/street-cleaners/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Hoare's <i>Street Cleaners</i></a> in Bristol. The images play on their hi-viz appearance but the low visibility of their appreciation. It's a well made point. Ironically when I see a street cleaner my heart sinks as I feel they've just swept away a moment of detritus, a piece of history of our times. Whether it's another Deliveroo receipt or a broken Corona bottle, they're all potential representations of the mundane that in future we'll look at with different eyes.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It was great to see <a href="https://www.jaskirtboora.com/7960248-birmingham-lockdown-stories-book" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Jaskirt Boora's <i>Birmingham Lockdown Storie</i>s</a> featured having found her book very moving. These documentary style pieces were then bridged into more personal responses in <a href="https://grainphotographyhub.co.uk/portfolio-type/shaista-chishty/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>Playing Their Par</i>t</a> by </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.shaistachishty.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Shaista Chishty</a>, </span><span style="font-family: arial;">juxtaposing representations of people of colour in the context of World War 2 and the pandemic. It's a valuable perspective on the wartime spirit that's been evoked over the last twelve months.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The other piece I responded to was <a href="https://jemimayongphotography.format.com/field-2020" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>Field</i> by Jemima Yong</a> transforming the observed into something more symbolic, combining the consequential images of isolation and social distancing into a piece of performance art. Evoking for me <a href="https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/tomiyasu-hayahisa-ttp-photography-250119" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Hayahisa Tomiyasu's TTP project</a> it's a much more significant piece as the context of it is a profound commentary of life lived now. Do watch.</span></p></blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="197" src="https://youtube.com/embed/Wt9_juj6JLM" width="350"></iframe></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Virtual galleries do present challenges, comparable in a way galleries in the real world - as we've come to call it - do in terms of accessibility. However the opportunity to hear photographers talk about and show their work to potentially a global audience should not be ignored. The last year has and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4aTAwgzgTo" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">continues to</a> expose me to work I would not have had the opportunity to before so it's one, at least, upside to our current life.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Indeed, it may become <a href="https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/504921179" target="_blank">a habit</a>.</span></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p> </p>Sean McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09662719942716704893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9135474605484145401.post-30485656005692277072021-02-05T12:47:00.052-08:002021-02-20T03:13:05.475-08:00street photography 4 good<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Well for a serious issue my fundraising event for Ealing Foodbank seemed to tap into a real need for a break from the latest <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-55837969" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Netflix must-see</a>. I "sold" over a hundred free tickets for my <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mel-giedroyc-in-conversation-with-sean-mcdonnell-in-aid-of-ealing-foodbank-tickets-134645663805" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">chat with Mel Giedroyc</a> and over 60 people joined us for a walk through my book of photographs of the streets of <a href="https://www.livinglockdown.co.uk/" target="_blank">Ealing in lockdown</a> last spring and summer. Thanks to a few technical rehearsals with my family the evening went well. In addition to the reactions and questions during the evening I was really pleased that we raised over £200 in donations. A few more book sales afterwards took the whole campaign to over £1,000 to <a href="https://ealing.foodbank.org.uk/about/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">help people in crisis</a>.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="197" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/504921179" title="vimeo-player" width="350"></iframe></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Street photography with a social conscience is traditionally the domain of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanist_photography" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">French humanist school</a>. Pre and post war it's influence is still very much evident in the slice of life style of street photography. Ironic, humourous. It's a great way of cutting across cultures and boundaries to find a kind of universal truth. Personally I'm more interested in a style that is just as prevalent today but can be characterised as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_school_of_photography" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">New York school</a> from the 50s & 60s. Alienated, anonymous. In a way it's just as romantic.This is how I felt when I started using photography to figure out a way of relating to <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2009/09/full-frame-uncropped.html?m=0">New York City in the 80s</a>. Ironically perhaps that's now not as distant a gap as it felt at the time.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<img alt="Manhattan street image" height="239" src="https://www.seanmcdonnell.com/img/project_grid/grid43.jpg" width="350" /></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I don't know if <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23streetphotography4good" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">#streetphotography4good</a> will ever trend but it's an interesting development for me personally. This isn't New York, hey it's <a href="https://secretldn.com/pictures-of-lockdown-london/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">not even London</a> any more. Whatever happens next it won't be the same place for a while. My style really will be an anachronism. To be honest it's about time I questioned it myself and <a href="https://seanmcdonnell.blogspot.com/2020/06/waking-up.html?m=0">use my privilege</a> for something more than just another print on the wall.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Meanwhile <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/albums/72157714444635211" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Book 2 beckons</a>. </span></p></blockquote><p><br /></p>Sean McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09662719942716704893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9135474605484145401.post-75553072521970876732021-01-17T09:21:00.071-08:002021-02-14T04:14:23.977-08:00be more us<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="background-color: white; color: #37474f; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Lockdown rolls on and it was inevitable my response to my photography group's challenge to pick <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.londonphotography.org.uk/ealing/january-2021/&source=gmail&ust=1613347934282000&usg=AFQjCNEgON_Lh6Ef5Lni0p5HnkuzcjA0PA" href="https://www.londonphotography.org.uk/ealing/january-2021/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">9 images to represent 2020</a> would feature them. However instead of replaying a selection from <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.livinglockdown.co.uk/&source=gmail&ust=1613347934282000&usg=AFQjCNHRpj5jCpE2LpWLf4DJQhT_IoTryw" href="https://www.livinglockdown.co.uk/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">my book</a> I thought it was an opportunity to reflect on how much the familiar has changed. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #37474f; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I've found the transformation of advertising an interesting reflection of that. No new films, plays and exhibitions to promote. Seasonal holidays, retail sales and sports events are now all out of sync. We're left with those spaces - especially by bus stops - giving public information from physical health to mental well-being. For me it adds to that wartime atmosphere, or at least my imagining of it. I'm fortunate the closest I've been to anything like this are my <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Troubles_in_Newry&source=gmail&ust=1613347934282000&usg=AFQjCNHtKwV6xIfCwYImK38BrG3CSs5XZg" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Troubles_in_Newry" rel="nofollow" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">family holidays in the 70s.</a></span></p>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/50631794218/in/album-72157714444635211/" title="IMG_20201122_085142"><img alt="IMG_20201122_085142" height="127" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50631794218_07ffbe53b5_m.jpg" width="95" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/50483117298/in/album-72157714444635211/" title="IMG_20201011_085440"><img alt="IMG_20201011_085440" height="127" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50483117298_9816ed3942_m.jpg" width="95" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/50061211082/in/album-72157713511507047/" title="2020-06-30_08-05-52"><img alt="2020-06-30_08-05-52" height="127" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50061211082_3873f49c3d_m.jpg" width="95" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
</blockquote>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #37474f; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">COVID references are also seeping into advertising not as a warning but a selling point, almost as a new subculture is absorbed by the mainstream to appear more 'edgy' or 'relevant' but in our upside down world the relevancy is about hygiene, safety and security. Fear is further played upon with a new service to document your grandparents' memories, now ironically the most valued members of society - no longer the forgotten or neglected, for <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.homecare.co.uk/news/article.cfm/id/1634428/captain-sir-tom-moore-joins-age-uk-and-cadbury-campaign-to-help-tackle-covid-loneliness&source=gmail&ust=1613347934282000&usg=AFQjCNHUMk46fpgrU5oqUdeVDef2fPA54w" href="https://www.homecare.co.uk/news/article.cfm/id/1634428/captain-sir-tom-moore-joins-age-uk-and-cadbury-campaign-to-help-tackle-covid-loneliness" rel="nofollow" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">a while at least</a>.</span></p>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/50786517632/in/album-72157714444635211/" title="IMG_20210101_085805"><img alt="IMG_20210101_085805" height="127" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50786517632_ab05a304f7_m.jpg" width="95" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/50754220381/in/album-72157714444635211/" title="IMG_20201224_084310"><img alt="IMG_20201224_084310" height="127" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50754220381_054b63df39_m.jpg" width="95" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/50782530551/in/album-72157714444635211/" title="IMG_20201231_090039"><img alt="IMG_20201231_090039" height="127" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50782530551_b5b2a47345_m.jpg" width="95" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/50661515182/in/album-72157714444635211/" title="IMG_20201129_083450"><img alt="IMG_20201129_083450" height="127" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50661515182_eb82b726b4_m.jpg" width="95" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/50661513242/in/album-72157714444635211/" title="IMG_20201129_083116"><img alt="IMG_20201129_083116" height="127" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50661513242_daa7492890_m.jpg" width="95" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanmcdonnell/50754216596/in/album-72157714444635211/" title="IMG_20201223_061910"><img alt="IMG_20201223_061910" height="127" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50754216596_de526a14c9_m.jpg" width="95" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
</blockquote>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #37474f; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">My final image of looking forward to 2021 is a genuine reflection of a feeling of a <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://today.yougov.com/topics/lifestyle/articles-reports/2020/12/10/2020-2021-good-bad-poll-survey-data&source=gmail&ust=1613347934283000&usg=AFQjCNG4SzWe0UHocMLgUa3f1fjF39BD7g" href="https://today.yougov.com/topics/lifestyle/articles-reports/2020/12/10/2020-2021-good-bad-poll-survey-data" rel="nofollow" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">lot of people</a> but again it fits with the trend of brand advertising that isn't about the product but in some tangential, sometimes tenuous, way connects to a broader societal issue. 2020 provided <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.marketingweek.com/the-best-marketing-campaigns-of-2020-part-1/&source=gmail&ust=1613347934283000&usg=AFQjCNHYkIST6wr57onFlkUCGczfwaDgrA" href="https://www.marketingweek.com/the-best-marketing-campaigns-of-2020-part-1/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">plenty of opportunities</a> to do that.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #37474f; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Roll on 2021.</span></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p> </p>Sean McDonnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09662719942716704893noreply@blogger.com0