As part of the 17 Claypath Gallery documentary photography project I undertook for Empty Shop late last year I decided to take some 35mm photographs on my old Canon AE 1 film camera as well as in digital format.
Here’s a test shot I did at Empty Shop HQ using the AE 1 camera. The negative processing was done by Ag Photo Lab.
A large part of me still prefers to use film and I still find the 2 media worlds apart though I wouldn’t be without my digital cameras now.
Photographing the exuberant work of light artist Mick Stephenson today at Empty Shop’s gallery 17 Claypath, Durham City. Mick was part of Lumiere here in Durham City in 2011.
I recently came across Susan Sontag’s ‘On Photography’.
Sontag’s book clearly explains how photography has changed the way we look at and understand the world.
Sontag views photography in many way as a form of acquisition and states that:
“…there is something predatory in the act of taking a picture.” (P.14)
Sontag’s book was 1st published in 1977 and it is fascinating to place it in a historical context and consider the current role of photography in our lives today in the digital arena.
A version of Sontag’s book is available as a free PDF online.
This month I have recieved two wonderful pieces of mail art from mail artists Otto David Sherman and a recent copy of Wipe , part of David Dellafiora’s Field Study International.
You can view more photographs documenting Empty Shop HQ’s pop up gallery space at 17 Claypath, Durham City and the currently unused Durham City Council offices behind the gallery on my 17 Claypath wordpress blog by clicing here.