2024
At the Mandela Exhibition in Dearborn, Michigan
So, hey, it’s 2024. You knew that, right? And if you detect in this New Year’s greeting a certain lack of enthusiasm, a certain flatness of feeling and dampening of expectation, well, you’ve smoked me right out of my rabbit hole.
I imagine I am not the only person looking at the political map, this brave new year, as half the world’s population prepares to vote, with sensations I can best compare to those of someone who has swallowed a plateful of oysters, only to realise at least one of the oysters is off. Perhaps more than one. And by off I mean off. Badly off.
Sprayed onto planter boxes at the bottom of a street near our house in Toronto
Add in the horrors of Ukraine and Gaza, terrorist atrocities, state violence and repression, climate change and the environment, and you start to question whether there might - just might - be something wrong with the expectation, or hope, that it is somehow the natural order of things that the world we leave to our children and grandchildren should be a better place (sound the trumpets!) than the world we inherited.
Not necessarily so, it turns out. The arc of history might not bend toward justice, after all. It might not even be an arc - less rainbow than mudslide, with all kinds of wreckage and detritus borne downhill in a foul embrace.
There is no guarantee that the things we value, or at least aspire to - truth, decency, democracy, tolerance, simple kindness - will prevail. They are not - will never be, regardless of the consolations and promises of religious faith and political dogma (left-wing or right-wing, take your pick) - a done deal, an achieved state. Who knew? They always will be work in progress, and sometimes, instead of progress, there will be regression, confusion, even chaos.
So the struggle goes on, as it must and has to. Happy New Year, my friends!
Istanbul
Istanbul Greeting
Reworking the Havana portfolio on my website last year was a useful experience, in more ways than one. I found myself not only seeing the images anew, and seeing new possibilities in them, but seeing them too, in a new way, as a collection - a story of sorts, or at least some sort of representation, not of the ‘facts’ of the place, but the tone and tenor of my experience.
The exercise prompted me to take another look at my series on Istanbul, the results of which you can see in my revised and refreshed Istanbul portfolio. And, for those of you who like the idea of holding the images in your hand, in print form, a photo magazine on Istanbul is now available, on the Blurb Bookstore; you may also download a pdf copy, if you wish, to page through at leisure.
Havana Photo Magazine
Habana Vieja | Havana Reconsidered
As mentioned in my last blog post, my photo magazine on Havana is available now, in print and pdf, on the Blurb Bookstore.
Introducing - Photo Magazines!
I love it when someone buys a print of one of my photographs - a fine art print, beautifully framed and hung, is the best way to enjoy an image, in my view.
This is not a practical option for everyone, however, so the question of how to share my photographs in an affordable and accessible format has long bothered me.
One option is to produce an annual calendar, which I did in 2022, but this has obvious limitations. Another is to produce a photo book, which I have done for myself and for family, but the high cost of a book may be an issue for some people.
And so, I have hit upon the idea of producing a series of photo magazines, showcasing different themes and aspects of my work. The magazines are much more affordable than a book, and offer a great way to page through my work and share it with others. And, you can still buy a print if you want one!
Praxis Photographic Arts Center - Minneapolis
Country Road near Aveyron
This image was selected for this month’s Landscapes exhibition at the Praxis Photographic Arts Center in Minneapolis.
Patterned Spaces
This image was featured on the Toronto Photography Group Facebook page and Photo of the Week newsletter.
The photograph was taken during a B&W group shoot in downtown Toronto - going off with a group to take photographs is not something I would normally do, but in this case it was the perfect excuse for a few hours of happy snapping, in some pretty snappy winter weather.