The Barbican
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
. . . . . . .
-
In London, I used to work in a tall building right next to the Barbican. The Barbican was opened in 1969, an example of Britain’s “brutalist” architecture designed and built by Chamberlain, Powell and Bon. It’s an incredible place composed of different parts – most noticeably the 3 tall residential towers (which you’ve seen in my photos many, many times) as well as the lower buildings and grounds. It’s meant to be an urban oasis, in many respects. The Barbican art gallery shows interesting stuff, they screen films and have live music performances, there is a theatre and music school and a large cafe. The gardens and hanging plants are stunning in the warmer months.
And of course, the apartments are highly sought after. The entire thing (including the residential space) is Grade II listed (which means it has protected historical status). A friend who rented a flat there told me that if you needed to replace a fixture in the kitchen, you sent a request and they brought in another identical fixture from their vast storehouse – it must fit in with the aesthetic of the place. There’s a great interview/photo spread in Apartamento magazine (issue no. 4) with Mark & Garrrick, who live in an apartment in one of the 3 towers in the Barbican.
I used to walk through the Barbican in the morning and afternoon – on my way to get a sandwich or a coffee or to drop off my film at the lab. I miss seeing this place every day.
More info about various happenings at the Barbican can be found here.
(thanks to Vic for the reminder that I had these photos to post)
Randoms lately (Brooklyn ed.)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
. . . . . .
Out and about with my cameras over the past couple of months. Trying to see Brooklyn with fresh eyes.
Flash On / Flash Off
January 19
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
. . . . . .
Hello. I wanted to let you know that a few of the items I picked out for the ST&NDARD GOODS “Guest Buyer Series” are still for sale, and it’s all for a great cause. (The button-down shirt and the Brown Betty teapot have sold, but the other items are still available).
There’s more about the Guest Buyer Series and an interview with Garret Colton (the owner) on Cool Hunting here.
And if you purchase one of the items, you’ll get a 4×6 print of a photo I took of that item. I’ve posted some of the images I snapped above.
(I almost kept those mugs for myself…)
Photos, Painting & Richter
-
-
Shot with Hasselblad + Polaroid back + Fuji fp-100c film.
. . . . . . .
-
This photo looks like a painting to me. The colors, tones and soft edges are the result of using instant film and the Hasselblad Zeiss lens, I think. It makes me think of some of Gerhard Richter’s paintings (which look like photographs) – his still life “Flasche mit Äpfeln (Bottle With Apple)” or his candles (“Zwei Kerzen (Two Candles)”).
When I saw the Richter exhibition at the Tate Modern in London, I kept thinking about how some of his painstakingly detailed paintings look like photographs – something he is famous for doing. And I wondered … would it be possible to do the opposite? To take a photograph that really and truly looks like it was painted (and not just a photograph of a painting)?
I think shooting film is one way to try to do it. The emulsions in film seem to mimic certain qualities of paint. It was interesting to see that the gauzy effects inherent in polaroid film or the Fuji fp-100c that I used above can make it look like a painting, too. I’d like to keep working on this.
Winter Lunch
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
. . . . . . . .
A winter lunch with a group of friends when I was visiting Maine last month.
(I have no idea what happened to this roll of film to make it so poorly exposed & grainy. Although I do like it.)
New Year’s Day
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
. . . . . . .
A walk in the park.
London Randoms
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
. . . . . . . . .
-
Random photos from the autumn in London that I hadn’t posted yet.
(I snapped the last photo above on the day before I left London – it’s the same building in Clerkenwell pictured in my first blog post from London in 2009 (that feels like ages ago). Full circle, etc etc.)
Up East
. . . . . . .
Above, I’m sharing more views of our cliff walk in Maine, this time on film.
The colors were really surprising and left a lasting impression; the water was a vibrant shade of aquamarine that day (if it wasn’t so damn cold, I would’ve thought we were in the Caribbean…).
. . . . .
Also: I’ve been enjoying NYC, a video by the super-talented Jessica Williams.
One morning last week
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
. . . . . . . . . .
-
Good morning.
