28 Friday Jun 2013
Posted in Photobooks
Silvas Capitalis, Kielder, originally uploaded by neilclasper.
On the sculpture trail around Kielder Forest in Northumberland. A fantastic place (if you avoid the rain and midges).
16 Sunday Jun 2013
Posted in Photography
Trying out my new Fuji X-E1.
Being currently without any sort of proper computer, I’ve not managed to either update the firmware, or have a look at a RAW file, but here are some initial impressions anyway:
1. It’s very nicely made
2. The straight-out-of-the-camera Jpegs seem very good: goo contrast, white balance, and so on.
3. The lens seems very good indeed: no barrel distortion to be seen, nice colours, fast, and capable of pretty extreme shallow focus (though that’s not a style I’m usually interested in)
4. The auto-focus is slooooow. Hopefully the firmware update should improve this, when I get a chance.
5. The lens cap is really, really cheap, and a bit shoddy. Needs replacing before it falls off and gets lost.
Looking forward to getting further into it.
14 Friday Jun 2013
Posted in London, Photography
Tubby Isaac’s, originally uploaded by neilclasper.
11 Tuesday Jun 2013
Posted in London, Photography
Inspired use of photographer Phil Maxwell’s local images on the hoardings around this (less-than-inspired) new development on Wentworth Street, E1. More on this installation here.
11 Tuesday Jun 2013
Posted in London, Photography
Away from the much-discussed, filmed and photographed high-rise developments in the City and south bank – the Shards, Cheese graters, Walkie-Talkies, etc – a whole host of even-less inspired towers are rising on the eastern periphery. This Barratt Homes effort in Whitechapel looks particularly dismal, with its clumpy form and cheap-as-chips cladding.
08 Saturday Jun 2013
Posted in Photobooks, Photography
Just arrived in the post from Cafe Royal Books, Working Men: Club and Coal is a simply-presented A5 booklet featuring the work of Homer Sykes. It’s nicely printed, and cheap – £5! – but doesn’t have any text to explain when and where the series was shot. This seems a bit of a shame, though doing some research on the web to work it out has led me towards some interesting photography that I’d no seen before. Maybe it’s not a bad thing to be made to do some of the work yourself.
The images themselves are excellent: black & white, unposed shots from collieries and workingmen’s clubs, depicting a part of British that’s a part of many people’s past, or maybe part of an inherited memory, but now looks like ancient history.
07 Friday Jun 2013
Posted in Photography
Hadrian’s Wall, originally uploaded by neilclasper.
This time last year, stood on Hadrian’s Wall in the drizzle. One day, I’d like to walk a significant length of the Wall (ideally in better weather…).
31 Friday May 2013
Posted in London, Photography
Tags
White’s Row car park, Spitalfields, originally uploaded by neilclasper.
I’ve always liked this juxtaposition of a grand coat of arms with the mundanity of the structure it’s attached to.
31 Friday May 2013
Posted in London, Photography
Olympic Stadium from Greenwich Park, originally uploaded by neilclasper.
From May 2011, as the Olympic Stadium was starting to emerge on the skyline. I should go back soon and shoot this again; I suspect the skyline’s changed considerably even since then.
30 Thursday May 2013
Posted in London, Photography
In something of a flashback to the 1930s, the anarchist bookshop tucked away off Whitechapel High Street was firebombed a little while ago. Viewed from the (quite decent) cafe in the Whitechapel Gallery earlier this week, it doesn’t look like it’s reopened yet.
(PS, if you’re in the vicinity, the Karl Blossfeldt exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery is excellent: the intersection of nature photography, surrealism, and architecture. Or, some nice close-ups of plants).
NeilClasper 