Documenting the Street: Found Life Drawings

Today I was walking down Highgate Road when a woman’s top caught my eye; it was a white shirt decorated with female nudes, reminiscent of the work of Matisse’s Blue Nude figures. I decided to catch up with her and ask if I could photograph the shirt: I was curious as to whether she had … Read more

Fragmented Identities – The Tart Card Abstracts

I’ve been photographing a series of abstract yet documentary images taken in London’s disused telephone boxes. They all include fragments of tart cards – these are flyers featuring sexual services. To me they are ephemeral representations that reference the tradition of the female nude as well as 21st century notions of desire in the city. … Read more

Photographing Icons of Popular Culture – Subjective Takes

A few days ago I was walking in Frith Street in London’s Soho. London is gradually easing out of lockdown and cafes and restaurants are preparing to open on July 4. As I approached a long-time regular haunt, Bar Italia, I saw the door was partially open so I peeped in. They were in the … Read more

Glass Sculptures and Installations

Yesterday I visited London’s Kew Gardens. I’m a member so I try to pop in on a regular basis and photograph in different seasons and times of day. I went specifically to see the glass sculptures which are interspersed amongst the landscape. The artist is Dale Chihuly, an American born in 1941. The exhibition is … Read more

Colourful and Painterly Reflections

I was in Kew Gardens on a sunny day last week and took a few pictures including this quasi-Impressionist image: I decided to look back over the last few months and see what other colourful, painterly reflections I’d photographed. I remembered a series I’d shot at Hyde Park; abstract patterns reminiscent of Op art resulting … Read more

Mannequins and Street Photography – some new images

Abstract photo with mannequin head, NYC

I’ve posted several blogs in the last few years featuring images I’ve taken of mannequins. I’ve been drawn to photographing mannequins for a number of reasons. In terms of representation I like the ambiguity;  a human, yet not a human. I like the fact they can range from quasi-lifelike to grotesque and non-naturalistic. I like … Read more

Layers Of Time in New Orleans

I was in New Orleans over the new year. Standing on a sidewalk watching a brass band parade, I noticed a weathered telegraph pole and was struck by the multitude of staples combined with fragments of former flyers and posters, embellished with graffiti:     The next image was taken in a different location and … Read more

The London Mastaba and Reflections

The other day I went to see the floating sculpture The London Mastaba, created by husband and wife artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude and which is situated temporarily on London’s Serpentine Lake. It was a gloriously sunny day and this was my first sighting of it: As I approached I noticed the lake’s surface had a … Read more

Venetian shrines and daily life

Back when I studied History of Art I spent a year in Venice researching various secular motifs in 18th Century Venetian painting. My assumption from that time was that Venice, unlike Rome and Florence, was not particularly a centre for religious iconography. However, on recent visits, walking around the city with an objective eye, I … Read more

Signs of Art in the streets of Venice

I wanted to write something about how art history is evident not just in the interiors of museums and churches in Venice but has a certain visibility as you walk around its streets and squares. This is in the form of reproductions of painting. I realised that I was concurrently taking pictures of contemporary street art … Read more