Lockdown Polaroid 10

Rainy Walk in Victoria Park

Hackney, London

7/6/2020

Arnold Newman

I came across Arnold Newman's work in an usual way... I was working at a big photography studios in London and the Creatives working upstairs decided that the communal toilet would be the place to store their tomes of photography books and magazines while building work was carried out to their offices.

 Two Men on Front Porch, West Palm Beach, Florida, 1941

Boy with Dog, Arden, Delaware, 1947

Both these images are photographs taken from a book found in the toilet... as I couldn't find better reproductions online. They're so atmospheric, capturing the emotion of the men and boy. I love the porches - the chair and geraniums, climbing ivy and wooden shutters... And naturally, the clothes. Both photographs are part of Newman's early work, before he got famous and took some of the portraits that are now very well known. 

Georgia O'Keeffe, Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, 1968

Pablo Picasso, Vallauris, France, 1954

Midnight Cowboy

I'm one of the few people in London/UK/The World it seems that still uses a DVD player - and borrows DVDs from their local library. A recent hit was Midnight Cowboy, a 1969 Oscar winning film starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman. While being very dark in places, the film is also very touching in the relationship forged between pretend cowboy Voight and outcast vagabond Hoffman. And of course....the clothes.... 

Stripes

Styled by me, shot by Andre Skjegstad

Some like it hot

Chillis and vegetables on sale in Inca, Majorca 2016

The Family

Just watched Godfather 1 and 2 pretty much back to back. What have I been doing all this time?! Endless inspiration

Chris Marker

 

Stills taken from Chris Marker's 1962 film 'La Jetée', currently part of an exhibition of his work at The Whitechapel Gallery. 

The film is made of up of black and white photographs which come together to play out as a photo montage at varying speeds. It's an eery, unnerving film but worth seeing if only for all the beautiful shots of Hélène Chatelain, the film's heroine.

I especially love the couples' trip to a museum filled with taxidermy.

 

I first saw the film as part of my course in Manchester. Suitably the art history block backed on to Manchester Museum which was filled to the rafters with taxidermy and where I often ended up wasting time in between lectures and buying endless tatt.

Marching in to April

Leaving lots of room on my pinboard for an injection of inspiration with the coming of April. I've heard it said that inspiration does strike randomly but it has to find you busy and working. I think that's probably true... 

I love these photos by Peter Fraser torn from last month's Tate Magazine

 The washing line picture looks scarily close to what I have just experienced over the Easter bank holiday in the West Country.... 

Peter Fraser's exhibition of photographs are currently on show at Tate, St. Ives.

Campaign Season

It can be pretty annoying flicking through endless pages of ads and promotions at the start of your favourite magazine, but at least there are some great campaigns this season.

My favourite at the moment is Chanel, featuring Stella Tenant looking serious and shot by Karl Lagerfield. The checked dresses and black clumpy strapped sandals are bound to be forever ripped off this spring and summer - luckily for me as I love both and don't think I will be buying the real deal (yet).
Wish my room looked that good when messy.

 

 Another eye catching campaign is Juergen Teller for Celine, which will forever remind me of West Polar who first drew my attention to it and is the kinda girl who always wears diamonds in the bath and at the beach.

Tate Tanks

I went to the Tate Tanks on Saturday morning after being told by a trusted source that the current exhibition was worth checking out.

 

Unfortunately I didn't catch any of the live performances, although part of me was quite relieved as I was on my own and had heard horror stories of being pounced upon by performers.

 

 I only took a couple of photos, which is a really good sign - far too busy being distracted by what was going on around me. I particularly liked some of the film produced by Sung Hwan Kim. Watching and listening to all the films, taking part in projections and creeping in to dimly lit rooms made realise that I probably need to be more open to other mediums of art.

The tank's space is amazing and surprisingly atmospheric, especially considering how many people were there when I visited. Looking forward to seeing what the next installment at the Tate Tanks will be.

Polanski's Tess

If you haven't seen Roman Polanski's 'Tess' (1979), a film that very closely follows Thomas Hardy's 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles', you have a treat in store.

Although saying that, Hardy's tale is heartbreaking and Polanski's beautifully shot film is equally good at pulling on the heart strings. Natsassja Kinski is Tess and absolutely beautiful in it.

I had to watch it in short bursts the last time I saw it as it's too full on to watch in one sitting.

Steamy

Hannah and I watched The Railway Children last night. We huddled under a sleeping bag, drinking tea to keep warm, convinced that something had gone wrong with the central heating. (We had forgotten to turn it on). I can't remember when I last watched the film - it was definitely pre-double figures. Jenny Agutter is brilliant as Bobby, and the scene in which it is her birthday was the first of many occasions which embarassingly brought streaming tears to my eyes. Set in 1905, the dresses of the girls and mother are beautiful - lace, veils and petticoats.