I have been looking on the web for various artist's statements and the attached by Kerik Kouklis was quite a well documented but rather long-winded example.
Kerik Kouklis Photography - Bio
Wednesday 28 May 2008
Selected images
I have now printed out 13 images (not a good number!)that I am reasonably happy with, some more than others. Eleven of these are in landscape format but two are square medium format.
Fay Godwin
Bob told me there was an exhibition of Fay Godwin's at the Parsonage, Haworth so visited that this morning. The exhibition was 'Elmet' which was the follow on from her earlier 'The Remains of Elmet' that was first published in 1979 and combined her photography with Ted Hughes' poetry. All the photography was shot within a fifteen mile radius of Haworth. Elmet, according to Fay Godwin, was the last Celtic kingdom in England and covered the area of the upper reaches of the River Calder.
The Parsonage Museum was strictly 'no photography' and when I was there the ratio of Japanese to British must have been about 20-1
The Parsonage Museum was strictly 'no photography' and when I was there the ratio of Japanese to British must have been about 20-1
Mountboard
24th May
Searching for mountboard with a black core for the exhibition and found it in a catalogue I picked up at Focus from a company called Lion Picture Framing Supplies Ltd. to be found on the internet @ www.lionpic.co.uk. where they have a huge range.
Searching for mountboard with a black core for the exhibition and found it in a catalogue I picked up at Focus from a company called Lion Picture Framing Supplies Ltd. to be found on the internet @ www.lionpic.co.uk. where they have a huge range.
Side Gallery, Newcastle
9th May
Jane & I were planning a visit to London but our plans went haywire. Instead of wasting a day we decided to travel up to the Side Gallery in Newcastle.
They have many photographers in their archives (see Amber online) but as the premises are very small all the work is on the internet apart from any current exhibitions they may be holding. The exhibition they were holding was THE ROMA JOURNEYS by Joakim Eskildsen shot in Eastern Europe - beautiful photography but not relevant to what either of us wanted.
Jane & I were planning a visit to London but our plans went haywire. Instead of wasting a day we decided to travel up to the Side Gallery in Newcastle.
They have many photographers in their archives (see Amber online) but as the premises are very small all the work is on the internet apart from any current exhibitions they may be holding. The exhibition they were holding was THE ROMA JOURNEYS by Joakim Eskildsen shot in Eastern Europe - beautiful photography but not relevant to what either of us wanted.
Friday 23 May 2008
Michael Kenna
13th May
Richard introduced me to the work of Michael Kenna whose images are on medium format. By using very slow film speed plus filters he is able to achieve some fantastic shots showing the movement of clouds etc. He tends to have a minimalist approach which I find very successful.
Richard introduced me to the work of Michael Kenna whose images are on medium format. By using very slow film speed plus filters he is able to achieve some fantastic shots showing the movement of clouds etc. He tends to have a minimalist approach which I find very successful.
Colour v Black & White
13th May
I had the idea of portraying the dirty energy in black & white and the others in colour but some energy such as nuclear or electric powerlines were neither one way or the other so decided that most of the images looked better in black & white and would make the whole set more uniform.
It was decided that it was not up to me to preach what was right or wrong but for people to draw their own conclusions. I hope by means of captions to give people the chance to think.
By showing some of the group my best images I was able to refine my choice to 12 or 13. I was still awaiting the medium format images but at that moment all my images were in landscape format and would make a better display.
I had the idea of portraying the dirty energy in black & white and the others in colour but some energy such as nuclear or electric powerlines were neither one way or the other so decided that most of the images looked better in black & white and would make the whole set more uniform.
It was decided that it was not up to me to preach what was right or wrong but for people to draw their own conclusions. I hope by means of captions to give people the chance to think.
By showing some of the group my best images I was able to refine my choice to 12 or 13. I was still awaiting the medium format images but at that moment all my images were in landscape format and would make a better display.
Wind Farm
There is definitely plenty of motion in these medium format images
13th May
Woke up at 4.30 am to a beautiful morning and decided it was too good an opportunity to miss. Decided to have one more shoot at the wind farm above Burnley. I wanted to portray it as a clean energy and this was a much better day than my previous shoot earlier in the year. The light looked fresh and washed and I hoped the early morning sun would cast some great shadows.
By the time I got there quite a bit of cloud had blown over and it was bitterly cold. Used both the Hasselblad and the Canon 5D. Shot a full film of Velvia 100 and hoped that it was slow enough to capture the movement of the fins.
Oilseed Rape - Biofuels
8th May
As I had heard that there was a combination of powerlines and oilseed rape near Boroughbridge in North Yorkshire we parked on a country road and I set up the tripod for the final time that day and took the attached photo. The vibrancy of the oilseed rape brightens up the dullest day but on this day the sun was shining and the sky was clear making the field almost too bright to look at.
Coal Powerstations and Cooling Towers
8th May
East Yorkshire has an abundance of coal powerstations with Eggborough, Ferrybridge and Drax to name but a few. Drax is by far the largest coal powerstation in the UK and is listed as the 23rd most dirty powerstation in the world, emitting over 23 million tons of CO2 per year. The findings are revealed in a huge survey of the CO2 emissions from 50,000 power plants worldwide by the Centre for Global Development (CGD) an independent think-tank based in the US.
Leaving Wakefield we headed east along the M62 first coming across Ferrybridge. This gave me an opportunity to take a photo of the powerstation as we drove along the motorway but there was no good vantage point to set up the tripod so we continued eastwards.
Eggborough is set quite a way from the motorway and is surrounded by houses so we bypassed this and continued on to Drax.
Drax is named after a small village and is surrounded by agriculture. The fields backing up to Drax were a brilliant yellow of oilseed rape (Drax is now burning a percentage of oilseed rape in an attempt to reduce its CO2 emissions) this provided an excellent foil against which to photograph the power station.
It is unfortunate that the powerlines cut across the images of the cooling towers with the road in the foreground. It is for this reason that I have not used them.
Driving nearer to the powerstation I set up the tripod and made three bracketed shots of the cooling towers with a view to doing a HDR image. There was a great deal of contrast and I thought it would be ideal for this type of image. The top image of the cooling towers is the end result after converting the three images to HDR.
National Mining Museum of England, Wakefield
National Mining Museum, Wakefield
National Minging Museum, Wakefield
National Mining Museum, Wakefield
National Mining Museum, Wakefield
Chris Killip - Rocker & Rosie Going Home 1984
Coal Authority
Crown copyright
John Davies Easington Colliery 19838th May
Still using the Hasselblad and the digital cameras I went to the National Mining Museum at Wakefield. It is an excellent museum with many school groups attending. There is the option to go below ground to the coal face but I didn't think there would be many photo opportunities down there and having a full schedule for the day passed on that option. My main aim was to capture the pithead and surrounding machinery.
There was also an extremely good photography gallery with the photography of John Davies & Chris Killip as well as many anonymous photgraphers
Took various photos with both cameras but I am having problems reducing the medium format images I scanned.
Electric Pylon
4th May
From the motorway I noticed a huge electric pylon by the side of the Manchester Ship Canal. We made our way down to the canal and I was able to capture the canal, pylon and motorway in one image before the heavens opened and we made a hasty retreat home after a pretty successful weekend.
Oil Refinery
4th May
Trying to make the most of this weekend we returned home via Ellesmere Port to photograph Stanlow Oil Refinery belonging to Shell and one of the biggest refineries in Britain.
The weather was looking like an imminent storm when we arrived at Stanlow and the heavy clouds made a great backdrop to the site.
C.A.T.
4th May
Travelled north via Aberyswith to Maccynleth where C.A.T. (Centre for Alternative Technology) is based. A very interesting day but not a lot of opportunities for photographs relative to what I required. I did take photos of the internal workings of a wind turbine-interesting but not mind-blowing photography. We spent two hours on a composting course, fascinating but there again I digress!!
Friday 16 May 2008
Hydropower
3rd May 2008
Having done quite a bit of searching on the internet I have decided that a journey to Mid Wales is necessary to visit Rhyadol Hydropower Station. Here there are dams, powerstations and pipelines as well as a small windfarm.
The other alternative would be Llanberis Power Station in North Wales but as this is nearly all within the mountain itself I thought there would be little to photograph. Only Scotland and Wales have the terrain to provide hydropower from dams and the nearest one in Scotland is Pitlochry which is quite a hike!
The forecast for the weekend was awful but as all our plans had been laid we had no alternative but to go. We left home at 4.30 am to make the most of the weather- we thought, arriving at the top reservoir, Nant-y-Moch at 9 am. The weather was beginning to close in with strong winds. I set up the tripod and mounted the camera at the same time gripping the tripod to prevent it being blown over. I took out my light meter and immediately the wind caught the protective sleeve and blew it away into the reservoir. This was my first attempt with the Hasselblad and I could visualize that in the reservoir as well!!-How would I explain that to Richard??
Having taken a few shots in quite poor light we made our way down the valley to the powerstation where just the two of us had a conducted tour of the station. Photography was supposedly banned but on explainig what I was doing and why, contact was made with the manager who had no objections.
Leaving the powerstation the weather was much better and we returned to the upper dam where I took more photographs in beautiful conditions.
Powerlines & Pylons
12th April 2008
The sky was clear and the sun low as I came away from Heysham Power Station. The pylons and powerlines from the power station spread across the plain allowing for excellent shots.
Nuclear Power
12th April 2008
Following on from Sellafield travelled down the coast to Heysham Nuclear Power Station arriving there in the late afternoon. The weather was beautiful with the sun low over the sea.
This was much more accessible with a footpath surrounding the site.
Nuclear Power
12th April 2008
Travelled up to Sellafield on a Saturday and was disappointed to find the Visitor Centre closed even though the website said it was open every day of the year except Christmas Day!
Not a good start and the police on the gate looked very suspicious when I came out with the camera and tripod.
Travelled up to Sellafield on a Saturday and was disappointed to find the Visitor Centre closed even though the website said it was open every day of the year except Christmas Day!
Not a good start and the police on the gate looked very suspicious when I came out with the camera and tripod.
The weather initially was cloudy with showers but in the afternoon it improved a great deal.
Sellafield is a very difficult site to photograph. It is obviously surrounded by strong security fencing but the main problem was finding a good vantage point. From the coastline there are high sand dunes and a railway line blocking visibility and from the hills behind Sellafield a good zoom lens is required but as the visibility was hazy this was not successful. One of the best areas for photographing was from the golf course belonging to Sellafield but from there the reactor was not visible.
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